Canon 50mm f1/8 Why buy one?

[urimages]

Can you shoot sports with this lens on a 300D? I'm interested in buying one and wondering if it would be a good lens to use in a gym where the baseline is very short.

What settings should be used to shoot gymnasium shots with this lens with a flash or without a flash?

walt

[Olegis]

It depends on your distance from the subjects. If 50mm is enough for you - go for it, you'll be able to use it at very low light levels.

In general, you'll want to keep your shutter speeds above 1/250s in order to obtain sharp pictures of moving athletes - so bump up the ISO (ISO 800 should be OK on 300D, even ISO 1600 is very useable after some noise-removal treatment) and use large aperture openings (f/2.8 or so, depending on the lighting conditions).

[cmM]

I don't think 50mm is long enough for sports.... If it is, then go for it, it's a great lens, especially for low light.

Oh, also, it focuses kinda slow too, so I don't really know if it's suitable for sports.

[Olegis]

Oh, also, it focuses kinda slow too, so I don't really know if it's suitable for sports.

It's focuses fast enough for gymnasium shots 8)

[daveh]

Take a look at the 50 f1.4, 85 f1.2 and 135 f2.0 too...

(not that you have to stop there of course ;))

[cmM]

Oleg, are you freakin serious? :P
Gymnastics is a very dynamic sport, and in that low light you'll need to open that lens pretty wide - not a lot of DOF.... I really doubt it's fast enough.

Dave, the 85 1.2 is even slower to focus.

[Olegis]

Oleg, are you freakin serious? :P
Gymnastics is a very dynamic sport, and in that low light you'll need to open that lens pretty wide - not a lot of DOF.... I really doubt it's fast enough.

Dave, the 85 1.2 is even slower to focus.

I once tested my 50mm f/1.8 MkII for focus and object tracking speed and reliability - shot about 50 photographs of the cars passing by at about 50-60 km/h. Very few photographs came out not focussed - so I guess that the lens will perform great with gymnasts.

[drisley]

I shot with the 50F1.8II at a bodybuilding/fitness show at it worked great!
And the lighting is much lower than in a gymnasium, and the fitness competitors are basically doing gymnastic moves all nite long.
And that was with a Digital Rebel to boot. I can say from experience the focusing is fast enough.
These were all shot with the Digital Rebel and 50F1.8II.

http://www.fotop.net/albums/sharpnsmart/novice2004/CRW_0734.jpg
http://www.fotop.net/albums/sharpnsmart/novice2004/CRW_0744.jpg
http://www.fotop.net/albums/sharpnsmart/novice2004/CRW_0747.jpg
http://www.fotop.net/albums/sharpnsmart/novice2004/CRW_0751.jpg

[robertwgross]

Oleg, are you freakin serious? :P
Gymnastics is a very dynamic sport, ...

He wrote "gymnasium shots", not "gymnastics".

Similar words, but different.

---Bob Gross---

[cmM]

Oleg, are you freakin serious? :P
Gymnastics is a very dynamic sport, ...

He wrote "gymnasium shots", not "gymnastics".

Similar words, but different.

---Bob Gross--- :oops:
I guess I should read next time huh... :oops: :oops:

[drisley]

Doh!
Well, the same will hold true.
The lighting will be much better than in the theatre that I shot the fitness events, and I can guarantee the fitness competitors were moving faster than say, a basketball player.
As far as length, that is another story. I would say the 85F1.8 would be a better length.

[mdude85]

shooting at 50 mm on a 1.6 crop SLR -- effectively about 85 mm, can be perfect for basketball or diving shots. I used the 50 mm today for indoor off the 1 meter and 3 meter boards. Here are some interesting results. I was on deck in the 1996 olympic pool so lighting tends to be pretty good -- I got good results without having to do a custom white balance, but I was usually shooting at ISO 800.



http://mdude.homeip.net/swimming/IMG_6665_filtered2.jpg

http://mdude.homeip.net/swimming/IMG_6662_filtered.jpg

[neo_xeno]

I tried using the 50 for basketball recently and I was not happy with the results. It just did not seem to focus fast enough. Alot of them were not the tack sharp i'm use to getting from lens with USM.