I've been shooting for 15 years, and I still think the 50mm f/1.8 prime lens beats any expensive zoom in most situations. The sharpness, the bokeh, the low light performance — it's all there at a fraction of the cost. Sure, you lose flexibility when you can't zoom, but that limitation forces you to move your feet and think about composition. Is the convenience of a zoom really worth paying three times more for slightly worse image quality?