Top 4 Reasons You Should Own a 50mm Lens
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It won't cost much
Most manufacturers sell 50mm lenses for as little as $100. How much was your last zoom lens? $200? $400? $500? $A lot more? A 50mm lens is a bargain.
Granted, this is a fixed (prime) lens and you'll have to zoom with your feet. But the many other benefits of a 50mm lens make it a very useful addition to your lens arsenal.
Big Aperture
You'll find 50mm lenses with apertures of F1.8 and F1.4. The $100 listed above is for the F1.8 variety. That's HUGE compared to your F3.5 or F5.6 lenses! You're gaining 2-3 stops of light gathering ability. Great for shooting indoors in low light and no flash.
Another benefit of the larger aperture is that your autofocus will work better. More light coming in means the camera can 'see' better. And so can you.
When you see the price difference between the F1.8 and F1.4 lenses you will likely be leaning toward the F1.8. The F1.4 lens gets you 2/3 stop more light and is useful if you shoot a LOT in low light. Personally, I could not justify the cost difference and went with an F1.8 Nikkor.
Weighs next to nothing
This isn't some superzoom with 10-12 pieces of glass and cams and gears to shift lens groups around. A 50mm is a smallish lens with a simple design. Nothing fancy. Just a couple of lens elements in a simple barrel with a focusing ring.
Extra Crispy
Lens and camera manufacturers have been making 50mm lenses for many years. The optical design is tested, tried and true. These little babies are sharp, partly due to their simplicity. And, prime lenses are generally thought of as sharper.
The Prime vs. Zoom lens debate has gone on for years. Even though zooms keep getting better there's still nothing like a Prime lens. Zooms do give you the convenience of multiple focal lengths in one lens, but there is something about shooting with a fixed focal length Prime. It just seems more 'pure' IMHO.
Suggested Uses for a 50mm Lens
- Portraits - The nice big aperture lets you easily blur the background and get good separation between your subject and background. On a Digital SLR this is effectively a 75-80mm lens and gives you a good working distance between you and your subject.
- Low Light - Bigger aperture letting in more light means you can shoot in places you can't with your standard zoom. Autofocus works better and you can see better through the viewfinder.
- Macro - Add a closeup filter or extension tube and you have a potent macro solution. I routinely use a Nikon 4T Closeup filter on my 50mm lens.
- Flash photos - Again, the big aperture comes into play. It gives you greater shooting distances with a flash. (You'll get more than twice the distance using F1.8 vs. an F5.6 lens!)
Get yourself a 50mm lens and you'll find, as many photographers have, that it's one of the most useful lenses to own.
