nifty fifty

martinxr2

martinxr2

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martin
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quick question from a newbie here, i see alot of people interested in these.

These are the 50mm 1.8 right ?

what is so good about them and what are they best for.

sorry if a silly question here

thanks
 
They're "cheap & cheerful" fast aperture prime lenses that can allow for some very creative shooting in low light and with very limited depth of field. Got one myself and swear by it! :)
 
Love mine....great for shallow DOF and probably the sharpest lens you'll find new for £70!

No question is a silly one if you don't know the answer!!
 
where can i find a pentax fit one for £70????????
 
The "Nifty Fifty" is an excellent lens forthe money - in fact it's probably unbeatable value in terms of performance for cash.

And being a prime it forces you to concentrate more on your shots.

Here are some examples:

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=2226174#post2226174

If you get intersted in Macro photography you can also use it with extension tubes to get really good pics.
 
Absolutely unbeatable for the money. I used it in a family party under low light where 200+ flash shots wouldn't have been appropriate. Just couldn't have done it with the kit lens.
 
I also have on of these (bought for £70 from Kerso on here) and I think it is an essential piece if kit - mainly because it is beer change money in the world of camera lens, there is no reason not to have one.

As others have said, one of the key benefits is its wide aperture meaning you can use it without a flash and capture some great photos :)
 
I would say the only pro is the f1.8 bit. Everything else is a con.

On a crop body (like our friend's 450D) 50mm is a bit of a weird focal length.

Its slow and noisy to focus... yes, really slow and its focus accuracy is poor too.

The build of this $1 hat is really $1's worth.

Basically, if you want a cheap way of seeing whether wide aperture crazy DOF effects are fun, get one. If you like it you'll probably want to get the better built, better quality and far more expensive 50mm f1.4 variant instead.

Most people one way or another have the "nasty fifty" (as I prefer to call it) for a little while then either reject the idea totally or spend a bucket load on the 1.4 instead.

Me, I'll never own another again :D
 
desantnik said:
I would say the only pro is the f1.8 bit. Everything else is a con.

On a crop body (like our friend's 450D) 50mm is a bit of a weird focal length.

Its slow and noisy to focus... yes, really slow and its focus accuracy is poor too.

The build of this $1 hat is really $1's worth.

Basically, if you want a cheap way of seeing whether wide aperture crazy DOF effects are fun, get one. If you like it you'll probably want to get the better built, better quality and far more expensive 50mm f1.4 variant instead.

Most people one way or another have the "nasty fifty" (as I prefer to call it) for a little while then either reject the idea totally or spend a bucket load on the 1.4 instead.

Me, I'll never own another again :D
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For my purposes, I find the nasty version adequate for my small needs.

You make a good point though, more money does usually mean better quality and the nifty fifty is a cheap way of evaluating your need for such a lens - remember you can always sell for about £10-£20 less than you paid for it in the classifieds.
 
Better still, buy one second hand from this forum's for sale section and make the saving from someone else's experiment. There are always loads of these for sale.

70 quid is still 70 quid - thats a lot of $1 hats :D
 
Well if you go Here and compare the performance of the "Nifty Fifty" against other more expensive lenses it really stands out as an excellent lens.

I have one and certainly find that the criticisms of it just don't hold up - mine is not noisy when focussing and the AF works reasonably fast and the sharpness is excellent - and as I mentioned you can also attach extension tubes to it and get some excellent Macro shots using the built in camera flash since it is so small.
 
Hi Martin

I'm a newbie like you and also have the 450d. I find the nifty fifty brilliant for the money. More importantly, it teaches you a lot more about exposure when you're learning - using it rather than the kit lens, so go on and buy one - you won't be disappointed. Yes, you'll always get experts on here telling you to buy much more expensive lenses coz they've been at it for years - but you have to find you're own way in this game and it's only £70 from Kerso after all! When you get the focus right the shots are amazing. Have fun! :)

Dougie
 
Peter,

How many other lenses have you tried though? Relatively speaking the Canon EF50 f1.8 is noisy and definitely is slow and definitely has hunting misfocus issues.

Its a cheap item, so you can't expect it to deliver what a 1000 quid's worth will, you really can't.

The nasty fifty used to be really cheap though - maybe some 2ish years ago I bought one new for something like 35 quid delivered. It was worth the punt at that price as a day or so's fun is quite well priced there, for what they go for today??

Ok, so some still enjoy them - I doubt if you could find a single product that everybody hates or loves, I am just giving our friend a balanced view :D
 
desantnik said:
Peter, How many other lenses have you tried though?
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Well as in my signature I have the 17-85mm IS USM lens, the 28-135mm IS USM Lens and the 70-300mm IS USM lens.

And as far as I am concerned the "Nifty Fifty" is an excellent lens for the money - as the previously mentioned chart and review shows.

And when I bought it I didn't expect it to be better than a £1000 lens - and was therefore very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the images it produces.

And the one I've got cost me £60 on here - and it's one which I will be keeping for quite a long time.
 
desantnik said:
Its a cheap item, so you can't expect it to deliver what a 1000 quid's worth will, you really can't.
Click to expand...

Well Here I've compared it against the £1300 Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L USM lens - and it compares very favourably indeed!

In fact in terms of sharpness and lack of CA at the corners - from f1.8 it actually BEATS the £1300 L glass lens!

So you get better quality than a £1300 L glass lens for about £60 - £70 - must be the bargain of the decade!
 
Great bit of kit for the price - every canon owner shoudl have one!

Few pics from a 50/50 challenge I did with a variety of light sources:

4089254842_a6b865808f.jpg


3984099205_72b11042b4.jpg


4030079390_40a8fdd5b2.jpg


4104169432_21ec9600bf.jpg


4089250052_cf70fe23e0.jpg


4022501614_0661215276.jpg
 
It's a fanstastic lens, but yes it's built like a lada. The thing will fall apart if you look at it a little funny. Thankfully that wasn't really an issue for me, and the cheap build quality is actually an advantage if you need a light setup.
I ended up selling it after buying a sigma 30mm 1.4, but I still miss a 50mm prime. For those saying it's a weird length on a crop body, I honestly don't know what you're on about. Sure it's no longer a 'normal' lens but it makes for a fantastic portrait lens.
 
Lynton said:
where can i find a pentax fit one for £70????????
Click to expand...

Lynton, for a Pentax one you would need to get a second-hand one, most being manual focussing. The SMC-M are manual aperture, the SMC-A are automatic aperture. Pentax have made 50mm lenses at various apertures, eg F1.4, F1.7 and F2.

On auction sites, I think that the F1.7 would be approx £20 for the SMC-M and about £60-70 for the SMC-A.

If you wanted to buy a new lens, unfortunately the only one seems to be the F1.4 at about £300 .

Hope that helps.
 
The Nifty fity started me on an expensive Journey.. If you are on DX format try the 35mm 1.8.

I love my 85mm 1.8 the most.. such smooth sexy bokeh.. I love PRIME.

Low apetures revealed so much more to me, but I yearn for more. April will hopefully bring me my 135MM F2 Nikkor DC.
 
thanks all for the replies (y) some good reading there

Think i'll be gettin one soon and hopefully have a good bit of learning from it. Hopefully Kerso still has some left.

thanks again:clap:
 
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