Advantages of a prime/fixed lenses vs zoom?

I'm messing around on Adorama and B&H looking at different lenses and as must, I'm working on a budget, so have to make wise purchases.

I was just wondering what are the benefits of a good fixed/prime lens over a zoom?

Primes will normally be faster lenses. Plus since they are designed & built for one focal length, there are fewer trade offs in the designs

Screamin Scott wrote: Primes will normally be faster lenses. Plus since they are designed & built for one focal length, there are fewer trade offs in the designs

Primes over zooms-
Pros - faster lenses, improved image quality
Cons - less versatile (you have to move to get closer/farther, need to buy more lenses to cover range
Zooms
Pros - Versatile (get "closer" without stepping off the cliff
Cons - Fast ones are very expensive, less image quality at the ends (zoomed all the way in or out)

For me the advantages of primes is that they are smaller and faster. I've found today's f/2.8 zooms to have exceptional image quality, and I usually can't see a difference comparing my primes and zooms at the same aperture. Compared to f/2.8 zooms primes are also often cheaper. A big advantage of variable focal length is more efficient in-camera cropping, but with the big megapixel counts these days cropping out of the camera isn't so much of an issue.

Henry Peach wrote: For me the advantages of primes is that they are smaller and faster. I've found today's f/2.8 zooms to have exceptional image quality, and I usually can't see a difference comparing my primes and zooms at the same aperture. Compared to f/2.8 zooms primes are also often cheaper. A big advantage of variable focal length is more efficient in-camera cropping, but with the big megapixel counts these days cropping out of the camera isn't so much of an issue.

Agreed, in terms of sharpness modern 2.8 zooms (and some others) have reached "prime" standards.

IMHO the only advantage of a prime over a good 2.8 zoom is speed (and therefore a shallower DOF resulting in more pleasing bokeh). Oh and weight. A 50mm isn't usually gonna weigh as much as a 24-70 2.8

Stealthy Ninja wrote:

Henry Peach wrote: For me the advantages of primes is that they are smaller and faster. I've found today's f/2.8 zooms to have exceptional image quality, and I usually can't see a difference comparing my primes and zooms at the same aperture. Compared to f/2.8 zooms primes are also often cheaper. A big advantage of variable focal length is more efficient in-camera cropping, but with the big megapixel counts these days cropping out of the camera isn't so much of an issue.

Agreed, in terms of sharpness modern 2.8 zooms (and some others) have reached "prime" standards.

IMHO the only advantage of a prime over a good 2.8 zoom is speed (and therefore a shallower DOF resulting in more pleasing bokeh). Oh and weight. A 50mm isn't usually gonna weigh as much as a 24-70 2.8

That's a 10-4. You don't realize how heavy a lens is until you've lugged it around all day, especially around your neck.

Baydream wrote:

Stealthy Ninja wrote:

Henry Peach wrote: For me the advantages of primes is that they are smaller and faster. I've found today's f/2.8 zooms to have exceptional image quality, and I usually can't see a difference comparing my primes and zooms at the same aperture. Compared to f/2.8 zooms primes are also often cheaper. A big advantage of variable focal length is more efficient in-camera cropping, but with the big megapixel counts these days cropping out of the camera isn't so much of an issue.

Agreed, in terms of sharpness modern 2.8 zooms (and some others) have reached "prime" standards.

IMHO the only advantage of a prime over a good 2.8 zoom is speed (and therefore a shallower DOF resulting in more pleasing bokeh). Oh and weight. A 50mm isn't usually gonna weigh as much as a 24-70 2.8

That's a 10-4. You don't realize how heavy a lens is until you've lugged it around all day, especially around your neck.

Too right, my messed up wrist is testament to that fact.

Henry Peach wrote: For me the advantages of primes is that they are smaller and faster. I've found today's f/2.8 zooms to have exceptional image quality, and I usually can't see a difference comparing my primes and zooms at the same aperture. Compared to f/2.8 zooms primes are also often cheaper. A big advantage of variable focal length is more efficient in-camera cropping, but with the big megapixel counts these days cropping out of the camera isn't so much of an issue.