Zoom lenses versus Prime lenses - a study.

Crops of photos I have taken with different lenses, both zooms and primes.

Over the years I have owned a number of lenses.  Since I enjoy photographing nature, many of them have been long lenses giving me the ability to zoom in for a shot.  The above photographs represent some of the photos I have taken in the last 20 years or so as they all have been taken on digital cameras.  Previous to these, I used Zenit, Minolta, and finally Nikon film cameras with a collection of long lenses not included here.  

The above photographs show a singular truth; prime lenses outperform zooms in terms of picture quality.  The exception is the catadioptric (mirror) lens, which lacks stabilization and autofocus and represented a short period of exploration on my part.  The 200 and 300 mm primes are both autofocus but have no stabilization technology (they are older variants made before such technology existed).  Both are still capable of creating a decent image but require either fast shutter speeds and/or a tripod to reduce camera movement blur.  

The sharpest image, by far, comes from my 500 mm PF Nikkor lens which I still own and love.  Although it lacks the ability to zoom out it, its sharpness and rendering ability facilitate some of my best shots.  The other lens I still own is the Nikon 80-400 zoom.  It doesn't have the range of the 500, nor its sharpness, but I have to say it is still very good.  It is also the second most expensive lens I have ever owned.  It seems that quality doesn't come cheap.  Go figure.

These images are not standardized, nor have they been used in controlled conditions.  A better comparison would involve shooting the same subject in the same light with comparable focus points and stabilization.  However, they do represent an expected trend and speak to the value of quality.  At the end, I think it is fair to say that primes are superior to zooms and price makes a difference.  For shooting wildlife you can't beat long, expensive prime lenses.  A sad truth, especially for those with thin pocketbooks.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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