50mm a worthy purchase?

[Legria]

Got a 450D with kit lens. Take loads of pics of daughter etc.

Is it a good idea to buy a 50mm 1.8?

Thanks

[MaddAussie]

Best bit of glass for the price IMHO, especaily good for portrait stuff

[kopite]

I have a sony alpha a200 and the 50mm 1.7 lens I have is the best lens I have

[Mithrandir]

Definitely worth it.

I got one (f1.8) for my 450D (Rebel XSI). I'm still learning to use it though but as mentioned ,for the money it is fantastic value.

[Saracen]

Got a 450D with kit lens. Take loads of pics of daughter etc.

Is it a good idea to buy a 50mm 1.8?

Thanks

It depends what kind of photography you want to do, and what other lenses you might be buying.

The image quality from the 50mm 1.8 is pretty good, and in terms of value for money, it's astonishing quality for the price. However, you have to ask what you're going to be doing with the camera. It's all very well to take the purist approach, and argue that a prime lens forces you to focus on the actual photography, like choosing your position and using that as part of composing the shot, and that that is a very good teaching tool .... but if the objective of the camera is to take pictures while you're travelling, then you may be more interested in getting decent shots of your travels than the finer nuances of the art of photography or the edge it gives in image quality.

For instance, a Tamron 17-55mm 2.8 doesn't lose much in the wide-open stakes unless you need something very fast (like low-light, no-flash photography), is very good in image quality terms and a lot more versatile.

Or you might want to go for a longer lens (70-200mm), or a "superzoom", like 28-300mm or 18-270mm, depending on quite what you want it for.

Bear in mind, a small group of prime lenses, including the 50mm 1.8 gives you a good level of versatility and optimum image quality, but for some photographic purposes, the price you pay might be that you miss shots completely because you were busy changing lenses when the 'event' happened. It's not much good having superb image quality from a lens if you miss the shot altogether.

I'm not knocking the 50mm 1.8, not in any way. For the money, it's superb and pretty much a no-brainer if it matches your needs, but if it doesn't, then for all that it's superb value in terms of image quality for the price, it's not superb value if it sits in your bag (or on the shelf at home) because it doesn't suit your needs.

If it's money no object, and you can have a 50mm 1.8 without the cost of it impacting on what else you buy, then I'd say buy one. It's always useful to have. But the £90-£100 (approx, new) will put a large dent in the cost of something like that, admittedly much more expensive, Tamron zoom, so if you need something more versatile, or longer, or shorter, is it a superfluous luxury to go for the 50mm? Only you can know.

[Legria]

Waw, long post mate!! I needed water during it!! lol Thanks

[Saracen]

Wait 'til you know me. That was a brief one.

[Bobster]

after my recent problems getting my 17-50 Tamron repaired I would never recommended them to anyone in the UK ever again! Intro2020 are just a joke with their quality control..

the 50 1.8 is great value for money, but it lends you into a totally new learning curve - be prepared to be disappointed with your photographs taken with it until you master it.

[Saracen]

Interesting comment about Intro2020. I can't comment on their QC, having never had to use them. I'd be interested to know more if you feel like adding to that.

Mind you, maybe I've just been lucky, but that includes using Tamron products going back to Adaptall 2 lenses for Canon FD mounts back in the '70s, and haven't yet had a Tamron lens pack up .... including a couple of those FD mount lenses that I still have and use on an old FD-mount Canon 35mm body, to this day.

But the Tamron lens was just an example. There are other alternatives, and the principle remains the same.

[merdat]

the 50 1.8 is great value for money, but it lends you into a totally new learning curve - be prepared to be disappointed with your photographs taken with it until you master it.[/QUOTE]

Yes Bobster, I noticed that as well-very strange.

[Bobster]

Interesting comment about Intro2020. I can't comment on their QC, having never had to use them. I'd be interested to know more if you feel like adding to that.

ok, so earlier in the year, i dropped my 17-50 at a gig, something in the zoom broke. I left it a while before i sent it off because it still focused ok and i used it at the 17mm end where it had stuck after dropping.

so i sent the lens back into 2020 (the official Tamron dealer and repair people in the UK) who took over a week to get back to me with an estimate (sent via snail mail - even though id put on the enclosed letter my e-mail and phone number and asked them to use either of those to contact me because i wanted the lens back quickly)

after phoning and paying for the repair (yes i had to pay before they repaired - more on this in a bit) it took them 4 weeks to get the lens back to me.

on receiving the lens back i gave it an inspection and found a large quantity of dust on the inside back element that had previously been clean of all dust.

so i called 2020 up and explained that the repair was unacceptable because of the amount of dust that was inside the lens (when you send something back to be repaired you don't expect it to come back worse than it left). they said they'd rush it through for me if i sent it back to them immediately - so off it went again.

lens is returned to me the next week. this time on inspection of the lens, it had more dust in the back inside element than the first time, and it also had someones lunchtime greasy finger print on the inside front element!

so another phone call and i was really ticked off - they promised that they'd do their best to get me the lens back but it would take a little longer. 3 weeks passes not a word - so i call them up and they give me some cock and bull about having to wait for a rear element to come from Tamron because its a sealed unit.. i ask them well if its a sealed unit how the hell did it get so much dust in it? they said it just happens - yeah whatever.. so 3 days after the phone call they return the lens to me - looks like new apart from a couple of dust spots on the inside rear element that i can live with until i replace the lens.

now last Weds i sent off my 5 year old Sigma 70-200 to Sigma because it was basically falling apart, things were becoming loose that i could no longer tighten myself. the PO said that they couldn't guarantee the parcel arriving next day because of the snow etc. so that was ok with me as long as it got there..

Thursday afternoon i receive an e-mail from Sigma with an estimate for repair (i noticed it in my in-box too late to do anything about it that day). so Friday i call them and they take my CC details and say that no money will be taken from my card until the repair is completed. < this is something that Intro2020 should take notice of! i received an email with an estimate for repair the same day as they receive the lens!!

Sigma say their current turn around time is 2-3 weeks and you know what, i'm sure it will come back working and clean of dust.

[stavroshamster]

At the risk of going completely off-topic, I have to say that my limited experience with 2020 hasn't be great either. Bought the same lens as Bobster is talking about earlier this year and noticed a focusing problem (needed recalibrating), and the fact that it seemed to be collecting lots of dust. Despite the fact that I told Warehouse Express (who took it from me and sent it off) that it had 2 issues, it came back with the dust still there. I didn't pursue it though as the dust doesn't seem to affect the pictures. Annoying though, and it's certainly put me off getting another Tamron.

[IBM]

it's astonishing quality for the price.

Disagree. It's astonishing quality. It's also incredible value for money.

Don't think that you're getting a cheap lens that is just good for the money. It's an excellent standalone lens, and I'd imagine people would still be buying it if it were twice the price.

The Tamron is an excellent lens, one of my favourites until I upgraded to full frame and had to part company. However, in terms to an evolution in taking photos, it had nothing on the 50mm.

The 50 is fast and sharp. It's light so you don't mind lugging it around, and while the bokeh is a little crude, at 1.8 those tight DoF shots will blow you away after a kit lens.

And while Saracen's point about missing the shot is valid, you go equiped for what you plan to shoot. You don't take a 50mm to event photography, just like you don't take a 400mm to a portrait shoot.

It's a brilliant lens.

[r_j_k_p]

some examples of what can be achieved with a nifty 50:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...d.php?t=186207

[razer121]

Adding them Kenko LENs seem to make such a hugh difference dont they? think i will invest in one! Anyway, i own a nifty 50, brilliant bit of kit i couldn't live without TBH

[HSK]

I'd say it's almost rite of passage to get a 50mm lens, even better that this one is great value for the results it produces!