30MM or 50MM prime on a 1.6 crop?

[sinjans]

I may not be going full fram for a few more years yet and i am getting a prime very soon. Should I aim for the 50mm or the 30mm. either will be a 1.4. maybe canon/sigma. But for standard portraits with the 50 being the equivalent of 80mm. would one be better off with the 30mm equaling 48mm on the cropped 50D???
Any advice or experience will help move me forward. thanks

 

[TJ K]

If you plan on doing portraits I would recommend the 50mm even the f/1.8 is great and for 100 it's a steal. The 30mm would be better for a walk around lens while the 50 would be good for portraits with better bokeh and a bit longer as well. GL
TJ

 

[sinjans]

Thank TJ. If you were using full frame does this mean you would not use the 50 anymore? would you then jump to an 85?

 

[TJ K]

Ya most likely. A 50 would be just a general walk around lens and then 85 for portraits but of course there isn't just 1 lens that is the perfect portrait lens. Depends on what you want.
TJ

 

[sinjans]

Understood. Thats what i was wondering. Really as long as your shooting the equivalent to an 85 then. Thats fine by me, and i realize that my lens length preferences may vary but as a general prime i was initially curious if people with crop bodies should be using teh 50 equivalent meaning a 30mm lenses. Cheers and thanks

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Tbh, most people I know including me stay away from the 50mm (in film or FF) as it is a pretty boring lens. Some people like their nifty fifties but it seems to be mostly because it is a cheap way to get a faster lens.

On a crop frame, however it is a fairly nice portrait lens since it puts some distance between you and your subject. And once you get a FF body you can keep it as a back up in case you kill your preferred lens. Considering its price, it is not a big loss if you only rarely use it once you've gone to FF.

You might want to get a used one. There seems to be plenty of them around.

 

[sinjans]

Yeah i will be buying used. the canon 50mm 1.4 seems to be the way to go. Sigma makes a nice one too. But i just wanted to be sure that it would'nt be too long. cheers

 

[TJ K]

just spoil yourself and go for the 50 1.2

 

[sinjans]

 

[Dao]

Set your lens to 30mm and start shooting without changing the focal length. See how it feel outdoor or indoor (in terms of field of view). Now, set it to 50mm and do the same thing.

Regardless the aperture, which focal length you think is better suit you?

 

[molested_cow]

50mm a boring lens? Well I used to think like that, but it my all time favorite lens now. There's so much you can do with it. It's really versatile and great depth of field range.

I really don't like the term "equivalent" when describing what cropped sensors do to lens. It's basically a cropped photo. It doesn't change the performance of a lens, say from a 30mm to 50mm. You are basically limited on how you can compose your shot.

I'd suggest you rent the lens from some place to find out if you like them before making the purchase. It's all up to your personal preference.

 

[sinjans]

Thanks.
When i say equivalent I am referring to the cropped photo. When you see so many people using the 50mm and raving about it, its nice to know if they are using crop sensored bodies or not. Because if they are on crops, then the full frame equivalent would be a 30mm. Im just making sure my ducks are in a row here. 50 1.4 here i come.
Thanks for the help people.

 

[iolair]

I use the 50mm f/1.8 as a portrait lens on my crop-frame Canon. It's great for this.

When I walk around and try to take general photos with it, I sometimes find the field of view too narrow though. So on your crop-camera, which one suits you best depends on the kind of photos you expect to spend most time on.

The 50mm (on full-frame) field of view is close to what the human eye/brain normally notices (even though we can see much more than that - so it provides a natural view of the world. A prime lens of about 30-35mm will do the same on the crop body.