Posted by Bruce King on November 15, 2013 at 12:39 PM
I've been casually looking for another lens, a wide prime for my D7000. I'm really suprised how few seem to be available. I'd like 20mm or wider and I'm finding a lot of wide short range zooms like 12-24's or 10-20's but few new primes. My thinking is that the IQ of these wide zooms is so good now that maybe primes are becoming unnecessary or maybe even eventually obsolete. Any thoughts?
Posted by jack jaeger jr on November 15, 2013 at 6:11 PM
Good question cant wait to see responses. I wanted the same thing and thought the fix lenses would be lighter for backpacking.
Posted by David Bostedo on November 16, 2013 at 1:33 PM
The best prime lenses will always be better than the best zooms. That's just a matter of the number of elements and complexity. Both of those serve to make zooms worse than primes. But zooms have gotten very good and, I believe, far outsell primes.
And the best current zooms probably ARE better than a lot of primes. The 14-24 from Nikon is widely regarded as one of the best. Here's a link to a comparison between the 14-24 and the 14mm Nikon prime. The zoom is clearly better. (Note that it's on a full frame camera, so the corners will not be as affected on an APS-C camera.)
You can use that site to compare other lenses too. And one last thing, if you want the best prime lenses, and don't need autofocus, take a look at the Zeiss primes for Nikon.
Posted by Bruce King on November 19, 2013 at 2:11 PM
Thanks for the response David.....excellent as usual. I've decided not to buy any more DX lenses since I plan on upgrading to a full frame body eventually. Ken Smith was hinting that he might sell his Nikon 14-24 which I have tried and really like but I don't like the lack of filter options on that lens. I've also looked at the Zeiss offerings and would love to have the 15mm but at $3000 I'll have to wait until my lottery numbers hit LOL!
Discussion
3 repliesAnd the best current zooms probably ARE better than a lot of primes. The 14-24 from Nikon is widely regarded as one of the best. Here's a link to a comparison between the 14-24 and the 14mm Nikon prime. The zoom is clearly better. (Note that it's on a full frame camera, so the corners will not be as affected on an APS-C camera.)
You can use that site to compare other lenses too. And one last thing, if you want the best prime lenses, and don't need autofocus, take a look at the Zeiss primes for Nikon.