Do you go through stages of loving primes or zooms?

[willrobb]

Definitely buying a mixed order of zooms and primes for me, starting form the beginning when I purchased a good, fast general purpose zoom and a faster prime for portraits.

My history:

• Buy T1i/500D, 17-55mm f/2.8 IS, and 85mm f/1.8
• Buy 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS
• Buy 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5
• Buy 200mm f/2.8L II (used)
• Buy 300mm f/4L IS (used)
• Buy 7D
• Sell T1i/500D
• Buy 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS
• Sell 300mm f/4L IS
• Buy 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II
• Sell 200mm f/2.8L II
• Buy 24-105mm f/4L IS (used)
• Buy 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 DO IS (used)
• Buy 85mm f/1.2L II
• Sell 85mm f/1.8
• Sell 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 DO IS
• Buy 5DII + 24-105mm f/4L IS kit
• Sell 24-105mm f/4L IS (kept the new one)
• Buy MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro
• Buy TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II
• Buy 16-35mm f/2.8L II
• Sell 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5
• Buy 35mm f/1.4L
• Buy 135mm f/2L

That is a mighty list indeed. You could probably do well out of renting some stuff out on the side. I think you have more equipment than most UK based camera stores  I'm interested to hear what your next purchase will be.

[neuroanatomist]

Ha ha, the luggage space competition with the wife is a hard battle. When we move back to the UK in March this year I'm going to have to persuade my wife to put her handbag in a suitcase and carry one of my camera bags....wonder how that suggestion will go down?

I've found that kids are helpful that way. You buy them a ticket each, and you get to use their carry-on allowance for more gear. 

[willrobb]

Ha ha, the luggage space competition with the wife is a hard battle. When we move back to the UK in March this year I'm going to have to persuade my wife to put her handbag in a suitcase and carry one of my camera bags....wonder how that suggestion will go down?

I've found that kids are helpful that way. You buy them a ticket each, and you get to use their carry-on allowance for more gear. 

Ha ha, never thought on it that way....unfortunately not enough time to produce kids in the next couple of months

[JR]

Ha ha, never thought on it that way....unfortunately not enough time to produce kids in the next couple of months

No but you get start practicing though - lol 

I've found that kids are helpful that way. You buy them a ticket each, and you get to use their carry-on allowance for more gear. 

So funny, cause this is exactly what I had to do with my Think Tank carry on luggage on my last family vacation:  it counted as my 20 month old baby girl luggage - although I did not make her actually carry it around in the airport 

[telephonic]

My list is not as long as neuro's for sure, but at least I have something to tell.

Here they are (chronological order, from ca. 2008 until now):
EOS 500N (yes, N as in New)
Sigma AF 28-200/3.8-5.6 UC blah blah...
EF 50mm/1.8 -> The only one I bought new
EOS 20D
EF 200mm/2.8 II L USM

The first two was my Pop's, from ca. 1996. I wanted to throw away my old man's Sigma when I used the nifty fifty the first time.
The second time I wanted to throw away his Sigma was when I bought the 20D; it just won't work (Err 99) stopped down. Luckily it's my Pop's, and currently is the only solution to my wide-angle needs so I ended up using it in several occasions.

My plan dream is a 5DII + Zeiss 21/2.8  but my much more realistic plan is EF 20-35 USM or EF 20/2.8.

I love some zoom lenses, but I love all primes unconditionally (well, unless it cost me an arm and a leg to buy) 

[Axilrod]

I bought my 5D Mark II in Nov 2011, and the madness began:
(in order)
50mm f/1.4 (first one I grabbed)
35L & 50L - paid $2400 for the pair from a wedding photographer that had switched to Nikon
85mm f/1.8
16-35mm f/2.8L II
24-70mm f/2.8L
70-200 f/2.8L IS - Traded the 35L and 85 1.8 for this one for some reason
100L
135L
35L (2nd copy)
14L II

I sold all the zooms except the 16-35 (which I'm about to sell), but I'm not gonna lie there are times I really wish I had a 24-70 to walk around with, switching lenses can be a bitch.

When I was reading you got the 35L and 50L for $2400 I was well impressed, then when I read you traded the 35L I was momentarily shocked until I saw you got a second copy  You certainly have did a lot of shopping, nice one.

Yeah at the time I still had the 24-70, and with the 16-35 I just felt like I didn't need a dedicated 35mm lens, so I traded it and the 85 1.8 for the 70-200 f/2.8 IS.

The guy at the local camera shop told me if I ever wanted to sell it he would take it off my hands, and one day a few months later he called telling me he had gotten a 35 1.4 and 85L II from an estate of a photographer that had died.  They were both never taken out of the studio, so I went to the shop, he gave me $1600 for the 70-200 and I paid another $1200 and got the 85L II and 35L.  They were both so mint, the 35L was from 2001 and looked so much better than the first copy I had from 2006.  I mean it looked brand new, as did the 85L.

I never realized I had traded a 35 and 85 (1. for the 70-200 and ended up trading it back for another 85 and 35L haha

[branden]

Oh my, the gear I've gone through over the years ... lament for sold gear

in approximate order:
* EF-S 18-55 (the original) - SOLD
* Tamron 70-300 (the 2004 version) - SOLD
* Sigma 10mm fisheye - SOLD
* 28-135 - SOLD and good riddance
* 24-70L - SOLD (I miss it)
* Nifty Fifty - SOLD (and then later purchased another)
* 135 Soft Focus - SOLD (outclassed by the 135L, although not to shabby itself)
* 70-300 DO - SOLD and never looked back
* EF 20mm - SOLD and not missed
* 70-200 f4L IS - SOLD because it's ostentatious
* 180L - SOLD because it weight a thousand pounds
* 85 f/1.8 - SOLD and slightly missed
* 28 f/1.8 - SOLD because it halates
* 50 f/1.4 - SOLD for greener pastures
* EF-S 18-135 - still got it! although I'll probably sell it soon
* EF 35-70 - SOLD because I don't know why I even bought this ancient thing
* 200 f/2.8L - SOLD in lieu of 135L
* 35 f/2 - SOLD and I sort of miss it
* 100 macro - SOLD and not missed
* Zeiss 2/50 - my baby <3
* 100 f/2 - SOLD and not missed
* 24L - on its way out the door
* 135L - still hanging on!
* Zeiss 18 - RETURNED within the 30 days (I'm learning!)
* Nifty fifty - not going to sell it this time
* 16-35L - on it's way here right now!
* 24-105L - will probably get this in a couple weeks

This list does not include rented or borrowed gear, which is also lengthy. I don't know why I've worked my way through half the Canon lens catalog over the years -- I mean, I know in my head that it's the photographer that makes the picture and NOT the gear. But for some reason I always feel limited by what I've got, and that if I just sell lens X to finance lens Y then I'll finally have the right gear for my shooting style.

On the flip side, I actually feel like my shooting style has evolved greatly over the years, and I've been good enough about selling what I no longer need that the gear I have tends to match my style at the time. I spent a long time in primes learning how to shoot and what works well at specific focal lengths, but now I'm coming back around to zooms just so I can have less stuff and focus more on composition and less on gear.

[shinyknights]

I just got into photography last November during Black Friday.  Since then, I've acquired a total of four lenses.

EF 24-105mm f/4 L
EF 100mm f/2.8 L macro
EF 85mm f/1.8
EF 50mm f/1.4

I'm finding that I am liking primes for their big apertures.  I do a lot of indoor/night photography and am a big fan of getting that bokeh.  I'm hoping to upgrade these primes to the L lenses as I learn more and develop more techniques.

[willrobb]

Ha ha, never thought on it that way....unfortunately not enough time to produce kids in the next couple of months

No but you get start practicing though - lol 

Practice makes perfect and all that 

[pwp]

Zooms are practical family sedans and primes are impractical but fun convertibles.

+1 for the laugh.

For sheer practicality and a consistently higher percentage of commercially viable keepers I just keep going back to the zooms. With constant time constraints and the flexibility offered by high quality zooms, plus the minimized mass/weight of having  three f/2.8 lenses in the bag that cover from 16-200mm, in my business the zooms rule.

Like others I fall in and out of love with primes. The two I find it hard to leave at home are the 24 f/1.4II and the 300 f/2.8is. Others languish in the lens cupboard, left behind because I know they'd most likely be dead weight in the bag. I know this may not be a typical experience, it's just a particular "practical family sedan" working reality.

Paul Wright

[smirkypants]

Zooms are practical family sedans and primes are impractical but fun convertibles.

For sheer practicality and a consistently higher percentage of commercially viable keepers I just keep going back to the zooms. With constant time constraints and the flexibility offered by high quality zooms, plus the minimized mass/weight of having  three f/2.8 lenses in the bag that cover from 16-200mm, in my business the zooms rule.

You can't take the kids to soccer practice in that Zeiss 25/f2, but damn that 70-200/2.8 drives like a minivan and is about as sexy. The Zeiss makes me want to bust out the Chuck Taylors and hang out in coffee shops in Soho.