I upgraded from my Canon 10D to a 30 D a couple of weeks ago, and with a new promotion at work, i have a bit more discretionary funds.
So i went into Henrys and picked up a 50 mm EF 1:1:8. Not sure if this is the much vaunted nifty fifty, but between the monochrome option and the new 50, I’m really stoked to go shooting.
I know its a fixed focal length, so I am the one moving, but is there any limitations with this lens that i should be aware of.
Declan
Enjoy your new equipment.
Reviews of 50mm 1.8:
DPReview
and
SLRGear
Usually your be edges/corners will be soft below 2.2 or 2.5. Portraits shot around 2.5 will often look very good (out of focus backgrounds.)
A fast 50 (or nifty 50) will also be a good baseline for judging other lenses. The 50 should provided sharp contrasty images, and if a given lens comes close to its quality that’s a good thing.
For me, the best thing about a fast 50 and a DSLR is that you can shoot indoors with available light. (It usually requires ISO 800 or above.) Humans spend a lot of time indoors, so a fast lens opens up another world.
I haven’t used a D30, but it’s supposed to be a fine camera. Personally I never shoot monochrome because it’s easy to convert color to B/W in Photoshop – plus you have options for lightening or darkening the different colors in your image. If you want to green leaves to be lighter when you convert the image to monochrome it’s no problem at all.
Canon 30D? That’s a bit old-school, isn’t it?
They’re up to the 60D now
Actually, since the 30D is a APS-C sensor camera, the edges ought to be sharp at any aperture, since the APS-C sensor is only seeing the ‘sweet spot’ of the lens, where the abberations are at a minimum.
Also, that 50mm lens will really act more like an 80mm prime, again because of using a 35mm EF lens with an APS-C camera. (that’s why they have the EF-S series; they’re engineered for APS-C cameras)
It’s a great lens though- it’s awful fast for a $100 lens, and awful sharp to boot. The focusing isn’t that fast, and is kind of noisy, but as far as bang for your buck is concerned, you can’t beat the Canon 50mm 1.8.
The thirty was introduced in 06 and can probably be called vintage by now, but the price of DSLR bodies in the current generation for a simple hobbiest is pricey and thats to be expected.
I was’nt planning on picking up a thirty, i was waiting for the forties to come down a but more in price, but this one will do for now. I can work with the body and any glass i pick up in the future will fit onto a newer generation body when it comes on the used market.
Declan
The focus thing i noticed right away, as well as the noice, i could’nt figure out why, i see its a feature and not a bug now.
Declan
You might think so, but take a look at the links in post #2. And there are lenses that actually perform better on full sensor cameras than on compact sensors. Link.
I thought I would post a shot that I took with the fifty, its just a building where I live, but it came out nicely concidering the distance.
The other two shots were going to be taken with the fifty, but the motorcycle was just too close to my truck and I switched to a 17-40 mm, taken in both black and white and color. I really dont like the color one, as some one had driven into the parking space and the red car tends to polute the shot.
The linked site is mine, I like the idea of controlling what size my pics can be displayed at.
Declan
I recently moved from a 30D to 60D. The 30D is great camera and you get a lot of bang for your buck. I use the 1.8 50mm a lot.
The vast majority of the photos here were taken with my 30D.
Excellent choice ! On an APS-C sensor, this is going to give you a perfect lens for close potrait.
It’s not the megapixels, it’s not the bells and whistles, it’s the eye behind the viewfinder. Besides, there are those of us who feel the 60D is less an extension of the xxD line than it is a tarted-up Rebel, given the flip-out monitor.
Heck, I still shoot with my Rebel 300D; I had it modified for infrared.
But I digress.
Declan: Enjoy the lens, and yes, it is the vaunted ‘nifty-fifty’. A bit slow to focus with the ring motor, and noisy as it does, but a fine, fast lens nonetheless. Just take care when mounting/un-mounting it; the plastic bayonet is nowhere near as resilient as the metal one on your 17-40 (also an excellent walk-about lens for a crop body).
Regarding the 17-40, I’m trying to tell if its an EF-S lens ,or if its an L. It looks to be a vintage lens, not newish, but not that old either, but its build is very durable. The letter L is in the 17-40 USM wording on the lens, but I was under the impression that all “L”'s were beige in color.
Declan
It’s an L. There is no 17-40 in the EF-S line, and there are no L’s in the EF-S line.
It’s got a red ring, doesn’t it? Only the big telephotos and zooms are beige (or ‘white’ as the purists say) but every L has the red ring.
Good lens: internal zoom, constant f4. The hood it a bit unwieldy, but it’s the nature of the beast.
And I still use my 30D as a sport shooter. But then, I’m one of those weirdos who’s satisfied with my kit and doesn’t drool over the latest offerings. Unless they finally develop a sensor that has the dynamic range of film, but that’s an entirely different discussion.
ETA: To check the age, take a look at the mount: there will be an alphanumeric code printed in white.
This site will tell you how to read it and determine the month, year and location of manufacture.
Also, the date code is only found on L lenses.
I have the equivalent lens for Nikon (50mm, 1.8) and I love it. A really great lens for portraits and for candid shots at parties because you can use such a short shutter speed.
Brought it in to check, its got a nice red ring
Mine has a number sequence 215077 but no letters, so an easy way to tell the age is out of the question, but that site did say many but not all.
Had a bit of scare when I woke up today (yesterday), I must not have locked the truck, as some midnight entrepeneurs were able to effect entry and had rifled my glove box, center console and took 15 bucks out of my wallet.
What they seemed to have ignored, possibly cause they got scared off by someone, or lost heart in the enterprise, was the camera and both lens, the thirty is not the newest model as people have mentioned in the thread, but I could get five hundred for the body, and not sure about the 17-40 on a private sale.
The Camera bag was opened, but left pretty much untouched, except for the usual papers from trade shows and what not that you might stuff in the pouches, and my netbook which was sitting right next to it, unopened.
That and some other things, that I am sorta relieved that all they got was what was in my wallet at the time.
Declan
Are those numbers on the silver part of the mount? The code I’m referring to is on the black part. And looking at my 24-105, it may be etched, not printed, which could make it harder to see.
Once I looked at the lens in daylight, that number on the black part stood right out. So mine was made in August of 04, if that conversion page is correct. The only other possible year was 78 and I believe that would have been an FD mount.
Declan
OK - this thread has convinced me to get a 50 for my Rebel T2i. Given that particular body, what should I get Dopers?
Well…
The 1.8 is a fine, fast piece of glass with a ring (not USM) motor and a plastic mount. It has a tiny focusing ring at the front of the barrel for when you want to manually focus.
It has 6 elements in 5 groups, and the aperture has 5 blades.
You can get one at B&H for $120 with free shipping. A bargain (although a mere three years ago it was $75)
The 1.4 is a finer, faster piece of glass with a USM motor and a metal mount. It has 1/4 inch focusing ring mid-barrel.
It has 7 elements in 6 groups, and the aperture has 8 blades.
B&H has this one for $379 with free shipping.
The 1.2L is the top of the line with a USM motor, and I think a metal body. (Not sure; never held one.) Weather-sealed, with 8 elements in 7 groups, but still with 8 blades in the aperture (same as the 1.4)
B&H has a special on this, until Sept. 3rd you can get it for a mere $1499. After Sept. 3rd it goes back to its usual price of $1619. Either way, you have to pay shipping on this baby.
The 1.8 is a fine lens, especially on a budget. I used it happily until I got my 5D; by then I wanted the 1.4, mainly for the better build quality and the better bokah. (Bokah - out-of-focus background. More blades=rounder aperture=better bokah.)
Given that the T2i has an 18 megapixel sensor, I’d recommend the 1.4, if you can afford it. The higher quality glass will resolve the image better on a sensor with such tiny pixels than the 1.8 will (IMHO). (Declan’s 30D has 8.2 MP)
But if it’s not in your budget, go for the 1.8.
As for the 1.2L, that seems to me to be a lens they make because they can, and because some people have more money for glass than practical applications.