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WANGDUE PHODRANG, BHUTAN
The 50mm prime lens is ideal for portraits – especially on a crop sensor DSLR when its focal length is increased to 75/80mm.
Canon EOS 1Ds MKIII with 50mm f/1.8 lens, 1/60sec at f/2.8, ISO 1600CROP SENSORS
Canon EF 35mm f/2 IS USM £388
Canon EF 35mm f/1.4 L USM £990
Nikon 35mm f/1.8 AF-S DX £148
Nikon 35mm f/2 D AF £255
Nikon 35mm f/1.8 G ED AF-S £430
Nikon 35mm f/1.4 G AF-S £1,295
Sony 35mm f/1.8 DT SAM £149
Sony 35mm f/1.4 G £1,100Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM A £370
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM £700
Pentax 35mm f/2.4 SMC DA AL £120
Pentax 35mm f/2 SMC AL £450
Pentax 31mm f/1.8 FA AL £1,000
Zeiss 35mm f/2 T Distagon £850
Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 T Distagon £1,400
Samyang 35mm f/1.4 AS UMC £415-570If you put a 50mm standard lens on a DSLR with a crop sensor, the focal length is no
longer 50mm, but 75-80mm depending on whether the crop factor is 1.5x or 1/6x. This can
be both a blessing and a curse. On the positive side, the increased effective focal length
makes the lens better suited to portraiture than at 50mm as you’ll get slight foreshortening
of perspective, which flatters facial features. The downside is that you may not want an
increase in focal length!
If you want the effective focal length to be 50mm (as opposed to 75mm or 80mm) then
you’ll need to buy a prime lens with a full-frame focal length around 35mm (which equates
to 52.5mm with a crop factor of 1.5x and 56mm with a crop factor of 1/6x).
There are numerous options available, as follows:As you can see, there are a few options with affordable price tags such as the Nikon and
Sony 35mm f/1.8 offerings, but other than that, the cost of a fast 35mm lens is significantly
higher than a fast 50mm, which doesn’t really help. The Canon EF 35mm f/1.4 L USM is
almost £1,000, whereas the Canon 50mm f/1.4 is only £244. You could almost argue that
it’s worth upgrading to a full-frame DSLR then buying a 50mm prime than investing in an
overpriced 35mm to use on your crop sensor DSLR!out there (more than a stop faster). We’re
talking black cats in coal cellars here folks.
I’ve lost count of the times it has saved
my skin in low light, allowing me to keep
shooting and come away with sharp
images. To give you an idea, if you were
getting a shutter speed of 1/30sec at
f/1.8 with your 50mm, which is easily
handholdable (see below), in the same
situation a 24-70mm f/4 zoom wide open
at f/4 (2 1/3 stops slower than the 50mm
f/1.8) could only manage a shutter speed
of 1/6sec, which is almost impossible to
handhold. I rest my case.3 SIZE AND WEIGHT
Another reason why the standard lens is
easier to hold still and achieve sharp results
at slow shutter speeds is because it’s so
light compared to a zoom lens that covers‘After a while though, I began
to see the benefi ts of that lens.
I realised that lurking inside
its unassuming exterior was
a powerhouse of possibility.’
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