Spur of the moment Lens selection

[scraggles]

I finally ordered my camera yesterday. Rebel XT, however, they had none in stock with the kit lens, so I was in a hurry and my brother picked out a lens for me. I'm curious if it's an ok lens.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=12142&is=USA

Thats the lens.

I'm new to photography, so thats why I ask.

[LightRules]

The thrifty fifty is quite nifty. It's a good lens to start with and to learn to shoot with. It's one that will give you tremendous bang for buck.

[Andrew Pratt]

Agreed its a great lens regardless of if its your first or last lens. You'll likely want a zoom sooner or later to augement it but you'll be happy with the 50mm...in fact it'll likely spoil you in image quality when you start looking at budget zooms

[jfrancho]

Search Tool returns 500 threads on this subject: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/search.php?searchid=231863

[scraggles]

Awesome, thanks. Exactly the kind of response I was hoping for. I just told him to pick out the cheapest one he could find for the time being. Good to find that it was a good choice.

Thanks for the quick response too!

[lostdoggy]

I just pick one up last weekend just for fun since I was in Manhatten. Fun Lens.

[WepWaWep]

I have the stock lens, not my favorite, gladly part with it cheap. You can never go wrong with a good 50mm, very nice for daily shooting. When I started so many moons ago, I, like many others, had the 50 as a main lens. Learned a lot from using it.

[scraggles]

Well, I do plan on picking up a decent zoom lense soon, but I can't afford it. Dropped 1,000$ on the photo gear yesterday, dropped 22,000$(financed, of course) on my new '05 Hyundai Tiburon SE last friday. Money is a bit tight for another month or so.

[grooveandmelody]

Well, I do plan on picking up a decent zoom lense soon, but I can't afford it. Dropped 1,000$ on the photo gear yesterday, dropped 22,000$(financed, of course) on my new '05 Hyundai Tiburon SE last friday. Money is a bit tight for another month or so.


If you can bounce back in a month or so, you're in great shape8) I'm going to be scraping throughout the summer for purchasing my 20D:cry:

Cheers

[DavidEB]

Even after you have bought a bushel of fancy zooms, you'll still use the 50mm 1.8. Excellent for indoors and twilight shots, excellent for background blur. There are better lenses than this (the 50 f1.4 and either 85mm) but they cost 5-15 times as much, so this lens will carry you a long way.


Good choice -- It was a far better purchase than the kit lens would have been. enjoy.

[scraggles]

Good choice -- It was a far better purchase than the kit lens would have been. enjoy.

I'm extremely glad to hear that. I had intended on getting the kit lens, but I've heard bad things about it repeatedly. Well not bad, but I've heard "Get it without the lense, and just get a better lense" countless times.

[csnudelman]

The kit lens ain't so bad and sure ain't so good. Depends what one wants-drop dead gorgeous 11"x14" prints or something to share pictures on the net and make decent 4"x6" snapshots. I got the 18-55mm kit lens with my 20D because it was only an additional $80 and I was not going to be able to get any more "camera stuff" for awhile. Now I have the 24-70L and the 135L and will sell my kit lens when I get something wider than 24mm but, that will be later this year.

[nat869]

I love mine, I frequently use it for different kinds of pics.

[Andy_T]

You can never go wrong with a good 50mm, very nice for daily shooting. When I started so many moons ago, I, like many others, had the 50 as a main lens. Learned a lot from using it.

True, but the 50 of many moons ago is *not* today's 50 on a 1.6 crop DSLR.
Here, the 50 acts like an 80 (which is a very nice length for portraits).

If you want to go for that effective 50 mm length to learn your photography the not-so-easy way, you are better off picking a 28 or 35 mm lens. Some thread (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=48942)from the time when I was pondering such thoughts...

Best regards,
Andy

[jfrancho]

True, but the 50 of many moons ago is *not* today's 50 on a 1.6 crop DSLR.
Here, the 50 acts like an 80 (which is a very nice length for portraits).

If you want to go for that effective 50 mm length to learn your photography the not-so-easy way, you are better off picking a 28 or 35 mm lens. Some thread (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=48942)from the time when I was pondering such thoughts...

Best regards,
AndyVery true. My next lens will be the 28 1.8 USM. A little off the topic, but...
Andy, do you find that even with the crop, the fifty still feels like a a fifty, save the two giant steps forward? Perhaps its that I've just become so comfortable with that focal length on the dslr. I may have to wait until I get the 28 to see if it "feels" wide, even though it isn't really that wide.