Must Have Prime Lenses

[Raydar]

I enjoy using fixed lenses more than zooms. I've heard that prime lens are sharper than zooms. Also, i shoot mostly portrait sometimes landscape photography.

My question are these four lens to choose from
Canon 20mm F2.8 USM
Canon 35mm F2
Canon 50mm F1.4 USM
Canon 85mm F1.8 USM

I'm for sure buying 50mm F1.4. The 20mm would be great 4 me when i do night photography and landscape. Canon's 35mm would almost be true 35mm on my crop sensor camera. Lastly, the 85mm i think would be to high of a zoom for my crop camera.

 

[joshua_]

I enjoy using fixed lenses more than zooms. I've heard that prime lens are sharper than zooms. Also, i shoot mostly portrait sometimes landscape photography.

My question are these four lens to choose from
Canon 20mm F2.8 USM
Canon 35mm F2
Canon 50mm F1.4 USM
Canon 85mm F1.8 USM

I'm for sure buying 50mm F1.4. The 20mm would be great 4 me when i do night photography and landscape. Canon's 35mm would almost be true 35mm on my crop sensor camera. Lastly, the 85mm i think would be to high of a zoom for my crop camera.

I'm a noob to all of this. I am really enjoying my 35mm on my crop sensor camera. It's been excellent, especially in close quarters and darker environments. So far, if I could only have one lens that would be it. I may be misunderstanding you, but on my crop sensor my 35mm is more like a 52mm. I use a Nikon though so I'm guessing that Cannon does something different than what I'm use to.

I'm enjoying that prime of mine and I believe I'll end up with at least one, maybe two more. I'm ready for a macro. :mrgreen:

 

[07Vios]

Canon is a 1.6x crop factor, and I think Nikon (at least newer bodies) is a 1.5x crop factor.


OP, I think you're going to need two different lenses if you want to stick to primes since you said you like portrait and landscape. For portraits, a 50mm or an 85mm would be nice. For landscape, you'll a wide angle or an ultra wide angle lens. Perhaps a 10-2x mm lens?

 

[Raydar]

How about Tokina 11-16mm F2.8
I like the Fixed WIDE F2.8

 

[gw2424]

The 11-16 is great for landscape use. For your portraits, the Canon 85mm is absolutely legendary. It has great bokeh, is very sharp, and is quite cheap as well.

 

[kathyt]

For portraits I would do the 50 and the 85. For landscapes....that's another story.