50 mm lens confusion

[PuR HART]

hey you all I am new to DSLr I dont own one yet but I have been doing alot of research about lenses. I saw the poll. Alot recommended the 50mm but I was talking to the lady at the shop and she was confused to why you all were recommending that lens as a must have. She was like " do these guys know what they are talking about" i responded that yeah alot here shoot pro. so tell me when i do get my 20D you all recommend getting this 50mm lens rt??
Thanks need a little clarity.

[Citizensmith]

Because in the Canon lineup it is the single best value for money. There is nowhere else you'll get that much quality for that little cash!

At f/1.8 you'll be able to take photos in much less light than any kit lens, even an image stabilized one. On a 20D it'll effectively be a 80mm lens which is great for portraits.

Sure, the f/1.4 is better but the f/1.4 isn't $70. Everyone needs a lens like this. A lot of people find they'll use it even more than their kit zooms. Its a steal, no hesitation required. Whatever zoom you end up with, unless it has an L on it, this lens will beat it optically.

I'm kind of puzzled though, a salesperson recommending you not buy something? Guess she's not on commision. :)

[buze]

Excellent, a new thread about the 50mm ! Can't wait to read the 2 pages of it saying the same things as the same thread yesterday :D

[PuR HART]

I really dont want to know if to get it I am jsut curious to why she said that i should not get it when so many of u guys here swear by it. I t seemed like she was emphasizing that the the lens was used fro 35mm.

[buze]

If 50 people tell you do do it, and one salesman (woman) tells you not to, who do you trust ?
Replace "50" with any number, including zero.

[guitarman]

I really dont want to know if to get it I am jsut curious to why she said that i should not get it when so many of u guys here swear by it. I t seemed like she was emphasizing that the the lens was used fro 35mm.

The sales lady, I'm sure would rather sell you a much more expensive lens. I'm sure that she's thinking that if you think its a great lens for that little money that you may always buy cheap lenses. Of course this lens is an exception to the rule. Myself I kind of wished I had bought the 1.4. Which is what I'll probably do now.

[mijbril]

I wonder what lens she was recommending??

[PuR HART]

Ya u know i need to go with this place instead of her she did sound like a freekin moron. I appreciate it u guys cause when I do get my 20D soon hopefully That will be a priority lens for some damn reason she was makin it seem like it was for 35mm film.

[islandtime]

The local shop (Ritz Camera) that I go to couldn't understand why I wanted it either. I told them about POTN and how many (all) of the photographers ther swore by it. I went on to mention the superb quality pictures that were posted to support this and that the lens was 1.8. They also didn't know that a dreb and a 300d were the same thing....

Once they got one of the lenses in the store and I shot a few pics with it they were amazed.

[PuR HART]

ya u know what those guys at Ritz/Wolf are morons cause I had to tell them about the reverse macro and another camera store here was the one about the 50mm

[SkipD]

One reason why so many folks recommend the 50mm lens is because it happens to be the "normal" focal length for 35mm (or "full-frame" digital) cameras. I would guess that a fair percentage of the folks recommending it don't realize that 31mm is the "normal" focal length for a 20D, 300D, 350D, etc. The 50mm lens on a 20D is actually a short telephoto lens. It does have a lot of uses, but surely isn't a "must-have" for everybody. If you are doing studio style portrait work, the 50mm is considered ideal on the 20D (it's the same as using an 80mm lens on a 35mm camera).

A lot of folks have no use for telephoto lenses. For them, wide angle to normal is the only range they use. The need to use a specific focal length depends entirely on what you are trying to do to create an image.

[bolantej]

decide if you think you'll need a zoom or not, then choose. i like my 50 1.8 because it's cheap, sharp and fantastic in low light. if you don't care about that stuff, don't waste your money.

[weasel]

Excellent, a new thread about the 50mm ! Can't wait to read the 2 pages of it saying the same things as the same thread yesterday :D

I need to start a "50mm" thread. I think I'm the only one who hasn't.

[Bob_A]

I need to start a "50mm" thread. I think I'm the only one who hasn't.

Wait a day or two ... we need to pace ourselves :lol:

[hankk7hp]

FWIW _ While the 50 mm 1.8 is quite good for its price -I am amazed I have only seen very hazy comments about just how shallow the depth of focus is on a 50 mm fast (F1.4 to F2.:cool: lens on a 20 d . I suspect 90 percent of the comments about "soft" don't rationalize just how shallow the depth of focus is .

At F2 50 mm , focussed at 2 feet - it is in focus from 1.96 to 2.04 feet or less than an inch !

F2- 50 mm focussed at 4 feet is 3.86 to 4.15 feet or about 3.5 inches.

and at 10 feet its 9.15 to 11.0 ft or 22 inches

There is a great web site where you can play with "what if 's" on DOF and different lens focal lengths etc etc . You can print out charts or download his programs .

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html ( you may have to poke around on this site)

[Mitcon]

I would never take the word of a sales person myself as most (not all) only know how to sell a product. To be fair thats all thier job is too besides customer relations, I admit to the fact that it's great to get good service and after-sales service also. This is where a place like this forum a club or your local "Pro" comes in. They can advise you with-out the "hard sell" and they use what they speak about.

It's always better with anything in life to learn about things before buying from books and non-bias users. Sales people have a job to do and that is to SELL. I sometimes think we all expect too much (myself inclueded) from sales-people, they learn a little about a product normally just enough to sell it from a "product night" held by a sales rep.

With all the choices on the market these days it's pretty hard to expect them to know everything. In the end it's "Buyer Beware" know what you want and why you want it, don't ever let anyone else make your choices in life for you. Not meaning any offence or to sound hard, but if you don't know the reason why you want something, why buy it.

Want what you know, know what you want.