Which 50 is nifty?

yeah, this:

Brett wrote in post #8172999
The way I've always heard it told is:

50/1.8II = Nifty Fifty -or- Thrifty Fifty -or- Plastic Fantastic

50/1.4 has no nickname that I'm aware of.

50/1.2L = Shifty Fifty, for obvious reasons.

and I agree with it being a confusion on people not getting that most of the nicknames they hear (all but shifty) all apply to the same lens.

and I know I left lenses out, but the macro is so less popular I did it by choice and the sigma is well, a sigma (nothing wrong with it at all, just that it's newer and has no nicknames as far as I know). I almost left the 1.0 off the list as well....

You guys are simply referring to recent history. We were calling the 50 f1.4 the nifty fifty, and the f1.8 the thrifty fifty back in the nineties.

M3Rocket wrote in post #8174959
You guys are simply referring to recent history. We were calling the 50 f1.4 the nifty fifty, and the f1.8 the thrifty fifty back in the nineties.

Really...I did not know that. I wonder what makes the 1.4 so nifty? The lack of true ring USM, at a ring USM price, or the gaudy bokeh?

I kid, of course...with a grain of truth.

The real nifty fifty is the newest of the FD 1.4s. That was the original "reference lens".

Brett wrote in post #8174986
Really...I did not know that. I wonder what makes the 1.4 so nifty? The lack of true ring USM, at a ring USM price, or the gaudy bokeh?

I kid, of course...with a grain of truth.

And what you say applies even more to the 1.8, except for price!

Even without a true ring USM on the 1.4, it nifty that it has FTM. It's nifty because the AF has much less focus variability than the micro-motor powered 1.8 (http://www.wlcastleman​.com/equip/reviews/50m​m/index.htm). It's nifty that it's 2/3rd of a stop faster. It's nifty because as "bad" as it's bokeh is, it's better than the 5-bladed mess of the f1.8 (http://www.wlcastleman​.com …iews/50mm/bokeh​/bokeh.htm). It's nifty because wide open, you get a semi soft-focus lens effect.

What the f1.4 is NOT is thrifty; not at three times the cost of the f1.8. Plastic Fantastic and Thrifty Fifty are apt names for the f1.8.

Sorry to those of you that think differently, but seriously, the 50mm f/1.8 is the nifty..
You can't change it now.. it's been that way for over a decade.
Yes it is also the thrifty,. but just a few years ago NO ONE would have cast a vote anywhere but in the 1/8 slot.

I'm actually stunned to see 24% got it wrong!

M3Rocket wrote in post #8174959
You guys are simply referring to recent history. We were calling the 50 f1.4 the nifty fifty, and the f1.8 the thrifty fifty back in the nineties.

Really?
I can't imagine that I could be around this much talk of photography as long as this and missed this trend?

today is the first time I have ever heard Nifty applied to the 1.4... ?

And "Plastic Fantastic" was coined for a third party lens, NOT a Canon lens .. ( Tokina? )
It's a great name and now people are co opting it for the Thrifty/Nifty as well, but IMHO that's incorrect as well.

How can you possibly have a poll on Canon's 50mm lenses and then not include the 50mm 2.5 CM ? What kind of poll is this ??

You really should just rename this thread to "which 50 is do you prefer?"

It's the plastic 50 f/1.8 II

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #8175175
Really?
I can't imagine that I could be around this much talk of photography as long as this and missed this trend?

today is the first time I have ever heard Nifty applied to the 1.4... ?

Well--I launched my company's web site in 1994. I've been on the web awhile. But you're the SuperMod. I'm just one of the old folks whose memory must have failed when I thought that in the nineties, some of us called the 50 f1.4 the Nifty and the 1.8 the Thrifty. I only had a lowly A2E back then.

Then again, today is the first day you ever heard the term Nifty applied to the f1.4, so the 24 who voted that way must be wrong.

I actually would much rather argue with Leica fans who think that calling the Sigma 50 f1.4 the Sigmalux is a sham!

I've been around long enough to have graduated to an A2E, but I also know the 1.8 as nifty, thrift, and know when people say plastic fantastic, that's what they mean.....

jacobsen1 wrote in post #8177012
I've been around long enough to have graduated to an A2E, but I also know the 1.8 as nifty, thrift, and know when people say plastic fantastic, that's what they mean.....

Well duh! No one is arguing about people referring to the 1.8 as all the above. The question is whether the "nifty" was originally coined for, and more suited for, the f1.4. If you don't think so, that's fine. But just because the majority seem to also refer to the f1.8 as nifty doesn't mean it wasn't originally a moniker used to refer to the f1.4 instead.

I've always known the 50mm 1.8 mk2 as the nifty. I thought everyone knew that