I am mostly a zoom shooter. Lately, I take Tamron 17-28 and 28-200mm. I also have a Sony 20mm f/1.8 that I take instead of the wide angle zoom for low light.Speaking of primes, I also have Sony 50mm f/2.8 and 90mm f/2.8 Macros.I am thinking about playing with an all-prime walk-around kit. Since I have the 20mm f/1.8 and 50mm f/2.8, I would add Samyang's 35mm f/1.8 and 75mm f/1.8, to make a 20-35-50-75mm kit.A side note: Sony lens system needs a longer, lightweight tele prime, around 150-200mm f/3.5 or so. I like the Voightlander 180mm f/4, but would prefer auto-focus and contemporary coatings for better contrast.Will this kit work well? Mostly for landscapes and macro, occasional low light / shallow DOF...Alternatives?Thanks!

ZodiacPhoto wrote:I am mostly a zoom shooter. Lately, I take Tamron 17-28 and 28-200mm. I also have a Sony 20mm f/1.8 that I take instead of the wide angle zoom for low light.Speaking of primes, I also have Sony 50mm f/2.8 and 90mm f/2.8 Macros.I am thinking about playing with an all-prime walk-around kit. Since I have the 20mm f/1.8 and 50mm f/2.8, I would add Samyang's 35mm f/1.8 and 75mm f/1.8, to make a 20-35-50-75mm kit.A side note: Sony lens system needs a longer, lightweight tele prime, around 150-200mm f/3.5 or so. I like the Voightlander 180mm f/4, but would prefer auto-focus and contemporary coatings for better contrast.Will this kit work well? Mostly for landscapes and macro, occasional low light / shallow DOF...Alternatives?Thanks!You have two "R" cameras - no need for so many lenses on the street. Start with your 20mm. That can be turned (cropped) into a 30mm lens. Your 50mm can be turned into a 75 mm, and your 90mm into a 135 (and even a bit more to 180). So three lenses cover 20/30/50/75/90/135/180.

ZodiacPhoto wrote:I am mostly a zoom shooter. Lately, I take Tamron 17-28 and 28-200mm. I also have a Sony 20mm f/1.8 that I take instead of the wide angle zoom for low light.Speaking of primes, I also have Sony 50mm f/2.8 and 90mm f/2.8 Macros.I am thinking about playing with an all-prime walk-around kit. Since I have the 20mm f/1.8 and 50mm f/2.8, I would add Samyang's 35mm f/1.8 and 75mm f/1.8, to make a 20-35-50-75mm kit.A side note: Sony lens system needs a longer, lightweight tele prime, around 150-200mm f/3.5 or so. I like the Voightlander 180mm f/4, but would prefer auto-focus and contemporary coatings for better contrast.Will this kit work well? Mostly for landscapes and macro, occasional low light / shallow DOF...Alternatives?Thanks!I too was/am mostly a zoom shooter. I started a thread that might be helpful to you entitled, “Two or Three Prime Lens Kit.” It is here:https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66543330My personal prime lens kit is Sony 24/1.4 GM, Samyang 50/1.4 ii, and Zeiss Batis 85/1.8 for the a7iii/iv. Covers what I need and is not too heavy.For my Sony a7c I use smaller primes: Sony 24/2.8 G or 28/2, 40/2.5 or 50/2.5, and Samyang 75/1.8.You suggested kit seems fine. The Samyang 35/1.8 is the AF 35mm I chose too although you might have a look at the Voigtlander 35/2 APO. It’s my best 35mm.

I sometimes use a prime kit consisting of Loxia 21 (or Samyang 18) + Samyang 35 1.8 + Samyang 75 1.8 (or Loxia 85 or Sony 90 Macro), which works very well indeed.I personally don't miss having a 50mm with me.Sometimes I'll take the minimalist route of Samyang 24 1.8 (or Loxia 25) + Sy 75.

For my a7RIII, my ultralight 3-prime set is:Samyang 18/2.8Samyang 35/2.8Samyang 75/1.8With Crop mode, I also get 27, 52 and 112 focal lengths for 18MP RAW files.

Personally I look at gear as a means to an end.  I’d ask myself why do I need to duplicate focal lengths. What will I truly getA prime lens is all that lens will ever be. F stop ability is secondary.I suggest you test this. Set your zoom lens at the one focal length. Take photos.  More then take photos, go out for the day and don’t zoom you will get a sense what that is like.If you have an area of photography you specialize then sure consider a prime.if this is GAS then I might suggest looking at your kit. Do you need a better tripod and or head. Maybe flash , filters. A better camera bag, backpack or roller bag ?I think what is my favorite type of photography to do and get really good at it.  A zoom or prime won’t make you better in if itself.

LenRivers wrote:Personally I look at gear as a means to an end. I’d ask myself why do I need to duplicate focal lengths. What will I truly getA prime lens is all that lens will ever be. F stop ability is secondary.I suggest you test this. Set your zoom lens at the one focal length. Take photos. More then take photos, go out for the day and don’t zoom you will get a sense what that is like.I tried this a couple of times. It is hard to limit myself to just one focal length, I always see photo opportunities that I can't take with a single prime lens. That's why I am thinking about a set of primes.If you have an area of photography you specialize then sure consider a prime.if this is GAS then I might suggest looking at your kit. Do you need a better tripod and or head. Maybe flash , filters. A better camera bag, backpack or roller bag ?I think what is my favorite type of photography to do and get really good at it. A zoom or prime won’t make you better in if itself.My idea is to reduce the weight I am carrying in my hand (I prefer a hand strap) by selecting a lens that weights less than 1 lb. And, I would like to explore one style of photography I can't always produce with a relatively slow zoom - it's like a portrait of inanimate object, a shallow DOF landscape of sort... I think f/1.8 lenses will help.

ZodiacPhoto wrote:LenRivers wrote:Personally I look at gear as a means to an end. I’d ask myself why do I need to duplicate focal lengths. What will I truly getA prime lens is all that lens will ever be. F stop ability is secondary.I suggest you test this. Set your zoom lens at the one focal length. Take photos. More then take photos, go out for the day and don’t zoom you will get a sense what that is like.I tried this a couple of times. It is hard to limit myself to just one focal length, I always see photo opportunities that I can't take with a single prime lens. That's why I am thinking about a set of primes.Just to clarify and my thought process.  By no means do I want to come off preachy.  I may not express correctly so not my intention.Lets forget F stop ability for the moment as that is really what the idea is behind a Prime, far as I think about them.If you say you always see opportunities you can not take with a prime lens and the zoom works better, how will a set of primes make it better? Seems like not an efficient way to do things if you do primes only.  Changing a lens is fairly quick but not as fast as a zoom. You will either miss that shot in the time it takes to change a lens or you change lenses so fast maybe you drop a lens or something.  Best practice is to turn the camera off anyway when changing lenses.If you have an area of photography you specialize then sure consider a prime.if this is GAS then I might suggest looking at your kit. Do you need a better tripod and or head. Maybe flash , filters. A better camera bag, backpack or roller bag ?I think what is my favorite type of photography to do and get really good at it. A zoom or prime won’t make you better in if itself.My idea is to reduce the weight I am carrying in my hand (I prefer a hand strap) by selecting a lens that weights less than 1 lb. And, I would like to explore one style of photography I can't always produce with a relatively slow zoom - it's like a portrait of inanimate object, a shallow DOF landscape of sort... I think f/1.8 lenses will help.Yes, F stop is only part of it.  Focal length and subject to lens distance all affect that DOF look.  50 mm is 50 mm all day long as much as a 300 mm prime is no matter if it is a zoom lens or not.Just saying there is a reason to use F 1.8 all the time  Just saying a few factors go in to the choice of focal length and f stop.A lenses close focus distance can also matter.  I'd also consider using a tripod and a slower shutter speed for the inanimate object idea with your zoom lens all the way zoom out.

If I had to chose one prime focal length for landscape photography it would be my Voigtlander 35mm APO.  It would be the mainstay in my prime lens kit.

I think you have more than enough lenses already. Would probably buy something longer, like the 200-600 or the sigma 100-400. Would also consider a 40 1.2 or 35 1.4

SafariBob wrote:I think you have more than enough lenses already. Would probably buy something longer, like the 200-600 or the sigma 100-400. Would also consider a 40 1.2 or 35 1.4I already have a 100-400, not exactly a "walk-around" lens - too heavy. For the same reason, f/1.2-1.4 lenses are not on my radar at this time.

I have a similar prime walkabout setup for my A7C. A SY 24mm f/1.8,  SY 45mm f/1.8 and a Sony 85mm f/1.8. Very light, compact f/1.8 prime kit that is super for low-light work. I add an extension tube for closeups. 75mm is not quite long enough for me (and I have the Sony 85mm anyway). If I want a zoom, I use the FE 24-105 f/4, which is fine, but I enjoy having higher speed and shallower DOF options with the prime kit. There is no real "best" solution. It's more a question of what is compatible with your shooting style. I had the 50mm macro for a weekend test. Good lens but the focus speed was a bit pokey for non-macro subjects so YMMV. Nice to have closeup capabilities, though (and you already have it anyway). Give it a try!

The obvious alternatives would be the Sigma 35/2 if you just like the rendering/build better, and the 90/2.8 if you prefer the extra reach and/or shorter MFD in exchange for the 75/1.8's speed, but you already have the macros so it's likely the SY 75/1.8 might be the better fit...I can't speak for the 35s, I had the Sony 35/1.8 then jumped to the GM (and also added the SY 45/1.8, will likely sell the Sony 35/1.8), but I like the SY 75/1.8 and I think it's one of their more underrated lenses and/or one of the top 2-3 in their f1.8 lineup. There's the Sigma 65/2 if you wanted something that could possibly work instead of the 50 for a 20/35/65 trio...I'd kill for a compact and lightweight (<500g at least) ~150mm prime too btw. I splurged on the SY 135/1.8 cause I'd always wanted a lens like that, and I've got a vintage 135/3.5 (325g + adapter) plus an Oly 75/1.8 (300g or around 475g with a small body), but a modern but lightweight AF tele >135mm would replace at least two of those for me, for a variety of use cases.It's really the only thing I truly long for in the system, but I'm not holding my breath, seems these days everyone prefers tele zooms and it's pretty hard to argue with the value of the 70-180. I'd even take an extending 70-200/4 or a variable 70-200 if someone could bring it down to <600g. Anyway, I really like 20/35/75 for a trio but I've never been partial to 50mm.When I go even more minimalist I'll just do 24/2.8 G + SY 45/1.8... Shooting an A7R IV so the cropping leeway helps. All that being said, for mostly landscapes and closeups I'd still reach for my 17-28 & 50-400 over the primes, but it's nice to be able to scale the kit up and down. Three primes (even larger ones like the 35GM) I can squeeze into a 5-6L Sling, for the tele zoom I really prefer a backpack.

Impulses wrote:It's really the only thing I truly long for in the system, but I'm not holding my breath, seems these days everyone prefers tele zooms and it's pretty hard to argue with the value of the 70-180. I'd even take an extending 70-200/4 or a variable 70-200 if someone could bring it down to <600g. Anyway, I really like 20/35/75 for a trio but I've never been partial to 50mm.The Tamron 70-300 weighs 594 grams with a shorter, screw-in hood and (my sample at least) is quite good.Fully agree with the classic 20+35+tele trio. Now the tele can be a Samayang 75 1.8 (weight & speed), a Sony 90 2.8 macro, a Tamron 70-180 or a Tamron 70-300.When I go even more minimalist I'll just do 24/2.8 G + SY 45/1.8...My minimalist kit is 24/25 + tele.

ZodiacPhoto wrote:I am thinking about playing with an all-prime walk-around kit. Since I have the 20mm f/1.8 and 50mm f/2.8, I would add Samyang's 35mm f/1.8 and 75mm f/1.8, to make a 20-35-50-75mm kit.Samyang 35 and 75 are both decent lens, but for 35mm, the 35GM will give you better bokeh and the Voigtlander 35 F2 APO would give you much better overall image quality ( except on the Bokeh it will be worse than the GM), I own both like them both but use for different application, and for the best Bokeh, i actually like my Sigma 35 F1.2 the best, but this is a huge lens so I assumed is not for most people.For your 75mm, the Samyang is nice little lens but i personally like the 85mm a lot more for portrait, and at the moment i still consider the 85GM produces the most pleasing Bokeh/Portrait even it's old and focus really slow, and the Sigma 85 DN DG would be my second choice, i know a lot people would choose the Sigma over the GM due to sharpness and focusing speed but I still prefer the image I get from the GM better.For my Sony platform I also have a Samyang 135 F2 manual focus for my prime kit, it's gorgeous portrait lens, i like it so much and don't even bother to upgrade it to the new Samyang 135 1.8 or the 135GM. I am totally used to manual focus and also have a Zeiss 135 Milvus on my DSLR that's why the old MF Samyang doesn't bother me at all.A side note: Sony lens system needs a longer, lightweight tele prime, around 150-200mm f/3.5 or so. I like the Voightlander 180mm f/4, but would prefer auto-focus and contemporary coatings for better contrast.I also like the Voigtlander 180 a lot and i have been searching for a good used copy now, I actually prefer to stay with manual focus and try to avoid AF lens as much as I can, unless for super telephoto when I use it for sports and wild life stuff, i really hate those Focus by Wired crap, so I am really hoping either Zeiss and Voigtlander come out with a modern 180-200mm prime.