Nifty vs pancake

Hey,
I am trying complete my lense collection.
The 70-300L has been ordered just waiting for delivery now.

But I am looking for an other lense, I want to try to have a small prime lense that I won't use very often, but take on occasions on the street or other places I do not want to attract to much attention with the larger ones. Or use for night times too.

So it's either the 50mn mk2 or the 40mn.

I know there is a slight price difference, build quality of the 40 is much better I have heard.

But the 50mn has so many followers.

What's your take, on a small lense to use occasionally?

Boke and build quality is much better on the 40mm.
It's also faster, quieter to focus and a better focal length, on crop at least.

Only issue is its 2.8 vs 1.8

i'd rather have the f1.8...if you want an f2.8 40mm lens...there are plenty of zooms that cover that range...

i also don't really see the size of the lens being what attracts attention(not counting bigger telephotos)...it's mainly the fact that you have a camera bigger than an iphone...

I have the pancake and I absolutely love it. It's usually what stays on my body and it's a great walk around lens- it's super unobtrusive and its SO LIGHT and SO CHEAP for the quality. I got it with the intention of selling it if I really wanted/needed an upgrade and no. I love that thing haha.

Well I bought the 50mk2.

Even if the pancake feels a lot stringer and better build. I really wanted I guess the lower fstop.

It's only to walk around and I think it will be main video lense.
Better to wait and save for the 16-35l.

And thanks again guys.

I have learned a lot and the people here are so helpful, it's refreshing from the other kind of forums I am used to.

They only thing the 50mm has going for it is that it is faster (lower f/stop) but everything else goes to the 40mm. The 50mm was too soft wide open, which made it unusable until f/2.8 anyway. Needless to say, I kept the 40mm and it goes everywhere. Mostly because it is so small and easy to carry with me.

Other than whats already been said the 40mm will also focus closer. Ive found this very handy for shooting in restaurants/pubs etc when sitting at a table. It means i dont have to back away from the people in close proximity as much.

I do prefer 50mm on my 5DMKIII, but 40mm on my 60D (and the 40mm performs better on this camera).

Oh,and its spelt "Lens", not "Lense"

kawi_200 wrote in post #15930005
They only thing the 50mm has going for it is that it is faster (lower f/stop) but everything else goes to the 40mm. The 50mm was too soft wide open, which made it unusable until f/2.8 anyway. Needless to say, I kept the 40mm and it goes everywhere. Mostly because it is so small and easy to carry with me.

Must be something wrong with your copy. I had two copies (mk 1 and 2), both were fully usable starting at f2.2. By f5.6 this lens gets as sharp as you'll ever need from a lens.

I agree with others that a f2.8 zoom makes much more sense than f2.8 prime. Tamron 17-50 is pretty small and light, and on 7D you won't really gain in size and weight with it vs. pancake.

The 40mm pancake is better built, sharper, and has much better AF performance than the 50 f/1.8. I never cared for the "nifty fifty" due to it's mediocre AF performance.

If you need a fast, small prime in this range, the 50 f/1.4 is a much better option than the 50 f/1.8, and is still reasonably priced. The 40mm pancake is a nice, compact travel lens, as it takes up almost zero space in the bag (it's the size of a 1.4x TC). It's only downside is the f/2.8 maximum aperture.

Well that's why it took me 20mn in the store to choose.
But the 1.8 is great that's what I am was looking for I guess. It is pretty impressive in low light, for the price.

I know you've already chosen, but I'll just leave this, given the price of the rest of your gear, I'd say a 50 F/1.4 instead of either.