THE PROS AND CONS OF PRIME LENSES

When it comes to prime lenses in general, and 50mm primes in particular, it may seem that you’re limited by the very nature of the fixed focal length. But they’re far more versatile than they appear, and offer a range of plus points...

Image quality: All primes are professional-quality lenses, and because they’re designed to operate at a specific focal length, they’re finetuned for optical performance, with very little distortion, vignetting or chromatic aberration.

Fast aperture: 50mm primes are available in f/1.8, f/1.4 and even f/1.2 versions (with the price going up as the maximum aperture gets wider). This means you can maintain fast shutter speeds and capture sharp shots in very dim conditions.

Depth-of-field control: The large aperture on primes gives unparalleled control for arty shots with a shallow band of sharp focus, so subjects stand out strongly against blurred backgrounds, and you can achieve lovely bokeh.

Framing up: It’s not a dealbreaker, but you will have to work a little bit harder to frame your shots through a prime lens. The fixed focal length means you will have to shuffle your feet to get the right framing, rather than just twisting a zoom ring…

Careful composition Because you have to move your feet and change camera position to reframe, a prime lens slows down your shooting pace and forces you to make more critical composition choices. This leads to better, more considered shots.