hirenpatel85
Banned
Here are top five reasons why you need to have a 50mm in your camera bag.
5 Reasons you Need a 50mm Prime
5 Reasons you Need a 50mm Prime
5 Reasons you Need a 50mm Prime
- Thread starter hirenpatel85
- Start date
That is strange. All I read was "blah-blah-blah". Did you read the 5 reasons? I didn't.
Scott Murray
Senior Member
singlerosa_RIP
Senior Member
Mine sits in the bag most of the time, but it's there when I need it for a super-lightweight walk-around kit or a low-light situation.
Ijustwant1
Senior Member
My top reason to have the 50mm f/1.8G .... Is it's great mate ! I love it 
Same here. I have to force myself to use this lens although I grab it every now and then. The good thing is that it remains in "like new" condition.
I shoot with a D7K and I DON'T need a 50mm prime.
I do, however only ever use the 35mm 1.8 DX on the body which gives me roughly 50mm with crop factor and shoots everything. Then I zoom with my feet, not my lens.
For £150 this lens is light, well made, tack sharp and has a metal weather sealed connection.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I do, however only ever use the 35mm 1.8 DX on the body which gives me roughly 50mm with crop factor and shoots everything. Then I zoom with my feet, not my lens.
For £150 this lens is light, well made, tack sharp and has a metal weather sealed connection.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
I love me a good prime and the 50mm is no exception; it's a great lens for a lot of reasons.
That article, though, was just stupid.
....
That article, though, was just stupid.
....
Of all the reasons given, only one stands out - light and fast. The other are more of a comment on individual styles of a photographers, than solid reasons.
In the days of the film cameras, 50mm primes came as kit lenses. The initial designs for 50mm were "Planar", which is one of least expensive designs as it used minimum number of elements and the lense was reasonably distortion free (in short the maximum bang for the buck). As the FOV of a 50mm was nearly that of human eyes, the results were similar to what we would normally see. In fact for each format the equivalent of 50mm for 35mm, is still the least expensive lense (for example 80mm for MF), hence the most sold lense (which may in turn attribute to its low cost)
Today with inexpensive kit zooms there is not much financial reason for using a prime. The kit 18-55 and the 50mm F1.8 are priced around each other. Where a 50mm prime shines is in light weight, low distortion and relative fast aperture usable under low light.
If you want a fast extremely well corrected lense, then the modern 50mm fits the bill. Very few fast and well corrected distortion free lenses are available in other focal lengths. These 50mm lenses also start becoming expensive, as manufacturers move away from the Planar design to larger number of elements to have faster lenses with better corrections and smoother OOF areas, a prime example is the Zeiss Otus 50mm F 1.4, with a selling price of $4,000/ in contrast the Nikon 50mm F1.8D is around $100, and unlike the 50mm F1.8, its is a large and heavy lense.
In the days of the film cameras, 50mm primes came as kit lenses. The initial designs for 50mm were "Planar", which is one of least expensive designs as it used minimum number of elements and the lense was reasonably distortion free (in short the maximum bang for the buck). As the FOV of a 50mm was nearly that of human eyes, the results were similar to what we would normally see. In fact for each format the equivalent of 50mm for 35mm, is still the least expensive lense (for example 80mm for MF), hence the most sold lense (which may in turn attribute to its low cost)
Today with inexpensive kit zooms there is not much financial reason for using a prime. The kit 18-55 and the 50mm F1.8 are priced around each other. Where a 50mm prime shines is in light weight, low distortion and relative fast aperture usable under low light.
If you want a fast extremely well corrected lense, then the modern 50mm fits the bill. Very few fast and well corrected distortion free lenses are available in other focal lengths. These 50mm lenses also start becoming expensive, as manufacturers move away from the Planar design to larger number of elements to have faster lenses with better corrections and smoother OOF areas, a prime example is the Zeiss Otus 50mm F 1.4, with a selling price of $4,000/ in contrast the Nikon 50mm F1.8D is around $100, and unlike the 50mm F1.8, its is a large and heavy lense.
I would love to go through such an exhaustive treatise.
I was looking for it as well... however... TLDR. Waste of time.