Quote:
Originally Posted by CourtJester
This is part of my question...I feel as though a prime lens makes things more difficult, but I could very well be making this up. Without experience, I don't truly understand the disadvantage of not having the zoom.
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A zoom lens is more versatile with regards to framing. A prime lens is more versatile with regards to lighting. Let's look at two lenses you might be considering.
zoom: 18-55mm f3.5-f5.6
prime: 35mm f1.8
The zoom lens will allow you to frame any where from a wide angle to a short telephoto field of view, giving you more options in how you frame your subject or what perspective you choose. But it is limited to scenes with ample light because of its slow aperture. The prime lens fixes you at 35mm giving you fewer option for framing and perspective but allows you to shoot in situations with less available light because it has a larger maximum aperture (f1.8 vs. f3.5). So the zoom lens may give you more options if you're outdoors where the amount of light isn't an issue, but won't do very well indoors where light is scarce. The prime lens, however, will be able to shoot indoors and outdoors with more limited choices for framing.
A secondary advantage of the prime lens could also be that it gives you greater control over the in-focus and out-of-focus areas of the image, allowing you to choose a very shallow depth of field because of the larger maximum aperture.