What's the 50mm lens everyone has/uses/loves?

I have a D40, which i see does not have AF. I'd shop around awhile before I got one anyway, but thanks for pointing that out, now I'll be sure to check.
 
heathergw said:
can I ask what camera you have because that lens doesn't AF on all of the Nikon DSLRs...
Click to expand...

Oh yeah I forgot about that (and one small reason I went with Canon over Nikon), I think it's the D40, D40x and D60 that you have to manual focus with that lens. There is another version that will autofocus with that camera but it's more expensive, like $500-600 if I remember correctly.
 
Last edited:
I know that my 50mm (I'm pretty positive it's the same lens) doesn't auto focus with my d5000....my BF didn't know that when he bought it for me for Christmas. Doesn't bother me though...actually it's a learning process for me.

**The Nikkor 50mm 1.4 AF-S is the one that will auto focus on my camera...but it's like $430. The 50mm 1.8 doesn't come in AF-S. If you want a prime lens that will auto focus go with the 35mm 1.8 AF-S lens.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/606792-USA/Nikon_2183_AF_S_Nikkor_35mm_f_1_8G.html
 
Last edited:
Sarah, I have that same lens. I have the D40x & it doesn't AF. That doesn't bother me at all. It was actually pretty easy to learn to shoot in manual focus & you can get better shots w/practice! But, honestly, I never use my 50mm. I've taken probably less than 100 shots on it. I'm really wanting a 35mm! I've been thinking about selling mine. If you have any interest, let me know.
 
for $400, DH just got me the Sigma 30mm 1.4 lens that nettio was pimpin' on an earlier thread :p

The problem with the 50mm is that it doesn't have a very wide angle, so you have to back wayyyy up to get the whole scene in your pic. And i'm just talking about getting my kid blowing out the candles on her cake, nothing like a family portrait! But man, I have gotten some really gorgeous portraits of the kiddos with that lens!! So if you're looking to only spend $100, do it!

For what its worth, I TOTALLY love the 30mm 1.4. worth every penny. I may never take it off my camera. I will admit that I'm having trouble getting th autofocus to work as I'd expect (i can't figure out what its trying to focus on sometimes), but I'll get there!!
 
digideb said:
Sarah, I have that same lens. I have the D40x & it doesn't AF. That doesn't bother me at all. It was actually pretty easy to learn to shoot in manual focus & you can get better shots w/practice! But, honestly, I never use my 50mm. I've taken probably less than 100 shots on it. I'm really wanting a 35mm! I've been thinking about selling mine. If you have any interest, let me know.
Click to expand...


so what lens do you use then?

thanks everyone for all the info!
 
That's a bummer about it not doing AF on your Nikon! :( Such an inexpensive lens, but takes great pics and great bokeh! It's the one lens I have. On my cropped sensor, it's too tight though... mostly for indoor shots. So I'm saving up for a 35mm lens instead.
 
I have to agree with Beckie (and thanks Nettio) I will never take off my Sigma 30mm! It has just the right distance for indoor shots of my kids :)
 
Maybe I'll look into the 35mm instead. It costs a little more but with auto-focus and what you all have said, it'd be worth it I'm sure. Hmm, i just need pw to do a giveaway, and I need to win it--against the other 12000 peeps. ha!

Okay, time to start a fund towards a new lens.

PS how is it so different/better (35) than the 50mm? (I don't know much about lenses)
 
Sarah8914 said:
Maybe I'll look into the 35mm instead. It costs a little more but with auto-focus and what you all have said, it'd be worth it I'm sure. Hmm, i just need pw to do a giveaway, and I need to win it--against the other 12000 peeps. ha!

Okay, time to start a fund towards a new lens.

PS how is it so different/better (35) than the 50mm? (I don't know much about lenses)
Click to expand...

Does your kit lens have a variable focal length (I think they usually do). What focal length do you usually use when you're shooting inside? Is it under 50mm? Mainly, I want the 35mm for the wide angle... I wasn't even able to get a picture of my whole Christmas tree last month because the 50mm was too tight in my house. Also, Pioneer Woman has a full frame camera, so she captures more than we do on our cropped sensors. A 50mm lens on a 1.6x crop body isn't truly a 50mm... it's equivalent to a 80mm on a full frame. So on our cropped cameras, we would need a shorter focal length to capture (nearly) the same image at the same distance.
 
And what's funny, is that while everyone wants the 30/35mm, I'm jonesing for an 85mm, LOL! I have the Tamron 28-75 and I LOVE it, but I want to get in just that smidge closer when inside. Tigah-now is tricky to photograph sometimes (;)), and I hope to get into portrait photography more and it will make a good addition to my bag.

It really depends on your shooting style. You can also rent lenses to try them out before you buy them. I plan to do that with both a 35 and an 85 before I buy my next lens (which won't be for quite some time).
www.lensprotogo.com and www.borrowlenses.com are 2 good rental sites. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
 
I want a new lense for my Canon XTi, but I, seriously, know nothing about lenses. Which would be a good one for a few hundred? Also where is a good place to learn more about my camera?
 
lovely1m said:
I want a new lense for my Canon XTi, but I, seriously, know nothing about lenses. Which would be a good one for a few hundred? Also where is a good place to learn more about my camera?
Click to expand...

Clickin Moms is a great site to learn TONS of information.
ilovephotography.com is another helpful site, but I haven't been there in a while.

It really depends on what you want to DO with your lens. Do you just have the kits lens? (18-55?) Do you want something with a longer zoom, so you can be farther away to get shots? Do you want something that performs better in low light (such as being indoors)? If you have the 18-55, which end of it do you use more? The wide end (18) or the short end (55)?
 
ColleenSwerb said:
Clickin Moms is a great site to learn TONS of information.
ilovephotography.com is another helpful site, but I haven't been there in a while.

It really depends on what you want to DO with your lens. Do you just have the kits lens? (18-55?) Do you want something with a longer zoom, so you can be farther away to get shots? Do you want something that performs better in low light (such as being indoors)? If you have the 18-55, which end of it do you use more? The wide end (18) or the short end (55)?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the site! I will check that out.

I only have the kit lense and I use it close up a lot for pictures of my son (when doing portraits), but far away a lot for everything else. I do shot indoors a lot and would love something that i can be further away for (being 3, catching him in action even when far away is important).
 
Sooooo, you want something that does a little of everything, LOL!

A prime lens (has a fixed focal length, no zoom) would be good because they typically have a MUCH lower aperature. That means you can set it "wide open" and let in a LOT of light, so you can use a slightly faster shutter speed to catch non-blurry indoor pics. They are also great for portraits.

A zoom lens would let you get more shots from farther away, but zooms don't have the same aperture range that primes do. They aren't as fast, especially in low light situations. (well they can be, but the fast ones are CRAAAAAZZZZYYYY expensive.)
 
Then you'll want a prime. There's the 50mm, which is nice and cheap and a GREAT lens, but is an awkward focal length for some people indoors. So that's why ppl are talking about the 30 or 35mm instead. And I want the 85.
 
lliella said:
I have to agree with Beckie (and thanks Nettio) I will never take off my Sigma 30mm! It has just the right distance for indoor shots of my kids :)
Click to expand...

I also agree! I LOVE my 30mm. It rarely comes off the camera now. It is amazingly sharp also!
 
lliella said:
I have to agree with Beckie (and thanks Nettio) I will never take off my Sigma 30mm! It has just the right distance for indoor shots of my kids :)
Click to expand...

Glad I could help! It makes me happy to see others enjoying their 30mm! :thumbup:

One thing to keep in mind is that because of the crop factor, a 50mm lens on a full-frame camera (like the 50mm 1.2 lens a lot of wedding photographers rave about) is equivalent to a 30mm on a crop body camera. So if you see people listing their favorite lenses, it helps to know what type of camera they're using as well, since not everything is completely equal.

But I totally agree with Col, what lens works best for you is really going to depend on your shooting style. I bought the 50mm 1.8 lens when I first bought my DSLR because everyone kept saying how you HAD to get it. It only took me about a month and half though before I realized it just did not work for me. (Seriously I got my camera in August and by the time we got back from our trip to Japan in October I knew I needed something else. :D) At the time I felt kind of unsure because no one ever talked about anything but the 50 or 85mm lens but I'm so glad I went with what I knew would work best for me.

g8rbeckie said:
For what its worth, I TOTALLY love the 30mm 1.4. worth every penny. I may never take it off my camera. I will admit that I'm having trouble getting th autofocus to work as I'd expect (i can't figure out what its trying to focus on sometimes), but I'll get there!!
Click to expand...

Is it consistently not focusing right or just in some situations? I know shooting wide open it can take practice to nail the focus, but I know some copies also have issues with front focusing and need to be calibrated to nail the focus.
 
I have D40 and went with the 35mm 1.8 almost soley for the low lighting capability. I have low lighting issues all over the house. The lens helps a great deal with it but it's depth of focus can be screwy sometimes & I have to take distance into account far more than I do with my 18-55 but it only goes to 3.5 so I find myself needing the flash indoors more than I want to.

The nice thing about the 35mm Nikon is that if you hate it, it's been selling used on eBay for practically the same price as new.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Community platform by XenForo® © 2010-2026 XenForo Ltd.
Back
Top