Trade a 50mm for a 35mm? Please give your opinion! :)

[drogie21]

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to ask for opinions on the REAL differences between the 50mm and 35mm lenses. For most of my photography I have always shot with a 50mm lens. At the moment I own the Canon 50mm f1.2 lens. I truly love the lens. But recently a friend of mine gave me a lend of his Sigma 35mm f1.4 lens. I must admit I adored it. It's like a 50mm but you can see more around the frame and still create gorgeous bokeh if you wish. Am actually tempted to trade in my Canon 50mm for the new Sigma 35mm. As I said I got time to play around with the lens but what I want to know do people think it is really worth trading in the 50mm 1.2 for the 35mm? Even though they are quite similar? Obviously the decision is still down to me alone but I wanted to hear peoples experience with the 35mm. I find the 50mm versatile but for some reason the 35mm just seems even more versatile. Am I right? If some areas am shooting are a bit tight the 35mm helped me compared to the 50mm. Does the 35mm distort that much do you feel for portraits? It doesn't seem to. I just want to make sure I don't make a silly decision even though the 35mm seems to be swaying me a bit.

Also am going to photographing my sisters wedding next year and was thinking the 35mm would help a lot more than the 50mm. Maybe am wrong?

It would be great to hear from other people and see what you's think. Please reply.

Best Regards,

Damien

 

[limr]

Is there a reason you can't have both?

 

[drogie21]

Yes money would be an issue that I can't have both. Hence I just want to make sure I make a proper decision and wanted to see what peoples thoughts were

 

[KmH]

A 35 mm used close up will distort peoples faces more than a 50 mm will.

Noses are often a problem with a 35 mm because they are closer to the lens and get distorted more than the rest of a person's face.

For a wedding, a focal range of 50 mm and up is generally used.
For making really pleasing looking blurred backgrounds, longer focal lengths are generally used, say 85 mm up to 200 mm.

 

[pixmedic]

not to go off topic here, but since you mentioned shooting a wedding...
do you have any zooms you will be using? both the 35mm and 50mm are good focal lengths for wedding photography.
I frequently use my 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm prime lenses. 85 is probably my favorite.
when we shoot weddings, we use everything from our 17-50 to our 70-200.
if you are trying to pin down ONE lens between the two, i would say the 50mm is your best bet, (just going by what WE use more often) but you are really hindering yourself by only bringing one lens. hopefully you will have plenty of room to foot-zoom.
the 50mm 1.2 is a fantastic lens, albeit a tad overkill for most applications, and i would only consider getting rid of it if you are selling it to fund a fast zoom lens or two. I certainly would NOT trade it for a 35mm anything.

 

[Derrel]

The only Canon 35mm lens worth trading for a 50/1.2 would be the Canon 35mm f/1.4 L. Not sure of the relative price difference between the two lenses, but both are high-grade lenses in the Canon lineup.

 

[drogie21]

Thanks for your replies everyone. Its greatly appreciated. Sorry forgot to mention I will by next year have an 85mm also. I have tried the lens too and loved it. I will be working with 2 lenses on the day. Sorry I had zooms before but wasn't a fan. I love my primes Do you think the 50mm & 85mm would suffice cause I have heard a lot about the 35/85 combo?

 

[Derrel]

I can NOT imagine covering an event and NOT having a 35mm prime on my full-frame camera...to me the 35mm is the perfect, non-distorting, semi-wide angle lens. If you go shorter, like to 28mm, then the corners of the frame have some distortion; if you drop to 24mm, then people near the edges of every stinkin' frame are all distorted!!!!

I dunno...I would rather have a 35/50 pairing, and just CROP. The "realllll differences" are that the 35mm is a semi-wide angle lens that covers about one foot left to right for each foot distant you are...it's just short enough that if used carefully, you CAN create shallow depth of field, wide-ish angle pictures with it....OR, you can get deeper DOF shots with it by stopping down a bit and moving back. A 50mm is, in one way of looking at it, a very,very,very short telephoto-like lens, that separates things from the broader world. The 50mm does not create a sense of deeper space, or deeper scene depth, like the 35mm or 28mm lengths do.

For an indoor event, carrying only a 50 and 85mm is NOT a good pairing. 35mm and 85mm, yes. But just a 50 and an 85 for an event indoors...no. No way. A 35mm and a 50mm is an okay combo--and with todays high-grade FF cameras, you CAN often crop 50mm shots a good deal when you need a more selective angle of view, without much visible quality loss in a print or web image.

 

[kathyt]

I would not trade your 50mm for the 35mm. I am not a fan of the 35mm for the reasons KmH posted. A 50mm is a great lens, especially the 1.2L. I would keep what you have. It is a staple in my lens bag.

 

[pixmedic]

well, we dont know what the venue is, so i cant comment there.
BUT, have you considered selling the 50mm f/1.2 and buying a used 35mm f/1.4 and 50mm f/1.4?
it looks like the canon 50mm f/1.2 sells used for enough to buy both other lenses if you shop around.
that would give you 35/50/85. those are the primes I have, and i frequently use all 3.

 

[kathyt]

Is there a reason you can't have both?

Now that is the attitude we should have around here! We are enablers.

 

[limr]

I see no good reason to swap it out unless you've decided that you want to stick with the kind of photography for which 35mm is more suited. I've personally always found the 50mm to be more flexible and more useful in the situations I tend to shoot. I only go for the wider angle for landscapes or sometimes on narrow European streets, but these situations make up only a tiny fraction of my work. I'd give up my wide angle before I'd give up my 50 or 135.

If you really like it, though, and think you would shoot more things that are suited to a wider angle if you have the capability, then start saving up so you can buy one sometime down the line.

 

[drogie21]

Wow definitely plenty food for thought. Thank you for all your comments

 

[drogie21]

From reading over the comments I think my decision will be to keep my 50mm and invest in the 85mm which I had said I would. Am doing Photography past 2 years and am still learning obviously. My sisters Wedding is in April and I will use the combo of 50/85 and see how I get along. I know in some peoples views it might not be the ideal combo but I will see how I feel. Am sure I will know if at some points I really could have done with that extra space of a 35mm lens. My sister is happy with my photography and is confidant in my ability and so am I. She knows it is a dry run too. I have a tumblr blog where I post my latest photos if you would like to view. It is at damienrogersphoto.tumblr.com Maybe some of you can have a look and see what you think yourselves. Critique is always welcome. My photos are a mix of 50mm, 35mm and 85mm. If you hover over the images you can see what the camera details are but am sure to trained eye you may be able to tell what the focal length was. But a lot I have shot with is a 50mm. But thanks again for the feedback

 

[TiCoyote]

I own the Canon 50 1.4 and the Sigma 35 1.4, and I use them both for weddings. I shoot on full-frame cameras. I like the 50 for outdoor formals, and for closeups during slow dances. I use the 35 during fast dances for candids, but I also have a 24-70. I think the Sigma is a little sharper and sometimes primes are just fun. But I use it less than I use the 24-70.