Prime vs Zoom

Ditch the Trinity: Why Four Primes (and One Zoom) Might Be Your Smarter Lens Kit
Video Tutorials

Ditch the Trinity: Why Four Primes (and One Zoom) Might Be Your Smarter Lens Kit

I’ve spent more hours than I care to admit building spreadsheets comparing lens prices, and the question I get asked more than any other is some version of “should I just buy the trinity?” It makes sense. The 16-35mm, 24-70mm, and 70-200mm zoom trinity is the default answer to “what lenses do I need?” It’s tidy, it covers everything, and every working photographer seems to own it. But tidy isn’t always right.

Prime vs. Zoom, Focal Length Explained: What Every Lens Buyer Actually Needs to Know
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Prime vs. Zoom, Focal Length Explained: What Every Lens Buyer Actually Needs to Know

I’ll be honest with you: the question I get asked more than any other is not “which camera should I buy?” It’s “which lens should I buy?” And that makes sense, because camera bodies come and go but a good lens can follow you for decades. The problem is that lens marketing is dense, the jargon is thick, and the price range runs from $80 to $14,000 on the same camera mount.

Your Kit Lens Is a Starting Point, Not a Sentence: What to Buy Next
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Your Kit Lens Is a Starting Point, Not a Sentence: What to Buy Next

The question I get more than any other from people just starting out is some version of: “I bought my camera, now what?” Not “how do I use it” - but specifically, “what lens do I buy next?” I spent an embarrassing amount of time early on researching that question instead of actually shooting, which is exactly how I ended up in the deals-hunting rabbit hole in the first place. So when I came across this tutorial from Jay P Morgan at The Slanted Lens, I wanted to break it down properly, because he covers the lens upgrade question in a way that’s practical, opinionated, and grounded in real shooting experience.

Why I'd Swap a Heavy Zoom for a Tiny Prime on Any Travel Trip (And You Probably Should Too)
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Why I'd Swap a Heavy Zoom for a Tiny Prime on Any Travel Trip (And You Probably Should Too)

There’s a version of gear ownership where the “best” lens becomes a liability. I’ve watched it happen to shooters who carry a $2,000 zoom to a street market and spend more energy protecting the glass than actually shooting. The lens wins. The photos lose. In this Pierre T. Lambert tutorial, Pierre walks through a decision he’d been wrestling with for over a year: leaving his Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 at home for a trip to Tulum, Mexico, and replacing it with the Sony 85mm f/1.

Zoom Lenses Aren't a Compromise - They're a Professional Choice
Video Tutorials

Zoom Lenses Aren't a Compromise - They're a Professional Choice

I spent an embarrassing amount of time in my early years convinced that shooting primes was the mark of a serious photographer. I’ve got a spreadsheet with every budget lens I’ve tested, and for a long time the prime column had a halo around it. Then reality started poking holes in that logic every time I actually went out to shoot. The gear that looks best in a spec comparison doesn’t always win when you’re moving around a subject, changing compositions on the fly, or just trying to get the shot before the light changes.