Achieving 50mm "feel" on a crop sensor?

JayFK

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I hope this isn't a silly question. I'm looking to invest into a prime lens to achieve somewhat of a 50mm fov on a crop sensor. A 28mm would give 44.8mm, and a 35mm would give a 56mm fov. The two lens I've been looking into are the Canon EF 28mm f1.8 USM ($510) and the EF 35mm f2($320). Any of you guys have experience with either of these lens? I'm looking to do fashion photography and portraits.

Thanks.
 
Buy a used Canon 5D Classic for $650. Problems solved.
 
I agree with Darrel. I had the same dilemma a while back and ended up buying a 5D classic and i love it. Was totally worth it.
 
If by "feel" you mean the perspective, DOF and degree of image flattening you get with a 50 mm lens on a film or full frame body, then you get that by using a 50 mm lens on the crop body, but you just end up standing a little further back to get the shot. If you are looking for a lens that will be flexible and allow you to do a lot of what you do without changing lenses, then it depends on what you do. I tend to do a lot of straight-on shots that are fairly close so I use the 50/1.8 quite a bit on my T2i. If you like to get a wider view and would feel constricted by the narrower angle of view this provides, then perhaps a 28 is the way to go. However, the 28 is still a wide angle, so the cropped image from it won't look like it was taken with a 50.

As for the 28 mm lenses, the 1.8 has the reputation of not being that sharp at 1.8, so unless you really like to work at 1.8 and can put up with that, the 2.8 might be a better investment. I have it and it is sharp throughout and the only defect I can see is a little barrel distortion, but this is easily correctable in processing and probably present to some extent in any wide angle.
 
A 35 mm lens mounted on a 1.6x crop sensor camera gives the FoV a 56 mm lens mounted on a full frame sensor camera would give.

However, the 35 mm mounted on the 1.6x crop sensor camera will still deliver most other 35 mm lens characteristics, like more distortion if used at the close focusing distances of doing portraiture (think distorted noses), than a 50 mm lens mounted on a 1.6x crop factor camera. Depth of field will also be deeper because of the image sensor size. (28 mm will distort more than 35 mm does.)

In other words, a 35 mm or 28 mm lens mounted on a 1.6x crop factor camera is still a 35 mm (or 28 mm lens). There is only 1 way to completely get the 'feel' of a 50 mm lens. The way Derrel suggested, use a full frame camera.
 
I agree with KMH and Derrel. The more I use a crop sensor, the more I can kind of "get passed" the FOV.

My 50mm lens has more in common with a 50mm lens, than a 75mm lens, and my 28mm lens has more in common with a 28mm lens than it does with a 45mm lens. The crop is certainly the most obvious issue, but over time you realize the 1.6x factor doesn't tell the whole story.
 
Note that perspective (and the resulting distortion and "flattening" effect) has everything to do with distance between the subject and camera and nothing to do with focal length. At the same distance, a 28mm lens and a 300mm lens have the same perspective; only the framing (and DOF etc) changes.

Lens distortions (barrel/pincushion) also are not inherent to any particular focal length.

As you and others have noted, to get about the same field of view of a 50mm on a full-frame camera on a crop body, you need somewhere between a 28mm and a 35mm lens. As long as you keep the same distance between the subject and camera as you would with a 50mm on a full-frame camera, the perspective and framing will be the same. DOF will of course be deeper with 28mm than with 50mm at the same aperture, and that's a result of the shorter focal length.

With that out of the way, keep in mind that at recommended distances for portraits to minimize facial distortion (several feet or more) a 28mm lens will get you a nearly full body shot. For tighter framing (eg, head shots) you either need to use a longer focal length or crop in post, which both have the same effect on framing but different effects on DOF.
 
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just use the 50mm on your camera...every lens / camera combo has its own feels and perspective....
 
Another second of KmH and Derrel. The only way to get a lens to fully 'feel' like a 50mm on a full frame is... To use a 50mm on a full frame.

Crop frames feel like crop frames and full frame feels like full frame and medium format feels like medium format.

You can get the same field of view, but it will never 'feel' the same between formats. Formats are formats for a reason.
 
Fjrabon - would anybody be able to actually look at a photo and say "that was taken with a crop-sensor" or "this was full frame"?
 
I'm looking to do fashion photography and portraits.
For this consider the 50mm 1.8, the 85mm 1.8 or the 70-200mm 2.8L ...even the f4 if $$$ is tight.
 

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