Why Zoom Lenses Don't Get Recommended.

In the camera community, we often hear that prime lenses make you a better photographer. Because unlike the convenience of a zoom lens, prime lenses forces you to move your body to get the shot. You might have also heard the phrase, zoom with your feet, that goes along with that sentiment. And the idea is to get someone who's new to photography and challenge them to approach a shot differently. Whether it be simply getting closer or completely modifying their initial composition to fit the framing that the prime lens is only capable of. And while the above lesson is seemingly positive, I feel like over the years, it has sort of misguided a lot of newbies into thinking that zoom lenses are just pure bad. And that's because what follows is usually more outrageous reasons not to use a zoom lens. Nah, you know, zoom lenses are just not as sharp. Zoom lenses don't have a faster f-stop. Yeah, zoom lenses don't give you that much bokeh. Oh, zoom lenses, they're terrible in low light. Dude, zoom lenses are expensive. Zoom lenses are heavier. Zoom lenses make you lazy. And while the above statements are true to a certain extent, a lot of it is super conditional, and we'll try to debunk as many of them as we can towards the end of the video. But for now, I really don't think that's something that we should be repeating on the internet or instilling it to future beginners. Rather, here's a saying that I think is just as effective, if not more effective, and that is treat your zoom lens like a set of prime lenses. Not only will this encourage beginners to take advantage of their kit zoom lenses more, but to start to understand how to utilize the different focal lengths within their zoom lenses to achieve the shots that they want and grow to be a better photographer. And then from there, choose to invest in prime lenses of their favorite focal lengths, or maybe even invest in a better zoom lens, or find a way to mix and match both to fit their photography needs. So how do you start developing this mentality? By simply treating your zoom lens like a set of prime lenses. Start treating the numbers labeled on your zoom lenses as their own category. Now, I normally don't like labeling the different focal lengths to specific use cases just because I feel like it can restrict creativity. For example, most people will say, oh yeah, 85 millimeter, that's great for portraits, when it can very well be great for street photography or landscape photography. But for the sake of learning and understanding how each of the different focal lengths perform in certain scenarios, we're going to go with this route. But bear in mind, once you master this, you can start breaking the rules to craft up your own unique shots with the different focal lengths. In the following examples, I'll be covering zoom lenses for both APS-C and full frame cameras. Starting off with your ultra wide angle zoom lenses. If you have anything wider than a 16 millimeter for the APS-C, or wider than a 24 millimeter on the full frame, these ultra wide angle zoom lenses are good for landscapes, astrophotography, real estate, architectures, and if you want to, you can also do some selfie style vlogging as well. Moving on to your mid range zoom lenses. So for the APS-C, we have here the 16 to 55 f 2.8, and for the full frame, we have the 24 to 70 f 2.8. On the widest end of things, it's still going to be good for landscapes and astrophotography, but it's also going to be good for environmental portraits as well. I would avoid using this focal length for any sort of close up headshot photography, as it will distort the subject's head. On the other hand, if you are wide enough, you can even do group shots at this focal length for events and weddings. Zooming into 24 millimeter on the APS-C and 35 millimeter on the full frame, this is a popular focal length for street photography, where capturing the environment is just as important as capturing the subject themselves. Moving on to the 35 millimeter on the APS-C and 50 millimeter on the full frame, this focal length right here is incredibly versatile for all sorts of genre of photography. Though, this focal length is a little bit more common when it comes to portrait photography. This is where bokeh gets a little bit more pronounced, that background blur, if you will. If you need a little bit of that subject and background separation, I would start at this focal length first. And finally, at the end of the spectrum, whether it be 55 millimeter on the APS-C or the 70 millimeter on the full frame, this is typically best for portraits and in particular, head shots, because this is the most flattering for a human subject. Remember, when we talked about the wide end of things, if you try to get too close to your human subject, it'll distort their faces. Here, it doesn't distort the human faces and it actually makes them look a lot better. Now, anything beyond this range right here, we're moving to the longer telephoto territory, where those lenses are going to be good for sports photography, wildlife photography, and close-up macro-like shots. Again, I want to emphasize what is recommended here in this video today are not definitives to these types of genres of photography, rather a common suggestion for what to use depending on what you're shooting. So, just use this as a baseline to understand what you can achieve with these focal lengths. With that in mind, I would advise you to challenge yourself to just that one focal length, let's say 35 millimeter on the APS-C or the 50 millimeter on full frame. Stick to that and don't zoom to anything else. Just keep playing around with angles and distances to see the types of results you can get. For example, you might be tempted to go wide for landscape shots, but try using the 35 or the 50 and you might be surprised by the results you'll get. Now, before we start debunking the myths of zoom lenses, I want to give our sponsor Storyblocks a quick shout out first. Wow, my hair looks so good a couple months ago and now I have quarantine hair. It's so long I can't even do my hair now. So, at the time of making this video or, you know, some of the footage were shot a couple months ago and we are in mid-quarantine right now because of the COVID-19 outbreak. So, I was not, I am not able to go out and shoot additional b-roll for this video. So, I can't have any of those nice little lifestyle shots of me using the camera. So, good thing Storyblocks have a ton of stock footage of photographers doing photography things and having the subtle b-roll does help add a little to the story that I'm trying to tell. And hey, perhaps Storyblocks can help you out right now. They have aerial footage, time lapses, and even motion graphic template to help you spice up your video. Check out storyblocks.com slash Jason Vong to see if they got anything that you might need. Thanks for listening, but let's start debunking some of those myths about zoom lenses, shall we? Zoom lenses are not as sharp or not as good optically. For that, it really depends. Of course, yes, kit lenses aren't the best. They aren't as sharp, but they are more than good enough for a lot of people. However, I think most people usually bring this reason up is because they're comparing corner to corner sharpness between a prime lens and a zoom lens. Of course, with a zoom lens, you are moving glass back and forth. Therefore, optically, they're not as sharp when it comes, especially in the corner to corner compared to a prime lens. The prime lens only have one glass. However, it's not going to be a big deal to a majority of the people out there unless they, you know, really just blow up the photo and pixel peep in their editing software. So, unless your photography depends on corner to corner sharpness, it's probably not that big of a deal. The next few reasons, zoom lenses don't have faster f-stops. Zoom lenses doesn't give you a lot of bokeh. Zoom lenses are terrible in low light. I would say some of the more better zoom lenses tend to average out at f2.8 as the maximum aperture on the lens. Unless you're an APS-C shooter and you're using Sigma 18-35 and the 50-100mm, your fastest f-stop would be at f1.8, which is pretty insane. Or if you're a Canon mirrorless shooter, you do have that, what, 20-75 f2, uh, behemoth of a zoom lens. Anyways, the point is there are a few outliers out there, but for the most part, some of the more better zoom lenses tend to be at f2.8. And truth be told, f2.8 is more than good enough. If you wanted more bokeh, use the lens at the telephoto end and use it at f2.8. That should give you plenty of bokeh. In terms of low light, camera sensor technology are getting better and better. So, depending on when you buy your camera, if it's a little bit more recent, then you can actually push the ISO a little bit further and still get some pretty decent result when you're shooting in low light. Zoom lenses are more expensive. Well, the same can be true if you buy multiple prime lenses like I did at f1.4. I mean, if you buy a lot of them to cover that same range of zoom lenses, you could end up paying the same, if not more, for those prime lenses. But zoom lenses give you more range, and you can actually go in between those focal lengths to get the shot that you need. I mean, can you find a prime lens that's 44.8 millimeters? Nope, but a zoom lens can give you that. That's a terrible reason. Zoom lenses are heavier. I mean, again, very situational. Really, really depends. But at the same time, even if it's a little bit heavier, it does offer you that convenience of not having to switch out lenses every time. Again, preventing that the dust from flying into your sensor, and it's just, it'll just allow you to capture your shot quickly. And you only have to carry one lens instead of carrying multiple lenses. Zoom lenses make you lazy. It can if you let it, but if you apply the mindset that we've talked about in this video, I think you'll be good. Think back to the time when you're starting out in photography. Did you ever feel like your photos weren't as good because you were using your default kit lens? The internet always trashes these types of lenses, and you probably at some point felt that you needed a prime lens to make your photography better. Unfortunately, prime lenses are additional investments. We're talking about $150 to $1,500 a pop, depending on the lens you want. And for some, $150 is still too much. And the reason why I really wanted to make this video is because when I first started out, I felt the same way, and I don't want others who are just starting out now to feel as disheartened as I did. So hopefully this will encourage some newbies out there to really take advantage of their kit zoom lens and apply this mindset. Treat your zoom lens like a set of prime lenses. So what's next? After applying this mindset and shooting with your zoom lens for a while, kind of look back and see what type of shots are your favorite. Is it more close-up, landscaping shots? Perhaps you enjoy environmental portraits more than you think. And then ask yourself, what can you do to improve these shots? Would a faster f-stop help? Or maybe getting a longer but lighter telephoto would do the trick. And once you figure some things out, you might have a better idea of what the next lens you should get, whether it be a prime lens, zoom lens, or maybe a combination of both. Tag me on Instagram at Jason V Media. I would love to see some of your zoom lens photography. And let me know in the comments down below, are you more of a zoom lens photographer or a prime lens photographer? Let me know your favorite setup in the comments down below. Guys, thank you so much for watching. I'll see you guys in the next video. Peace!