@RobertTheFat wrote:
But a serious jump in IQ can be wiped right out by a deep crop and the resulting enlargement of the saved portion of the image. Which is why I think that, statistically, I'm better off with good zoom lenses than with primes. Even if I could afford multiple primes, it wouldn't help me much, because so much of my work is under conditions where changing lenses on the fly isn't feasible. There are some in this forum who claim they can juggle three or more good-sized cameras while shooting an event. I'm not one of them.
Sure, though that's another issue well outside of my point - being that you're not going to see a huge jump in IQ going from a kit lens to a midrange zoom. The differences mostly lie in wider aperture, constant aperture, better AF motor, better build, full frame compatible, etc. Not that the IQ isn't better, but people expect the performance increase to be proportional to the cost, and it rarely is. In part because the additional cost is associated with many of the above features as well. The really noticable difference, in my opinion, are prime lenses. Where even a moderately priced prime will have a marked difference in IQ.
As to the prime vs zoom debate. No need to fully rehash it, but your example is a fairly extreme one that doesn't really offer a fair comparison. Poor use of a prime in a questionable prime situation such as even photography. Sometimes primes just don't cut it, and you grab a zoom. But there's a lot more types of photography than that. I primarily do studio work, portraiture, product, architectural, real estate, macro, and some landscape. Buildings don't move, nor does tierra firma, and nothing compares to the resolution of a tilt-shift compared to fixing in post. Macro photography is almost entirely dominated by primes. People, even my toddlers, don't move enough indoors that I can't work with a prime. I'm not saying that zoom doesn't work better for some in these situations, but others of us are quite comfortable with primes. I did some outdoor family shoots last weekend and used nothing but primes, even though I never went below f/2.8. I just like the flow and sometimes it gets me to crop in closer than I would with a zoom and I often like the result. It's not for everyone, I understand that, but I wouldn't dismiss primes because of cropping. I don't crop any more with my primes than I do zoom.
