Finally ordered it! Canon 50mm f1.8

RauschPhotography · Apr 16, 2011

I know, I know.. It's nothing special, but I'm pretty excited to be getting a new lens. (I haven't bought one since my 24-70 2.8 last summer!) From what I've heard, it's not bad for the price--Which is good, being a college student tends to make me pretty poor.

Anyone else who owns the lens have any feedback on it, or a picture to share from it?

vtf · Apr 16, 2011

The sweet spot is between f4 to f6 (around 5.6). At wide open 1.8 your plane of focus is very narrow, one eye is in focus and the other out. At 1.8 its hard to get two people both in focus in the same shot. I love it for portraits though at above f5.6. All issues I have seen here comes from shooting wide open. Its a fun fast lens.:thumbup:

RauschPhotography · Apr 16, 2011

Thanks for the tip, Vince! I'm really looking forward to testing it out in a few portrait sessions :sexywink:

jaomul · Apr 16, 2011

I haven't figured out the forum completely yet so no picture. The 50mm rarely leaves my camera, great for low light, great for portraits and indoors and I even did one or 2 landscapes shots with it, although to be fair they were not very wide. The real experts will say bad bokeh etc, its plastic (so its light).Prob no good for a pro but I cant fault it but then I dont zoom to 900% when checking my photos. Enjoy

Derrel · Apr 16, 2011

Here are two shots I did of my son in the summer of 2006, back when I still owned my Canon 50mm f/1.8 EF-II lens. These were just some casual portraits I snapped of him using my Canon 20D.

63461397.Y6ub9nYk._MG_2447_Spencer_1000x.jpg

63461399.Tz6Itvz6._MG_2451_AsShot_1000x.jpg

This image is exactly As-Shot using baseline Auto RAW conversion in ACR with just USM and re-sizing for the web.A single Speedotron Brown Line M11 light unit was fired through a Lastolite brand 40 inch Umbrella Box enclosed umbrella which I positioned to deliver some catchlighting in the eyes and a fairly broad shadow on the shadow side.

RauschPhotography · Apr 16, 2011

Nice shots, Derrel! I'm getting pretty anxious to get it--Might be a good thing I didn't put rush shipping on it, considering finals are coming up! :lol:

Sad, but I'm even thinking I might leave it alone until the whole school thing is over for the semester.

TheBiles · Apr 16, 2011

I got mine last week, and I've been playing with it all weekend. I can't wait to upload some shots tomorrow. I've been shooting a lot wide open just because the DoF is pretty amazing to me thus far.

Sent from my HTC Glacier

SensePhoto · Apr 16, 2011

vtf said:
The sweet spot is between f4 to f6 (around 5.6). At wide open 1.8 your plane of focus is very narrow, one eye is in focus and the other out. At 1.8 its hard to get two people both in focus in the same shot. I love it for portraits though at above f5.6. All issues I have seen here comes from shooting wide open. Its a fun fast lens.:thumbup:

+1 i actually have the f1.4 but i find it to be the same way

subscuck · Apr 17, 2011

I hate to be the one who always sounds like he's bashing this lens, because this and the Nikon version are really outstanding for a first, fast prime. As long as you understand that a lens at that price point isn't going to perform the same as a more expensive lens in terms of AF reliabilty and speed, you'll have a blast with it, and the optical quality is quite impressive for a lens that cheap. I've heard people report they've owned the same copy for years, bounce it around in their backpack, etc., with no issues. Mine however, met it's demise after I dropped it on a padded, carpetted floor. It broke open and I carefully put it back together. It worked fine for a while after that, but ultimately it jammed up and wouldn't AF or MF anymore. It was replaced shortly after by a Sigma 50 1.4.

BTW, it's a new lens, so even with finals coming up, you're actually obligated to use it right away. If you don't, the lens police come and disappear you. You have been warned.

Nathaxthelarge · Apr 17, 2011

I bought one last week, i love it. I love using it at f1.8 for now simply because of how little it focuses on. Sadly, ive got mid term exams this week and ive spent most of my time having fun with the lens, so i guess waiting till after exams is a good thing! I love the lens personally!

iNick · Apr 17, 2011

subscuck said:
BTW, it's a new lens, so even with finals coming up, you're actually obligated to use it right away. If you don't, the lens police come and disappear you. You have been warned.

hahahaha exactly! you HAVE TO USE IT!! im in college too and i took a 2 hour walkabout the other day rather than write my paper. with finals coming up and all the stress we incur with school its good to go out and shoot to relieve some of that tension and clear your head a bit. im jealous that you're getting this lens, it's going to be a few more months till i can afford to pick one up but im super stoked about it. Be sure to let us see how it works out for you when you get it!

iNick · Apr 17, 2011

Nathaxthelarge, do you have any shots you can post with the prime lens? i have a T1i (500D) as well and would love to see how they come out with that camera!

vtf · Apr 17, 2011

This was shot with my 50mm. I was still learning how short the dof was.

lyonsroar · Apr 17, 2011

IMG_9306-2 by Lyonsroar91, on Flickr

This was shot with my 50mm. Exceptional sharpness I must say. This remains one of my favorite pictures of my zoom-zoom!

IMG_0059_1 by Lyonsroar91, on Flickr

This was also done with my 50mm. I don't normally shoot portraits so this was a first attempt.