Help...infor on 50 mm lens

[bunny99123]

HI,
I have read several individuals on the forum say they use a 50mm lens for portrait shots. I am learning about lens, and I have found a 156114 MINOLTA MAXXUM 50MM F/1.7 SONY ALPHA AUTOFOCUS MOUNT LENS for $50 on Ebay. It does come with a 90 days warranty. Do you use this lens a lot or am I wasting my money? I am just learning about length from a person associated with focal length. Hope I got that right. How far away from the individual can you be located to get a good shot. Any knowledge is greatly appreciated, because I have zero.
Thank you
Karen

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[MTVision]

HI,
I have read several individuals on the forum say they use a 50mm lens for portrait shots. I am learning about lens, and I have found a 156114 MINOLTA MAXXUM 50MM F/1.7 SONY ALPHA AUTOFOCUS MOUNT LENS for $50 on Ebay. It does come with a 90 days warranty. Do you use this lens a lot or am I wasting my money? I am just learning about length from a person associated with focal length. Hope I got that right. How far away from the individual can you be located to get a good shot. Any knowledge is greatly appreciated, because I have zero.
Thank you
Karen

I use my 50mm lens all the time. I don't know anything specific about that lens though.

What lenses do you have now? Do you have one that covers the 50mm range?

[bunny99123]

Yes, I have 18 to 70 mm with a f3.5 to 5.6. I want something with a sharper image. Relocating, so buying a new for a while is out of the question. About what is the longest distance you can shoot a subject. Can you get a full body shot and still have excellent sharpness?

[Kolia]

The Minolta lens will have better IQ.

As for framing, set your zoom to 50mm and see how far you'll need to be.

[aaronlecain]

I have two 50mm lenses. They are a great little lens. It makes a good walk around lens but I have no idea for portrait shots (I don't do much with portraits) Like Kolia said set your zoom to 50mm and play around with it. For $50 it is a good deal. Another place to look is Craigslist. Used Minolta film cameras sometimes come with them.

[Kolia]

Keeping in mind ours are cropped sensor, I use my 50mm for close up portrait indoors.

For walk around / street photo I go for the 35mm or my new 17-50mm zoom lens.

[kenerickson]

I just recently purchased this same lens(Minolta Maxxum AF50 F1.7 from a Ebay auction for my A57 Sony. I personally so far really like the lens. The minimum focus distance is about 1 1/2 to 2 feet(I have not actually put a tape measure up as I focused). The lens seems to give better colors and sharpness than the 18-55 F3.5-5.6 kit lens. What I do not like about the lens is the focus ring. I tend to use the lens on manual focus rather than auto-focus. It is very small and slightly smaller in diameter than the lens body. I paid $80 with shipping for mine and feel it was well worth the price.

[dxqcanada]

Yes, I have 18 to 70 mm with a f3.5 to 5.6. I want something with a sharper image. ?

Get rid of the Sony 18-70mm ... it is one of the poorest IQ lenses there is ... the newer 18-55mm is better.
The 50mm f/1.7 will have high IQ and is great under low lighting conditions.

On an APS-C a 50mm lens is 75mm ... so it tends to be a nice focal length for portraits.

[Kolia]

I have my kit 18-55mm lens for sale if somebody needs one.

[DiskoJoe]

I have that lens. Buy you one. Very solid for the cash. If you want something really nice buy the sigma 50mm f1.4.

[skieur]

The 50mm 1.7 lens is one of the better 50mm lenses as tested in the labs.
The Sony 50mm 1.8 is light, plasticy, but the quality as tested is a little better than the 1.4 Sony.
The Sony 50mm 1.4 gets mixed reviews for image quality.

The Sigma 50mm 1.4 is certainly worth a more thorough look-see.

skieur

[DiskoJoe]

The 50mm 1.7 lens is one of the better 50mm lenses as tested in the labs.
The Sony 50mm 1.8 is light, plasticy, but the quality as tested is a little better than the 1.4 Sony.
The Sony 50mm 1.4 gets mixed reviews for image quality.

The Sigma 50mm 1.4 is certainly worth a more thorough look-see.

skieur

I prefer the sigma glass over the entry level minolta. But you get what you pay for. My minolta has been good to me for the $100 I paid for it. Sigma is 5x that.