I would like to
highlight a particular prime lens that I feel is a must use for everyone at
least for the beginners. I am talking about the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II or the
nifty fifty as it is rightly called. At this focal length, these lenses show
the same view that you see through your eyes, and so are also referred to as
normal lenses. This small, versatile, and exceptionally lightweight lens is for Canon
DSLR cameras. The first lens you’ll want to grab as it is affordable and small,
and takes incredible images in low light. This
year, the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, also called the “Nifty Fifty” celebrates its
25th birthday. This lens was released back in December 1990 and is still in
production. It still dominates the list of the most popular Canon lenses. You
should definitely consider this lens if you own a Canon DSLR and currently
shoots with kit zooms. It has an overall image quality that is very impressive
and the fast maximum aperture provides creative functions which are worth
checking out. This lens is cheap, fast, small and lightweight. You will find
that this is hard to beat when it comes to the performance to price ratio this
makes it the first prime lens for most Canon owners.
Why 50mm is a small wounder?
Great Optics and Sharpness: The best
optical quality is delivered by prime lenses and this lens is no different. The
optics are superb. You get sharp images. Prime lenses are usually inherently
sharper than zoom lenses, partly due to there being less moving parts inside
the lens, and less lens elements. Also because they use a smaller number of
glass elements inside the lens, which means lesser loss of quality, and hence
better and sharp picture.
Shooting in low
light: The wide aperture of f1.8 lets
in more light, allowing you to shoot without flash in low light. This lens is
great for shooting indoors where a flash sort of ruins the feel. Of course the
wide aperture also means that you’ll have a very shallow depth of field, and
hence you need to compose your shot such that you get the subject completely in
focus. Also wide aperture allows you to use either a faster shutter speed and
avoid camera shake, or a lower ISO and avoid the noise you get from higher
ISOs, or a combination of both.
Light Weight: The nifty fifty
is light, small and very
convenient to carry around, whether in your bag, or on your camera.
There is no reason to leave this lens at home. That means even when you have
bag full of stuff to carry, you can easily grab your camera and the Nifty Fifty
and go.
Nice Bokeh: Prime lenses typically produce nice bokeh
than most zoom lenses and with the f1.8 aperture you can make some really nice
bokeh. Bright lights, off in the background, twinkle with this little lens.
Fast Lens: Primes in
general, are fast lenses i.e.
they have bigger apertures that allow you to shoot at high shutter speeds even
in low light, one major aspect where most zooms lack.
Very Cheap: This lens is very cheap and an easy buy for the
hobbyist with a budget. Also
for people hoping to get sharper results than those which can be provided by
the kit lens bundled with camera body. Its also a potential potion for those
seeking a near disposable lens to use in adverse conditions.
Improves Skills: With a fixed frame of view, the only zoom you have
at your disposal is your feet. With this ‘restriction’ one ends up being very
careful, and also very creative, with their compositions, and also more
involved in the whole photographic process.
Versatile : Its quite versatile and you can shoot just about anything
you want with 50mm – landscapes, portraits, close-ups, macros, candids, street
photography (all to a certain level). Mentioned below
are some points that show just how versatile this little wonder is:
1) The
Reversed Macro: Not all of us can
afford a dedicated macro lens. And the good news is that you can use this 50mm
as a macro lens by reversing it. You’ll need a reversal ring for that. You lose
autofocus, but that’s not all that bad when you’re getting a macro lens at this
price. You also need to preset you aperture. ie set the aperture first and then
reverse the lens.
2) The Wide effect: You
might not get as wide an angle as with a dedicated lens, but you can still get
a wide angle look by moving farther from your subject, and using a smaller
aperture (larger f number). This covers a wider area and gives a larger zone of
sharpness, just like a wide angle lens.
3) The Telephoto effect: Just like above, you can also simulate a
telephoto effect by getting close to your subject and opening up the aperture.
This gives a nicely blurred background which is a characteristic of telephotos.
4) Candid Camera:
The lens’s small size makes it a great lens for getting candid shots without
getting noticed. Also 50mm means you don’t need to go too close to click.
5) DOF: The large
aperture offers extremely shallow depth of field which is another creativity
stimulator. One can get some very nice looking photos with imaginative use of
the shallow DOF.
6) Portraits and Streets: This lens is by far most used for portraiture and
street photography and gives some great results in both fields.
This is not only true for Canon but for other brands as well. ie you may be pleasantly surprised to find your camera brand offers something similar like this little wonder as well. I wrote here about Canon because I am a Canon user.
Recently Canon
have launched a new 50mm 1.8 STM lens. It is similar to the old lens with sight changes.
1)
STM stands for stepping motor, or the motor that drives the
autofocus. In the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM it’s not as loud as the old focusing motor
in the older version, but the sound of the AF motor is clearly noticeable.
2)
The new STM lens has overall better build quality. It has less
plastic feel. It feels more like the polycarbonate material.
3) The new STM version offers a
robust metal mount as compared to plastic mount for older version.
4)
You can attach a dedicated lens hood for the new STM lens.
The old EF 50mm II was never designed to work with a lens hood. There are a few
third-party offerings, however you have to screw these hoods into the filter
thread. However you can argue how useful a lens hood is in combination with the
Nifty Fifties, as the front glass element is already deeper inside the lens
body, but it offers an additional level of protection..
5) At narrower apertures the outline of the 5 aperture blades
are clearly visible in the older version. The newer STM version offers 7 blades
with an improved design that allows nearly round bokeh lights even when
stepping down the aperture leading to a more pleasant bokeh.
6)
The minimum focusing distance has been reduced from 45cm
(1.5ft) to 35cm (1.1ft). This means you can get closer to your subject while
keeping it in focus, and therefore small objects can be pictured larger.
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