Switching from zoom to prime?

S

S.C

Active member
So, at the moment I have three lenses, a Tamron 17-50, Pentax SMC 50 1.4, and canon 70-200 f4.

I am considering selling my 17-50 and getting 2 more primes. I would do this to my 70-200 also, but that would be very expensive.

I feel that a 14mm prime would be better than the zoom for follows, and I already have a 50mm which is much better than the tamron at the wide end, and with those two something in the 24-35mm range would fill the gap well.

I would want to break even on this, and I think that I could.

14mm f/2.8 rokinon,

24mm rokinon 1.4, 28mm canon 1.8, 30mm sigma 1.4, or 35mm rokinon.

basically im asking two things, would it be worth it to have a 14mm, 24-35mm, and 50mm prime over my 17-50 if it I can sell my tamron for about the same amount, and also which of the 24-35mm primes would be best. Thanks
 
In my opinion, some zooms are worth having in your kit. The two zooms I would find it hard to be without are the Tokina 11-16 and the Canon 70-200. For everything in between, I would want primes.

Look into the sigma 30mm f/1.4 and the Canon 85mm f/1.4 or 1.8. Both are a little high in cost, but both are very good lenses. And since you already have a 50mm, I think those would be the only primes you need really.
 
To each his own I guess. I've heard countless times that the 11-16 is a must have for any APS-C shooter
 
Id keep the tele zoom, its so nice to be able to zoom for your composition instead of moving around. With wide/normal primes moving around is okay because its minimal but the difference between 70 and 200 is alot of movement
 
I wouldn't even consider the Tokina 11-16 to be like a zoom. I mean, it technically is, but it really isn't in a practical sense; a 5mm range can hardly be considered a "zoom" lens.

Aside from that, I always opt for primes below 50mm (except for specialty lenses like macro/portraiture). If you want to open or close the framing on a prime under 50mm, all you have to do is walke forward or backward. It's extremely impractical to have telephoto primes in skiing because changing the framing requires a huge distance to span, which is almost never possible when you're in the mountains.
 
im keeping the 70-200 for sure. hopefully ill eventually get the 2.8 instead of the 4 though, but thats a loooooong ways off
 
It might not be a big deal for you, but keep in mind you will have to change lenses a lot more if you go with 3 primes instead of a 17-50. For situations where you can't bring your whole setup, a zoom lens is invaluable.
 
that shouldnt be a huge issue, and if i was to do this I would plan on getting the sigma 30mm, so that I have a good walk around lens with AF
 
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