There was a time when the purchase of an SLR camera included a 50mm lens. Before the advent of zoom lenses these lenses were a staple in any camera bag. Usually very affordable, the 50mm lens is an inexpensive way to get a large aperture lens which can help you capture stunning portraits and good exposures in very low light. I will address the latter first. We first need to understand what the aperture is so we can understand the benefit of this lens. The smaller the "F stop" number (1.4) the larger the opening in the rear of the lens allowing it to gather more light. These lenses are referred to as fast lenses. The fastest lenses in the bunch are fixed focal length lenses. The reason for this is that larger the opening at the rear of the lens the larger the lense needs to be. So making zooms with very large apertures would create a lens that would be far to heavy and bulky to handle. But if we use our feet as our zoom these lenses combined with using a higher ISO makes for stunning low light images, and often without the use of flash. In portrait photography the perfect focal length used by pros was between 70mm and 90mm at an aperture of 1.4 to 1.8. These lenses are often expensive. However when we take the 50mm 1.8 and put it on the cropped sensor of a DSLR we have the 35mm equivalent of a 75mm lens. So now we are shooting portraits like a pro for 150.00 dollars instead of 800.00 dollars.
In the sample photo of the guitar player we used a 50mm 1.7 Minolta lens. With the camera set to 1600 ISO we were able to capture this shot without flash.
In this portrait sample below we also used the 50mm 1.7 Minolta lens. This time at ISO 80 we were able to blur the buildings behind the subject and give the photo a 3 dimensional feel making the model really pop from the back ground.
Lastly put this lens on your camera and you will find yourself moving your feet where you never did before. Normally with your zoom lens your feet stay planted in one spot and you spend your time zooming in and out of shots. The 50mm makes you think through your shot more which in the end will make you a better photographer. All of the DSLR manufacturers make two versions of these lenses. Usually a 1.4 version and a 1.8 version. The latter being the most affordable and usually less then half the cost of the 1.4. Canon also has a 50mm F1.2.
Get one, try one, and you may find yourself with it on your camera more often then not.
Canon - 50mm 1.8 II - 139.99
Nikon - 50mm 1.8 D - 134.99
Sony - 50mm 1.8 - 175.00
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