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CHAPTER
NIGHT AND LOW-LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY / What Gear Is Important

aperture than the 17-55mm zoom lens. Of course,

not all primes are cheaper than their zoom equiv-

alent lenses. For example, the Nikon 200mm f/2

prime lens costs $6,000, while the Nikon

70-200mm f/2.8 zoom lens costs $2,400. (I know

that is still a lot of money.) If you need to have

the widest opening possible, then you will have

to use a prime lens because the one real advan-

tage is that they can have much wider apertures

than the zoom lenses. For example, in Figure 3-6

So which type of lens is right for you? That
depends on two things: your photography needs
and your budget. As I mentioned before, prime
lenses can be much cheaper than zoom lenses,
especially zoom lenses with a wide maximum
aperture. For example, the Nikon 50mm f/1.8D
lens sells for $135, while a 17-55mm f/2.8G
IF-ED lens sells for $1,540. That’s a huge price
difference, especially when you take into account
that the 50mm prime lens has a wider maximum

ABOUT THIS PHOTO I used an 80-200mm lens at the 200mm
focal length to really get in close for this shot of Bob Weir, former gui-
taist for the Grateful Dead. Taken at 1/160 second, f/2.8, and ISO 500.

3-5

ABOUT THIS PHOTO Because of the very low light on stage, I

used an 85mm f/1.4 lens to get this shot. While the lens could open all

the way up to f/1.4, I needed to use it at f/2.0 since the depth of field at

f/1.4 would have been too shallow. The f/2.0 aperture is still wider than

any of the zoom lenses available. Taken at 1/160 second, f/2.0, and ISO

3200.

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