Just bought 50mm lens today please critique

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This is really the best picture that came out with my new 50mm f/1.8 prime lens.



Potential problems I see are the cup and the thinkpad lid, but this was taken during our local japanese langauge club meeting.

So still kind of new to photography and definitely new to the lens by less than 12 hours :) am so excited I got a my first extra lens.

Thanks.
 
Congrats on the lens, you'll love it. That said, don't fall into the trap of always using the lens wide open. It has it's time and place, but most of the time, you should be closed down at least a stop or two so that you don't have completely razor thin depth of field.
 
Congrats on the lens, you'll love it. That said, don't fall into the trap of always using the lens wide open. It has it's time and place, but most of the time, you should be closed down at least a stop or two so that you don't have completely razor thin depth of field.


I echo the sentiments, here. I've got a Nikkor lens (50mm, f/1.8) and I have taken some shots of friends where I wanted them both in focus, but got one razor sharp, and the other was a little soft. They were sitting on the same bench when I was trying it out, and one was sitting against the back of the bench and the other was just towards the front. They were maybe three inches apart.

Stop it down and you'll lose only marginal depth of field.
 
That much is true: the 50mm wide open has such a shallow DOF that often it doesn't even reach from the eyes to the ears or a person when you take their portrait picture. Or even worse: you get the tip of their nose in focus and the eyes are no longer as clear and sharp as you would want them to be.
 
That much is true: the 50mm wide open has such a shallow DOF that often it doesn't even reach from the eyes to the ears or a person when you take their portrait picture. Or even worse: you get the tip of their nose in focus and the eyes are no longer as clear and sharp as you would want them to be.


I would sure hate to try and shoot Pinoccio with that lens...:mrgreen:
 
Oh yes, that one could be quite a bit of a problem to shoot with the 50mm wide open. More so after he has told a lie!!! :shock:

:D
 
I need to read up on my wide lenses.. Are they going to give you the "fish eye" effect? I could see where the focus would be thrown off if that was the case. I really like how the quality looks from that D40. Did you see a noticeable change in quality of pictures compared to your 55mm?
 
I need to read up on my wide lenses.. Are they going to give you the "fish eye" effect? I could see where the focus would be thrown off if that was the case. I really like how the quality looks from that D40. Did you see a noticeable change in quality of pictures compared to your 55mm?

He's referring to the aperture being wider, not the focal length, which is 50mm. Aperture size is the f-stop, and "wide open" in this case refers to f1.8 (or 1.4, whichever the OP bought). And yes, the quality is better than the 18-55 imo.
 
Thank you for all the replies. I will back it off a stop or so. My biggest problem is I am still learning manual focus. The concepts and math makes sense, but now it is a matter of getting used to the find tuning with light.

For this picture I had it wide open so I could get a better shutter speed. I think it was 1/50 with this one. Since everyone was moving so much I was trying to avoid motion blurs. Again I just need to play with it more.

As for quality I was very much so impressed with the quality. I have been fighting with lower light photography for a while and this has helped me get a bit better at it for not a lot of money. Plus I have had so much fun with it over the last 24 hours outside of low light.

I just wonder what the same pictures would look like with same settings just different body. I'll know someday I guess.
 
This lenses can be tricky, the depth of field can kill your portraits if you're not careful. Make sure that if you are taking a portrait with it wide open that you focus on the eyes. For some reason if eyes are in focus the whole face looks in focus (well, less out of focus anyways..).

I find this lenses is most useful in low light because you can avoid using flash and suck in as much of the ambient light as possible.

-Dave
 
Picture is pretty boring and snapshotish, but you seem to have got the focus which i appluad you for
 

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