50mm Prime Weekend - Tips?

[collk22]

Hey guys - I'm going to Savannah, GA this weekend and decided I am only going to take my 50mm prime. Any tips or lessons learned from doing this in the past?

 

[KmH]

Most 50 mm prime lenses have to be 'stopped down' from a wide open aperture to deliver their sharpest focus.

Control of depth-of-field (DoF) is also often an issue for inexperienced 50 mm prime lens users, particularly when using the selective focus composition technique (shallow DoF).

 

[collk22]

Thanks! The problems you outlined are precisely why I'm only taking this lens with me; I've been a little frustrated with my inability to use it effectively so I'm going full immersion this weekend.

 

[Derrel]

I used to shoot a LOT with the old Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 S.C., and then the later 50mm f/2 Nikkor. One thing a 50mm user needs to learn is exactly howe to NAIL focus with the lens...focus is pretty important especially if you weish to use wider f/stops, like f/3.2 or thereabouts. THe thing about a 50mm lens is how versatile it is. It's a good lens in low light, but FOCUSING it exactly right is a big,big deal. The nice thing is that "most" 50's are usually pretty close to optimal at f/4.8 to f/5.6, which both give pretty fast shutter speeds during daylight hours, and when moving indoors and shifting ther camera to 1,000 to 1,250 ISO, a good 50 is a pretty handy lens!

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Hey guys - I'm going to Savannah, GA this weekend and decided I am only going to take my 50mm prime. Any tips or lessons learned from doing this in the past?

The wiminz there are beautiful

 

[Solarflare]

Zoom with your feet.

Have fun.

Thats all I can think of. I use my 35mm (which is ~53mm on a small format sensor) a lot as exclusive lens and see no problem with doing so.

 

[collk22]

Complete failure - I think I only took 10 pictures all weekend. Too busy shopping and doing other things with the wife. Oh well, will try it again soon.