Prime Lens..............

madsox · May 21, 2023

I'm another who's used "prime" to mean fixed focal length since the 70s. So it's been around at least that long. I know I've used "prime vs. zoom" more recently than I've used "fixed focal length", but prime and fixed are pretty much interchangeable for me.

MF to mean Manual Focus is more recent, it used to be just normal cameras vs. AF, of course... Now MF could be medium format or manual focus depending on context, I mean - how could you not use that same abbreviation for both? In English, that is. I'm sadly monolingual, so I admit my perspective is a bit limited.

Sirius Glass · May 21, 2023

eli griggs said:
That's interesting,as, as I've always known photography, MF, has always been.for Medium Format, only.

Seriously, I've never heard anyone that I worked or knew in photography refer to "Manual Focus" as an acronym, being used to manual focus spoken or written in the entirety, or shortened to simple "manual".

I suppose, people are like the infinity of multi-verses, in that if you listen to enough of them, you'll hear many different variations, none are impossible, ad nauseam.

MattKing said:
I've mostly encountered MF in the context of the "trilogy": 35mm, MF and LF.
But I would say there seems to be a lot more acronyms around since the internet became predominate.

Same for me. MF vis-a-vis and Auto Focus option came at the beginning of the century.

Sirius Glass · May 21, 2023

madsox said:
I'm another who's used "prime" to mean fixed focal length since the 70s. So it's been around at least that long. I know I've used "prime vs. zoom" more recently than I've used "fixed focal length", but prime and fixed are pretty much interchangeable for me.

MF to mean Manual Focus is more recent, it used to be just normal cameras vs. AF, of course... Now MF could be medium format or manual focus depending on context, I mean - how could you not use that same abbreviation for both? In English, that is. I'm sadly monolingual, so I admit my perspective is a bit limited.

Prime being used since it was fewer words and syllables.

reddesert · May 21, 2023

MattKing said:
I've mostly encountered MF in the context of the "trilogy": 35mm, MF and LF.
But I would say there seems to be a lot more acronyms around since the internet became predominate.

The rise of the internet, including forums, and before that, Usenet newsgroups and email lists, created a lot more venues for short written communications among non-professional writers. In the 1980s, if you were reading about photography you might be reading a photo magazine, where the authors were photographers, but also professional or semi-pro writers, writing to a magazine standard style and edited by photographer-writers. Typical style manuals try to reduce jargon and abbreviations, even in trade magazines and so on. Non-professional writing was more limited to letters to the editor, newsletters, and (gasp) typed letters.

In the 1990s, you might start to read a rec.photo.* Usenet newsgroup or an email list (was APUG originally a mailing list?), and by the 2000s, an internet forum. Each of those had lots of writing in relatively terse and un-edited form, more likely to contain slang and jargon than an article in Popular Photography or whatever. The same goes for more or less every other interest group, not just photography. Democratization of communications also leads to changes in their form.

BMbikerider · May 21, 2023

Bill Burk said:
I’d swear I used it to distinguish them from zoom, in the 80’s back when all I wanted was f/2 lenses or brighter

I think you may be right, I have used that term since well long before 2000

KerrKid · May 21, 2023

runswithsizzers said:
But aren't all pens "ink pens" - so why not just "pen"? ;-)

Livestock pens, Olympus Pen's. Ranchers and photographers get confused if you don't specify.

Brendan Quirk · May 21, 2023

KerrKid said:
Great thread. I’m taking notes with my ink pen.

Now that sounds Carolinian...

Brendan Quirk · May 21, 2023

Ian Grant said:
The term "Prime lenses" was definitely in use here in the UK by the late 1970s, which coincides with the introduction of better optimised zoom lenses.

One definition of "Prime" which is being missed is in terms of being "the best quality". Somewhere I have a magazine with an article comparing camera manufacturer's Prime lenses to those of third party lens manufacturers, around 1978/9.

Ian

I was just looking through a late 70s book on Olympus cameras. There were many articles that had been cut out from Pop Photo and the like from about 1981 stuck between the pages. There was also a newspaper article exhorting beginners to consider other "primes" besides the usual 50 mm for the first 35 mm camera. They did not like zooms, except mid-tele as an additional lens beside the "prime".

Although I was active in photography then, I don't remember discussion of "primes"; however, I couldn't afford any more gear, and ignored most gear discussions then.

I will echo some others here in that I have seen some discussion of "primes" as something to do with movie lenses, but don't remember the detail.

eli griggs · May 21, 2023

It may be that many of our older members, like myself, most often discussed a particular individual prime lens, contrasted with 'zooms', our likes and dislikes about the newest and marketing 'greatest' available.

Without the advent of zooms, there would have been little to no need to express in terms of "prime" as they would just be lenses, makers brands/lines or lens designs.

No?

Sirius Glass · May 21, 2023

Before zoom lenses all lenses were called lenses. Non of us worried about fancier names other than descriptors such as wide angle, normal, telephoto or fisheye.

henryvk · May 22, 2023

Mick Fagan said:
The current slang term that really throws me, is the usage of "MF" to mean Manual Focus, I have always used the abbreviation MF to define, Medium Format.

Manual focus is a given, and, if it is an autofocus camera, the abbreviation almost universally used, is, AF.

I swear, my brain always parses MF as "motherf****ing"

BrianShaw · May 22, 2023

Photographic OBJECTIVE…

RalphLambrecht · May 22, 2023

KerrKid said:
Great thread. I’m taking notes with my ink pen.

every retro man should have one!

madsox · May 22, 2023

Brendan Quirk said:
I was just looking through a late 70s book on Olympus cameras. There were many articles that had been cut out from Pop Photo and the like from about 1981 stuck between the pages. There was also a newspaper article exhorting beginners to consider other "primes" besides the usual 50 mm for the first 35 mm camera. They did not like zooms, except mid-tele as an additional lens beside the "prime".

Hmm. Akshully... Yes, I think I do usually use "prime lens" as meaning the main, fixed focal length lens that's most like the 45-50mm on a 35mm. Prime vs. wide angle vs telephoto, although it's not 100%.

Sirius Glass · May 22, 2023

My prime lenses for my Hasselblads are prime lenses and I have no zoom lenses for the Hasselblads.
My prime lenses for my Nikon AF cameras are zoom lenses and the primes are secondary.

MattKing · May 22, 2023

Thinking about this, it probably irritates me the most because I tend to equate "prime" with "better", and while I prefer good quality fixed focal length lenses, I know that there are good quality zoom or varifocal lens that perform better than poor quality fixed focal length lenses.
I'm irritated because in this context, "prime" does not necessarily equate with "better".

eli griggs · May 22, 2023

RalphLambrecht said:
every retro man should have one!

Yes, the vest pocket Waterman's with New York #2 nib.

KerrKid · May 22, 2023

eli griggs said:
Yes, the vest pocket Waterman's with New York #2 nib.

Lovely, if you're right handed. Otherwise, it's just a fancy way to transfer ink to your hand.

KerrKid · May 22, 2023

MattKing said:
Thinking about this, it probably irritates me the most because I tend to equate "prime" with "better", and while I prefer good quality fixed focal length lenses, I know that there are good quality zoom or varifocal lens that perform better than poor quality fixed focal length lenses.
I'm irritated because in this context, "prime" does not necessarily equate with "better".

Imagine being photographed with a prime when you're in your prime and have to prime a pump.

Pieter12 · May 22, 2023

MattKing said:
Thinking about this, it probably irritates me the most because I tend to equate "prime" with "better", and while I prefer good quality fixed focal length lenses, I know that there are good quality zoom or varifocal lens that perform better than poor quality fixed focal length lenses.
I'm irritated because in this context, "prime" does not necessarily equate with "better".

It is old terminology from when zoom lenses were not of the same optical quality as today. Photography, and maybe moreso film photography is saddled with some outdated terminology. Just accept it.

Ian Grant · May 22, 2023

MattKing said:
Thinking about this, it probably irritates me the most because I tend to equate "prime" with "better", and while I prefer good quality fixed focal length lenses, I know that there are good quality zoom or varifocal lens that perform better than poor quality fixed focal length lenses.
I'm irritated because in this context, "prime" does not necessarily equate with "better".

But equating "Prime" with "Better" is also correct although maybe "Best" is more apt in terms of highest quality. For instance had their Prime lenses and then the E Series economy fixed FL lenses.

Carl Zeiss Jena sold two prime 35mm camera Prime standard lenses in the 70s/89s the Pancolar and Meyer Oreston 50mm f1.8 lenses, then the budget 50mm f2.8 Tessar, and Meyer 50mm f3.5 Domiplan.

Prime is a term used widely for best quality, as in a Prime cut of beef, and Prime of life. In photography, it goes back to before Zoom lenses were introduced

Ian

Pieter12 · May 22, 2023

Ian Grant said:
Prime is a term used widely for best quality, as in a Prime cut of beef, and Prime of life. In photography, it goes back to before Zoom lenses were introduced

Prime is also used as "principal," as in the main lens one would use, especially when zoom lenses were more of a compromise in terms of optical quality.

eli griggs · May 22, 2023

KerrKid said:
Imagine being photographed with a prime when you're in your prime and have to prime a pump.

I can just imagine you manually priming a squeeze bulb shutter release 'pump' while having yourself and your prime, photographed!

What a shot that would have been!

KerrKid said:
Lovely, if you're right handed. Otherwise, it's just a fancy way to transfer ink to your hand.

For fountain pen users, inked hands are the same as a fencing scar to the face, a badge of pride, and how could you be expected to resist that in light of the very flexible 14k nib, I ask you?

Pieter12 · May 22, 2023

eli griggs said:
I can just imagine you manually priming a squeeze bulb shutter release 'pump' while having yourself and your prime, photographed!

What a shot that would have been!

While watching Amazon Prime?

eli griggs said:
For fountain pen users, inked hands are the same as a fencing scar to the face, a badge of pride, and how could you be expected to resist that in light of the very flexible 14k nib, I ask you?

For lefties, the ink gets smeared on the page, not just the hand. Same goes for pencils and felt-tip pens.

Sirius Glass · May 22, 2023

Can one buy a Zoom lens on Amazon Prime?

Prime Lens..............

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