My 1st Telephoto prime shot

[Jim B.]

I just recieved a Canon 300 f/4.Until now I have used nothing but zoom lenses.I am VERY pleased.The picture was taken at f/4.No real PP,just converted to jpeg and resized for the web.I just wanted to share my excitement.
Jim

[crisscross]

pleased to be being excited on behalf of. Keep up the good work and enjoy the new toy.

helps me eliminate 1 of the 4 I am looking at for Jim Revie's best of 2008 slot (a pair of these; great fun to stalk)

[d3debian]

Congrats with your new lens!
I am interested in your experiences over time with a prime compared to zoomlens.
Especially the usability (less volatile? __i mean because you cannot zoom anymore)

[Colin Southern]

I am interested in your experiences over time with a prime compared to zoomlens. Especially the usability (less volatile? __i mean because you cannot zoom anymore)

I usually stick pretty much to zoom lenses, but a few months ago I purchased an EF85mm F1.2L USM II to have a bit of fun with portraiture during my landscape "off season". I've always found the image quality from L zooms to be more than satisfactory, but I have to say that the 85/1.2L has given me the image quality I demand with less post-processing, including less sharpening and less contrast and colour correction, which surprised me a little.

In terms of having to be able to zoom with my feet, I haven't found it to be a problem - but then again, it's only 85mm, and I've been using it with plenty of room to be able to move forward or back as required. Also, with todays high-resolution cameras if you're planning on making only a small print or it's destined for online display then you can often crop quite agressively if you're using a prine and can't get any closer.

Cheers,

Colin

[shreds]

I have a mixture in my bag.

The flexibility and quality of Nikon f2.8 zoom lenses is fantastic. I have sold many shots using these but I have one prime lens which always seems to outshine everything else; a Nikon f2.8 105mm 'micro' (Nikons way of describing their macro lenses.) It is quite simply so sharp across the range and produces truly wonderful shots. Ideal for portraits and much more besides. As far as other primes go, I like the Nikon f1.4 50 mm too for its all round low light ability and may well add some more top quality primes in the future, having disposed of some average ones, a few years ago.

A colleague who is a Canon shooter, mainly uses prime lenses (f1.2/1.4 at 35/50/85 etc) and his 70-200 sits in a drawer a good deal of the time. The quality of his results is a strong argument that primes still cut the mustard in these days of 'zoom' everything.

Oh nice shot of the deer, enjoy using the new lens and keep the shots coming!

[Jim B.]

One thing I see right away is I need to pay more attention to the distance of my subject.On this shot I was too close to get entire body shot.

[shreds]

This composing is something that you will get used to as you use the lens more.

If the shot had taken account of the need to include the full leg (even if you cannot see them due to undergrowth) you would have lost a bit from the top of the shot, but probably still included all of the deer to its ears, so looking at this, I don't think you need to be appreciably further away.

The best shots will fill the frame.

[Jim B.]

The lens is definitely going to require me to think more about my framing and camera focus points.I have been using center point only in the majority of my shots.I had center point focused on the right eye.Also I was about 8' below the deer.Thanks for your input.It helped alot.