Flash or nifty fifty?

T

The Boz

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Hi guys,
My girlfriend asked me last night "what camera stuff do u want for Xmas?" ha ha she knows me quite well!

Anyway, I have a d90 with the 18-55 vr and I'd like something to help with my indoor photography. I'm also going to Poland for new year with a few friends so I'll be shooting quite a bit of indoor stuff there too, bars, cafes, etc.

So then, I'm torn between the 50mm 1.8D and the SB600.

I really feel like I need a faster lens because most of the time indoors I'm having to crank the iso to get useable shutter speeds and I find my d90 doesn't fare too well at ISO1600 and upwards. I find the pop up flash next to useless. The thing is I'm a bit worried that 50mm will be a bit long for indoor stuff. I've tried leaving my 18-55 at 50mm and it did restrict me a bit and feel a bit awkward. But I dunno if it's just that I'd need to change my style a bit with the 50mm??? Or do I start looking at the 35mm 1.8? Obviously I can forget the 35mm 1.4 ha ha! I wish!

Flash photography really interests me, and I can see more uses for the flash than the lens (I think). I like to mess about with abstract stuff and I often feel I need a flash. I feel like a decent flash would open up another world of possibility. The thing with the flash is I'm thinking when I'm away for new year. When we're in bars and cafes and stuff I don't really want a massive badonkadonk flash on top of my camera. I like to keep a relatively low profile when I'm shooting in public, which (in)conveniently points me back towards the little fifty mil!

Ahhh, decisions. Anyone got any suggestions? I'm all ears.

Cheers guys
Ps sorry for the essay, I struggle with brevity.
 
I went the fifty first, flash second.. with hindsight I should have gone the other way and probably not bothered with the fifty as I regularly use my flash gear whilst the fifty is gathering dust (on a crop, I find it too long as a walk-about and too short as a portrait lens).

But your style may vary, the fifty might be the right focal length for you and using a fast lens with high iso is much more subtle and less attention drawing than flash for candid shots.
 
I only have the fifty and indoors, it is superb. Haven't needed a flash yet.
 
Get a flash, far more useful and opens up a world of possibilities.
 
I bought the cheap 360afd flash from Jessops but the difference it made to my indoor pictures with the 18-55 is fantastic.

But i will be getting the 35mm 1.8 for when i cannot use the flash, and can't wait to use both together.

For a cost of just over £200 for both items and im sure with practice it will help me to produce better indoor shots.:)
 
I'd get the 35mm rather than the 50mm (equiv to 50mm on FF)

I have the 35mm and an SB400 flash and I use the flash more.
 
Hmm so the general consensus is to go for the flash. Not what I was expecting to be honest.

Interesting thoughts about 50mm being a bit long on a crop, which I was already a little worried about. Anyone got anything good/bad to say about the 35mm 1.8?

Ok I think I'll ask for a flash! Being conspicuous in public is not that big a deal for me anyway. Thanks for the tip about the nissin flash, but I'd rather stick with Nikon for longevity and because I know if anything does go wrong with it then it'll get sorted no messing.

Cheers for the advice guys. Looking forward to Xmas now ha ha!
 
Flash every time IMO. The 50mm will give you an advantage of just over three stops but you're reliant on the light being there in the first place. The wide aperture shooting can be useful creatively, but I doubt you'd be using it f/1.8 that much anyway. plus, 50mm isn't a great length on crop IMO - okay for portraits but not that versatile.

The 35mm f/1.8 is a great lens - much sharper than the 50mm AF-D I feel, and the AF is much quicker because of the AF-S. It's basically replaced my 50mm and after the new year, the fifty will be sold. My 17-55 does most things better.

A flash will give you options to put light into a situation where there is none; a lens can't do that. Any additional light can transform your family and indoor shots, specially when you start playing with bounced and off-camera flash, which your D90 will do through CLS and a CLS-compatible flash like the '600.

Bit of a difference in price between the SB600 and a 50mm lens but it's worth every penny.
 
Ha ha ha oops! Somehow I'd got it in my head that the sb600 was about £80-90 used, similar in price to the 50mm! I must've been looking at the sb400 ages ago and then the confused idea had stuck. I dunno. What a ****!

Nope, I'm afraid the sb600 is too much for us poor folk to be spending on Christmas presents. I guess I'll go for the 50mm them because I've wanted one for a while anyway, and just save my pennies and get a flash sometime in jan/feb. I'm not interested in the sb400 because it doesn't swivel and it can't do wireless.
 
As you've got a lens that covers the 50mm range, albeit a slower one than the f1.8, I would suggest a flash. As Andy in post #5 says about the Nissin Di866, it really is a great flash. It's fast, powerful and very versatile, but then so is the rest of the Nissin range. I got the wife a Di622 a couple of months ago, which was £95 off ebay, and it too is a very good flash. Both can be set for wireless off camera flash as well which is also a help in a large room. Well worth looking into.
 
Im glad you posted this thread as I was thinking exactly the same! Im thinking flash before nifty... But which flash on a budget hey??
 
I would also go for the flash as the 50mm can be restictive indoors. I have a 50mm F1.4 and only use it for the karate club that I take photographs for as I won't use a flash due to their safty. And it can be restictive when I can not stand where ever I want or need to. The flash I have a Nissin Di622 and it is great I used it with my 18-55mm kit lens the other week. At the karate clubs Xmas party as it was going to be hell of alot more versitile then the 50mm F1.4.
 
Still cheaper than your flash...

YN 560 Flash...and a set of YN 602 trigger...from Yong Nuo...on ebay...go off camera as well...

STEVIER
 
fifty is a great lens, u would be better with the 35 indoors but with flash you aren't limited to what lens you use BUT you will annoy the missus lol
 
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