Yes, this time it’s neither “vs.” nor “or” but “and”. It’s because I like and use both prime and zoom lenses. A little 1+1 background: Zoom lenses are lenses you can zoom, prime lenses are the ones you can’t zoom (A prime lens has only one fixed focal length, e.g. 24mm).
Are you getting too comfortable with your modern “fast” zoom lens (apostrophe because zoom lenses aren’t really fast. Okay, okay, we say lenses with aperture 2.8 “fast” and all lenses with bigger aperture, i.e. smaller number than 2.8, “ultra fast”. Hahaha….)? I said “lens” in singular, because one single today’s zoom lens can cover all focal lengths necessary for normal use on weddings. So, are you getting too comfortable? Don’t. Prime lenses haven’t died. Yes, they are uncomfortable to use and many photographers will sweat knowing they can’t zoom the lens. But prime lenses generally deliver better quality and some of them provide features zoom lenses don’t. Below are two samples taken with two of my prime lenses:
Image taken with a 1:1 makro lens
Image taken at aperture 1.4
Prime lenses are not luxury. Well okay, some of them are, for example a fish eye lens, because if you put more than 2 or 3 images captured by a fish eye lens, chances are your wedding photo album will look ridiculous. So you can use it only sparingly.
Another example for luxury is a prime lens with a focal length above 200mm (remember we are talking about wedding photography here, not wild life photography where you can’t get too close to the Yeti so you need a long telephoto lens). Indoors you can’t use it because first you get only the nose of the bride, and second your image will be shaky (you need a speed of faster than 1/200 sec., which you normally don’t have indoors because of the smaller amount of light presents there). Outdoors your options are in the same way limited.
By the way zoom lenses are there to make you feel comfortable, but not too comfortable. Zoom lenses are excellent because you theoretically have indefinite lenses of different focal lengths in one lens, for example a 44 mm or a 51.7 mm, which just don’t exist as prime lenses. And you don’t even have to change the lens, just turn the zoom ring and voilá!, you get a lens with a different focal length. It’s magical. And you save money, too, considering you have to buy only one single lens. But zoom lenses are not there to replace your foot work. Most zoom users (that includes professional photographers) stand somewhere they can see the object, and then turn the zoom ring until they get the crop they want. This is only correct if you are standing on a boat and can’t walk on the water to get close to the whale you want to (photographically) shoot.
The right sequence in photo taking is to first imagine the end result of the picture you are about to take (this is why I almost never have to crop my pictures in Photoshop, because I know what I want), based on that you decide on a certain focal length (because each focal length has a different characteristic. Tell me you actually know this. If you don’t, go buy any basic photography book), and then walk forward or backward until you get the crop you had in mind. It feels awkward and difficult in the beginning, but after a while you’ll get use to it (or maybe not 
). Later, when you want to use a certain focal length with a certain crop, you would even know where to stand before you look into the camera viewer.This is also where prime lenses are better than a zoom lens. You have to first choose one lens according to your imagination how the picture should be, attach it to your camera, and then you have no choice but to move forward or backward to make your picture.
So buy some prime lenses: 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 90mm, 135mm and 200mm and get to practice. Just kidding. With your zoom lens and a bit discipline you can do the practice. Have fun!
