Help choosing my first prime?

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crockhead1

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Josh
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Hi, I am a fairly new beginner to photography and I was confused with weather to get a 35mm or 50mm lens as my first prime. I am using a 600D from Canon and currently shoot a lot of videos and centered around street phoography so it will need to be suitable for that. I was hoping for the lens to work generally for a single all round lens despite of my preferences. I am willing to send up to 350 pounds and it would great if anyone could point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

Josh. :)
 
First prime, I'd go for the nifty 50 (1.8) cracking little lens although quite zoomed on a cropped body. £60 2nd hand or £90 new, nice and cheap to see how you get on with it IMHO then go from there?
 
I'd say 35mm f1.8

The 50 won't be wide enough for indoor use and be too restrictive. Especially if you want to do street photography and videos. Actually for the latter is suggest an even wider lens but you wanted suggestions for prime's so for your first, get the 35mm
 
You say you're considering your first prime and are unsure about what focal length to go for.

I take it you're currently using a zoom lens with the 1.6 crop of you 600D - what focal length works for you just now ?

What lens do have just now ?
 
gadgeteer said:
I'd say 35mm f1.8

The 50 won't be wide enough for indoor use and be too restrictive. Especially if you want to do street photography and videos. Actually for the latter is suggest an even wider lens but you wanted suggestions for prime's so for your first, get the 35mm
Click to expand...

Disagree.
I use mine for both these, I found It makes you think more about how/where to shoot! Cracking bit of kit. I'd get the 50
 
If you're unsure about a prime, I'd opt for the 50mm F1.8. As has been said relatively cheap to buy, but you'll get good results with it.
If you find you love primes, you can then buy other focal lengths you want, maybe upgrade the 50 mm to a F1.4 etc
If you find you don't get on with the prime lens, then you can sell in without much of a loss ...
 
Do what dinners suggests. use your zoom at 50mm for a bit then 35mm for a bit. Then I would suggest getting the Canon 35mm f2 if you like the 35mm length or the 50mm f1.8 if you like 50mm.

I prefer 35mm on Full frame so 24mm will be the equivalent on the 600D so try that, you might like it!! 35mm (equivalent) is the most natural and usable focal length for primes in my opinion (and many many others). But it's all down to personal preference.

Just remember if your subject has a lot of space around them then you can crop into the image. you can't do that if you are too telephoto. Wider gives you more choice.
 
isnt the nifty 50 too noisy for the video use the OP mentions..have any of the poeple offering that even tried it... its horrible for video...the noise...
 
For your budget you should be able to find a 50 f1.8 and a 35 f2.0. I started with a 50 f1.8 as my first prime and used it on a crop body in lots of different situations without finding it 'too long' for most indoor events. It was a bit too long for indoor shots in a 'living room' situation.

In the end, and after saving up for a while, I got a 35 f2, 50 f1.4 and an 85 f1.8 and use them on both FF and crop for whatever length I'm after. When the wife got a 650D I got a 40 f2.8 STM for her and that gets used a lot for video and indoor shots. It's a good length for just about everything and it's nice and sharp as well.

As has been recommended above, use a kit zoom at 35, 50 and 40 to see which length you prefer and then go for the prime equivalent. the 35 f2.0 and the 50 f1.4 can be got for around £200-225 second hand and the 40 f2.8 can be got for well under £200 so you should have a good choice with your budget.
 
dinners said:
You say you're considering your first prime and are unsure about what focal length to go for.

I take it you're currently using a zoom lens with the 1.6 crop of you 600D - what focal length works for you just now ?

What lens do have just now ?
Click to expand...

I'm currently using the 18-55mm kit lens that came with my camera. I personally prefer using 35mm on a usual basis but I will use 50mm if I am trying to get a portrait or a close up.
 
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modchild said:
For your budget you should be able to find a 50 f1.8 and a 35 f2.0. I started with a 50 f1.8 as my first prime and used it on a crop body in lots of different situations without finding it 'too long' for most indoor events. It was a bit too long for indoor shots in a 'living room' situation.

In the end, and after saving up for a while, I got a 35 f2, 50 f1.4 and an 85 f1.8 and use them on both FF and crop for whatever length I'm after. When the wife got a 650D I got a 40 f2.8 STM for her and that gets used a lot for video and indoor shots. It's a good length for just about everything and it's nice and sharp as well.

As has been recommended above, use a kit zoom at 35, 50 and 40 to see which length you prefer and then go for the prime equivalent. the 35 f2.0 and the 50 f1.4 can be got for around £200-225 second hand and the 40 f2.8 can be got for well under £200 so you should have a good choice with your budget.
Click to expand...

So would you further recommend just for using video the 40mm or the 35mm?

Thanks.
 
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