Beginner Do I really Need a 50mm prime???

[kingo15]

I was exactly the same, but then the 35 and 85s I bought were of a higher quality than my 50 which was just the little 1.8D. So was always drawn to them to give me better results.

Just this week I've been messing around with it on my D3 and I think I've fallen in love with it again a little bit. I've been used to heavy lenses, so putting the 50 on almost feels like I'm using a lighter camera again [emoji38] I'm going to use it for a trip to the animal farm with my daughter on Sunday

I also have the 50mm d where as the other 2 are g.

So I wasn't sure to get the 50mm g to complete the set the d owes me nothing but for the money it cost it's a great lens

 

[Emma10]

I would say use the kit lens at 50mm for a week then 35mm for a week and see which you prefer. I own them both, I tend to use the 35mm indoors as it's a little wider and the 50mm out and about. Which ever one you decide on I can guarantee you won't be disappointed. The quality is very noticeable from the kit lens.

 

[MartynK]

Do you really need a 50mm prime?

You are the only person who can answer this, but that's not very helpful, so...

The short answer is no. They were very popular in the film days, and were often sold as the 'standard' lens with an SLR because they were usually quite fast (f1.4 - f2.0) and useful as a walk around lens for general photography before short zooms became common. This still applies if you're using a full frame camera, but the crop factor on most consumer DSLRs introduces another factor. A 50mm lens on a crop camera (1.5 for Nikon and 1.6 for Canon) gives a field of view equivalent to a 75 - 80mm lens on FF/35mm which is getting into short telephoto territory. It might work for you, but I find it too long.

Another way of looking at it, in a more positive light, is that Canon's f1.8 50mm offers an inexpensive route to a fast prime which will perform very well in low light compared with most short zooms sold as kit lenses.

Why not set your kit lens at 50mm and see how you get on? Don't cheat! If you find 50mm useful, but you're hampered by the lack of a fast aperture, buy a prime. If not, just leave it for now.