Quote Originally Posted by lloydhelen123


can you briefly explain why a prime lens 50mm f/1.8 is worth having when you have an f/2.8 lens that has a maximum of 50mm?


Well, it is not as significant as the difference between that prime and your kit lens, for example. But, f/1.8 is 1.33 stops faster than f/2.8. Consider the differences in cost between other lenses with a 1-1.33 difference in aperture - 70-200mm f/4 zooms are half the cost of the f/2.8 versions, the 28mm f/1.8 is half the cost of the 28mm f/2.8, the 300mm f/4L IS is $1250, compared to the $4500 cost for the 300mm f/2.8L IS. People pay a lot of money for that extra stop of light!


Granted, here we're comparing prime vs. zoom. But there are times when f/2.8 is too slow (indoor in weak ambient light, for example), but f/1.8 brings the shutter speed up to an acceptable level to get the shot.