Shooting with a 50 Prime

We recently talked about shooting with an Ultra Wide angle lens. I also mentioned it cost about $1000 when I bought it. This isn’t a casual purchase. If it weren’t for our real estate business needing this lens I probably wouldn’t have one.
That’s not true of the 50 mm prime.

What’s a Prime

This might come as a surprise to you but a prime is a lens that doesn not ZOOM.  The way you zoom in and out with a prime is to move your feet.

Move closer to zoom in, move back to zoom out.

The 50 mm prime for digital is about the same as an 85 mm film camera.  An 85 mm is considered to be a portrait lens.  Sharp, and crisp.  Since most  consumer and Pro-sumer Digital DSLR cameras are not full frame they fall into this category where we convert them to the old standard.  More on this in another post.

For now lets talk about the 50 mm prime.

The one I have is a very low light lens.  It will go down to F1.8 for aperture.  It runs about $129.  You can get  a 1.4 but it will cost you hundreds more for that .4 which isn’t that much extra light.  This means I can shot in rather dark places without a flash.

I would use this at events where I can’t get close to the subject.  I really use this when I am at an event where flash is not allowed.  I can open this lens up and still get some very acceptable images.

This lens is sharp, I mean razor sharp.  I love the images I get with this lens.  I can crop in tight on a section of the image and have a great photo.

Poor Man’s Macro

I also pull my 50 mm out of the bag when I want to get up close without getting close.  It won’t let you get real close, 18 inches is about as close as I can get and still focus.  But that’s not usually an issue.  This lens already reaches out and touches the subject quite easily.

Almost every time I post an image to one of my profile pages taken with this lens someone will say “Great macro”.  I smile and say “Thanks”

I’ve thought about adding a Macro to my bag.  But they aren’t cheap.  The good glass will run between $400 – $600.  I have a few others on the list ahead of the macro.

Go in Tight

This lens isn’t one you use when you are in tight spaces unless you are shooting artsy shots.  If you want to capture the whole scene up close don’t put the 50 mm on.  But if you are a long way from the subject and want to bring it in close without getting close yourself.  This little beauty is one sweet piece of glass.

A 50 mm prime should be in your bag.  1.8 will do fine.  You don’t have to get fancy or spend a lot of money going with  a 1.4.  Save your shekels for other items to add to your photo tool bag of tricks.

All the photos in this gallery were taken with the 50 mm 1.8 prime. Most are cropped for effect; some are the entire image. All are great looking images from an inexpensive but excellent piece of glass.

Tags: 50 mm lens, poor man's macro, prime lens