Why a 50mm Lens is your new Best Friend

[jcdeboever]

People who bad mouth 50's are generally people with a lot of lead below the belt. You occasionally have to move your feet to get the shot with a 50!

lead pipe

 

[limr]

I love my Pentax 50mm f1.7. I've been learning to appreciate the 28mm focal length as well, but 50mm still seems to be my default. It suits my shooting style at the moment.

Have you ever tried the Ricoh P 50mm f2? I can't remember for the life of me why I picked that up? It was in a shoe box (inside a moving tub marked personal paperwork) from the 80's with baseball cards, miscellaneous fun stuff I thought was lost long ago. Maybe it was real cheap or something. I was surprised about all the rave reviews. Also, the Pentax 1.7 blows away that SMC Pentax M 50mm 1:2, not even close.

Nope, never tried it. I've got either Pentax, Vivitar, or Takumar lenses for the K1000. And yeah, I've heard the f1.7 is miles ahead of the f2. I will say again how much I adore my f1.7!

 

[unpopular]

I've said it before. The best part with a 50 is you can shoot with one eye open and pretend you're a cyborg.

--

One really under-rated lens is the Konica AR 45/1.4 pancake. Lots of fun to use!

 

[tirediron]

It's a useful lens, but IMO, only moderately so (for me). My 85 is my go-to prime and most of the rest of my focal lengths are taken up by zooms.

 

[jcdeboever]

It's a useful lens, but IMO, only moderately so (for me). My 85 is my go-to prime and most of the rest of my focal lengths are taken up by zooms.

Just curious, is it good as a walk around lens or do you use it for that? It seems great for portraits in non confined areas. It is not my cup of tea for indoor basketball games as I found out.

 

[gsgary]

I would love the Noctilux f0.95

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

 

[jcdeboever]

I would love the Noctilux f0.95

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For 9600 smackers, it better take the picture for me. Geez, Leica is proud of their stuff. I looked at the flickr photo's and well, let me say my SMC Pentax 50mm 1.7 will be just fine. The bokeh is pretty cool though, I must admit.

 

[gsgary]

I would love the Noctilux f0.95

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

For 9600 smackers, it better take the picture for me. Geez, Leica is proud of their stuff. I looked at the flickr photo's and well, let me say my SMC Pentax 50mm 1.7 will be just fine.

I've got the very good Voigtlander 50F1.5 Nocton for my Leica's but will be getting a Sumilux

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[unpopular]

Its a good thing it's on a rangefinder. It'd be impossible to focus wide open otherwise.

 

[tirediron]

It's a useful lens, but IMO, only moderately so (for me). My 85 is my go-to prime and most of the rest of my focal lengths are taken up by zooms.

Just curious, is it good as a walk around lens or do you use it for that? It seems great for portraits in non confined areas. It is not my cup of tea for indoor basketball games as I found out.

I guess it depends on your shooting style; I tend to shoot wide/loose when I'm just wandering, and I actually prefer the 35 over the 50.

 

[jcdeboever]

It's a useful lens, but IMO, only moderately so (for me). My 85 is my go-to prime and most of the rest of my focal lengths are taken up by zooms.

Just curious, is it good as a walk around lens or do you use it for that? It seems great for portraits in non confined areas. It is not my cup of tea for indoor basketball games as I found out.

I guess it depends on your shooting style; I tend to shoot wide/loose when I'm just wandering, and I actually prefer the 35 over the 50.

Me too. I was just curious if you used the 85 for more than portraits.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[tirediron]

It's a useful lens, but IMO, only moderately so (for me). My 85 is my go-to prime and most of the rest of my focal lengths are taken up by zooms.

Just curious, is it good as a walk around lens or do you use it for that? It seems great for portraits in non confined areas. It is not my cup of tea for indoor basketball games as I found out.

I guess it depends on your shooting style; I tend to shoot wide/loose when I'm just wandering, and I actually prefer the 35 over the 50.

Me too. I was just curious if you used the 85 for more than portraits.

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Ummm.... probably not, but then portraits are about 70% of my shooting, so.....

 

[Solarflare]

People who bad mouth 50's are generally people with a lot of lead below the belt. You occasionally have to move your feet to get the shot with a 50!

Ah yes, and with my 28mm I have to stand still, or what ?

That you have to move around is a general property of prime lenses, not just the 50mm.

And besides, the issue with many 50mm is that the lenses themselves are optically disappointing, not that theres anything wrong with the focal length.

 

[gsgary]

People who bad mouth 50's are generally people with a lot of lead below the belt. You occasionally have to move your feet to get the shot with a 50!

Ah yes, and with my 28mm I have to stand still, or what ?

That you have to move around is a general property of prime lenses, not just the 50mm.

And besides, the issue with many 50mm is that the lenses themselves are optically disappointing, not that theres anything wrong with the focal length.

It all depends which 50mm lenses you buy mine are not poor quality

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[chuasam]

I have a love/hate with my 50mm lens.
It is soft and the image quality sucks, but it's small, fast and light.
I kinda want the Sigma 50mm ART but I don't really want to spend that much money at the moment on a toy.