No matter whether you just contact photography beginners or hovering beginners on the edge of entry, I think you will always have a small yearning for photography equipment, that is to change the lens.

After all, the biggest difference between an SLR and a normal home camera is that it can be linked to the word “professional”, and the external expression is that you can change the lens. Camera lens types, focal segments are all kinds, but xiaobian thinks for beginners, a lightweight high-quality large aperture fixed focus head, is the best way to upgrade. Here’s how to play with a prime lens.

In order to play well, we need to know what a prime lens is. From the name, we can intuitively see that prime lens refers to the lens with only one fixed focal length, and the zoom lens has a variety of adjustable focal segments. A prime lens that can’t zoom can be difficult to use for moving pictures that vary a lot but can work well for everyday shots such as home travel and still life portraits.

1. Advantages of prime lens

(1) Soft out of focus imaging

For the same price, a prime lens can offer a larger aperture than a zoom lens. This is because the prime focus lens has a simple structure and is easier to make a large aperture lens. The advantage of this is that not only can more light flow be obtained, but also the background blur effect is incomparable to the zoom lens.

(2) Sharp in-focal imaging

Due to the complex internal structure of the zoom lens, the imaging sharpness of the zoom lens is far less than that of the prime lens, and the simple structure of the prime lens will bring sharper image effects.

The small partner that understands photography equipment a little knows, special wide-angle lens general price is not cheap, and replace the wide-angle lens with fixed focus lens, can be taken by keeping a far distance and narrow aperture operation, need not wide-angle lens also can shoot sharp scenery photo!

(3) Small picture distortion

A zoom lens is most criticized for the image edge distortion, which is easy to understand because to take care of so many focal lengths, it is naturally impossible to get perfect effects, and prime lens because only one focal segment of the imaging correction and optimization, so often there will be little distortion.

(4) Sensitive adaptability

The prime focus lens is very adaptable to a low-light environment. The larger the aperture, the more light into the scene, such as the street at night, romantic cafes, without F1.4 prime lens, you must miss a lot of beautiful scenery.

Of course, you don’t have to go for an aperture below F1.2 because it’s expensive, but it’s not much better than F1.4.

(5) Lightweight and cost-effective

The zoom lens structure is complex, so the weight and volume are inevitable, and the focus is simple, the focus segment is also fixed, the weight and volume are quite advantageous, easy to carry, easy to shoot.

The key is that the price is quite friendly. Generally, the best prime lens is only half the price of the zoom lens, especially the 50mm focus segment favored by many photography players, which is almost the cheapest lens focus segment. In addition, you can even use a reverse ring to treat a prime lens like a macro lens.

2. How to play with the prime lens?

If there is something bad about the prime lens, it may be the “zoom depends on walking”. However, this seems to be a disadvantage, but it can also be interpreted as an advantage because the focal length cannot be changed, you will try a more walking position, which is of great benefit to the photography player’s advancement.

However, shooting all kinds of scenes, light has a prime lens is still more difficult, so to play with the prime lens, we can refer to the following skills!

(1) Introduction to shooting collocation

Many people who do photography say that beginners learning photography must have a 50mm prime lens.

In fact, the general player will match 35mm, 50mm, 135mm these three, because of these three lenses, to be able to cope with most of the scene shooting needs.

(2) Landscape shooting collocation

Beautiful mountains and rivers are loved by many small partners. recommend people who love to take scenery can consider the combination of 24mm, 35mm, and 135mm, which can not only shoot a broad field of vision but also you can telephoto zoom in.

(3) Portrait shooting collocation

People who like to take portraits recommend a 35mm, 85mm, 180mm combination, mainly 85mm human vision, looking at the picture can unconsciously generate association, a strong sense of reality to double the appeal.

(4) Pay extra attention when focusing

Because the aperture of the prime lens is relatively large, the depth of field is very shallow when the aperture is fully open, a little movement may make the original clear diagonal body part become blurred, even in the autofocus mode should pay more attention to the stability of the hand, remember that you can’t be impatient.

(5) Shoot appropriate subjects

Due to the limitations of the focus segment, the focus head will also have its most suitable subjects for shooting. For beginners, it is recommended to practice shooting still life, food, portraits, and other subjects first, because shooting these subjects can be easier to match their own shooting rhythm, which helps to improve their shooting skills.

(6) Don’t abuse the wide aperture

Although it is easier to take attractive photos with a large aperture and a shallow depth of field, it should not be overused. The picture should be appropriately selected according to the subject matter. For example, if you take a portrait with a large aperture at a tourist resort, the background will be completely blurred. Of course, by changing the aperture, beginners can learn to shoot different scenes.

3. How to choose a prime lens?

The most important choice of a prime lens is to choose its focal segment, for beginners, comprehensive cost performance, shooting subject matter, improve photography skills and other aspects, recommend 35mm, 50mm and 85mm in the small white stage will be more appropriate.

Among them, a 35mm perspective belongs to a small wide-angle, which has great flexibility for shooting different themes. Moving forward can exclude unnecessary things from the picture because the closest focusing distance of 35mm lens is generally 0.25-0.3m, which is conducive to getting closer to the main body. General scenery can be covered, which is also relatively all-around.

In the full-frame format, 50mm is the standard focal length, and the imaging effect is closest to the distance seen by human eyes, so it is easy to predict what elements the picture contains, and unlike the deformation of wide-angle lens imaging, it is suitable for street shooting, capturing or realistic photography. It is also easy to get a shallow depth of field effect with a wide aperture of F/1.4 or F/1.8.

The 85mm prime lens has what’s called the “best portrait focus segment.” The most recent focusing distance of 85mm is 0.95m, and the angle of view is used when shooting portraits. They will be more than 1 meter away from each other. This distance can reduce the sense of pressure on the models to be shot, make the expression natural, and capture wonderful portraits will be relatively easy.

After doing the above operations, you can see the photos are taken with what focal length, which focal range is easier to take your favorite photos. This is clear at a glance. Then, according to your needs and preferences, choose the best prime lens for you and take out your “new toy” for a shot!