Every Photographer's Gear: The Prime Lens

Lenses from left to right: Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM Lens, Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM Lens and Canon EF 35mm f/1.4 L USM Lens.

     It is said that prime lenses are a must have in a photographer's camera bag. But is it really important for your everyday shooting? Canon and Nikon have already released a couple of prime lenses in their lens line-up. But what really is a prime lens?

Creamy bokeh behind the subject(duck).

     A prime lens is lens with a fixed-focal length, meaning that you can't zoom in or out with this lens. The focal lengths vary from 24mm, 50mm, 85mm, etc.. Prime lenses tend to have larger apertures, mostly ranging from f/1.2 onwards. With a large aperture like this, you will be able to capture a photograph with a creamy "bokeh"(meaning to blur the out-of-focus part in the photo). This "bokeh" will really step-up your pictures into a whole new level. Also, you will have an easier time shooting in low-light conditions because more light can pass through the lens, giving you faster shutter speeds. Thus, this lens is outstanding in wedding photography.

    Some people may still want a zoom lens for more flexibility, but for me, I would rather get a prime first before getting telephoto lenses like the 70-200 f2.8. This is because prime lenses are cheaper, more compact and easier to travel with.

 ---Ask me how I zoom with a prime lens. I use my God-given legs. :)

The New Canon L Lens: 24-70 f/2.8L USM

      Canon has released its new L lens a few months ago, the Canon 24-70 f/2.8L II which has a new design and improved optics, giving its users better quality photos and a more durable lens. This lens was released together with two more lenses, the EF 24mm f/2.8 IS USM and EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM.

      Canon has made a more compact, smaller lens, making it easier for photographers to go on photo-walks and photo shoots without carrying a heavy load on their neck. To reduce the chromatic aberration and colour blurring the previous EF 24-70 model had, they added two Ultra-low Dispersion (UD) and one Super UD aspherical elements with the new design. The minimum focusing distance was also cut down to 0.38 meters, giving photographers even a closer space to the subject.

    This is the latest entry in the L- Series lenses of Canon. This lens provides an Ultrasonic Motor, for a more silent and faster focusing speeds. It allows full-time manual focus like most of the USM lenses offer in the Canon line-up. It features a weather-sealing protecting it from bad weather, rain, dust ,etc., that may enter and harm your camera.

     The only drawback is that although Canon made significant changes and new designs on the lens, they still weren't able to add an Image Stabilization. Tamron has also released it's new 24-70mm in their lens line-up, but this time it already had VC (Vibration Compensation) which is the first 24-70 to have an image stabilization.

     This is a great lens for full-frame cameras in the market today. But for a lesser price you can get a Tamron with Vibration Compensation to lessen camera shakes and to stabilize the image. As for me, if I had the money, I would definitely go for the Canon lens. The Tamron is no match for its new design and durability. On the other hand, If I want a good enough lens with good quality photos with the price of $700 less than the Canon's $2200, I would go for the new Tamron.