"Prime" lenses are lenses with a fixed focal length. While not as flexible as their variable focal-length cousins, primes do have certain advantages. For one thing, the relative simplicity of their design enables them to be sharper and have less distortion than zoom lenses; for another, that simplicity also tends to make them less hard on the pocketbook.

All of the pictures in this section were taken with the two prime lenses I currently own: the exceptional Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 macro lens -- which does double-duty as a regular prime -- and the inexpensive but exceedingly sharp Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, which is fast enough to enable me to shoot held-held under low-light conditions. As you can tell from the images above, they my first choice for doing product shots.