Dao
No longer a newbie, moving up!
Every cameras have limitation. And new technologies comes out every years. Your camera may not be the best on the market nor best within the same group. But it is still a very capable camera.
We had a forum member here took some photos with his/her cell phone. When the photos were post, everybody were amazed. Of course, the photos were processed, but it is amazed what a cell phone camera can do when it is in a good hands.
And you have a capable DSLR camera. You should be able to use it and take great photos with it. Remember, it is you, not the camera who press the button. If I were you, I will learn more about how to take advantage of your current setup, learn more about photography, know about exposure, master the DoF and play with lightning.
When you really run into the REAL limitation of your current setup, of course, you should upgrade your hardware. But you know what, I am sure you will not even need to ask everyone here for direction because you 100% know what it will take to bring you to the next level.
Also, I'd like to point out again, even if you can take a photo at F/1.8, it doesn't mean you need to take it at F/1.8.
Try it with F/4 or F/5.6 and see if it is easier to have the subject in focus.
If the subject is about 10 feet from the camera, and your camera is set at F/4. With the 50mm lens, the DoF is about 1.45 feet. So it should have more room for the focus error. (vs 0.64 feet with F/1.8 aperture). I guess you just need to try it to see it for yourself.
And in order to maximize the Bokeh effect, you may want to select the background which is far away from the subject so that you do not need to take the photo at F/1.8 but still able to create a nice Bokeh.
Using a telephoto lens may also a good choice for portrait shots with nice blur background (outdoor).
We had a forum member here took some photos with his/her cell phone. When the photos were post, everybody were amazed. Of course, the photos were processed, but it is amazed what a cell phone camera can do when it is in a good hands.
And you have a capable DSLR camera. You should be able to use it and take great photos with it. Remember, it is you, not the camera who press the button. If I were you, I will learn more about how to take advantage of your current setup, learn more about photography, know about exposure, master the DoF and play with lightning.
When you really run into the REAL limitation of your current setup, of course, you should upgrade your hardware. But you know what, I am sure you will not even need to ask everyone here for direction because you 100% know what it will take to bring you to the next level.
Also, I'd like to point out again, even if you can take a photo at F/1.8, it doesn't mean you need to take it at F/1.8.
Try it with F/4 or F/5.6 and see if it is easier to have the subject in focus.
If the subject is about 10 feet from the camera, and your camera is set at F/4. With the 50mm lens, the DoF is about 1.45 feet. So it should have more room for the focus error. (vs 0.64 feet with F/1.8 aperture). I guess you just need to try it to see it for yourself.
And in order to maximize the Bokeh effect, you may want to select the background which is far away from the subject so that you do not need to take the photo at F/1.8 but still able to create a nice Bokeh.
Using a telephoto lens may also a good choice for portrait shots with nice blur background (outdoor).