Choosing the 50 mm lens

The article that convinced me to choose a 50mm prime lens over the usual multi-function lens that Canon ships as a kit with the camera body (Wed Jan 21 16:00:26 2009I noticed I had the wrong URL linked).

This review looks at the three Canon 50mm lenses, el-cheapo, mid-range and high-end; additional review sites are listed at the end.

And of course, there is the famous Zeiss 50 mm f/0.7 lens that Kubrick used to shoot the candle-lit gambling scene in Barry Lyndon, without additional artificial lights.

Canon 75-300 mm f/4.0-5.6 III USM Lens

The New York State sentence for a Peeping Tom is six months in the workhouse.
— Rear Window

Jim brought in his 75-300mm telephoto lens and I had a lot of fun shooting with it today. He said this lens was purchased in the days before there were digital SLR cameras.

First impressions (I have nothing to compare it to): the lens is great for daytime shooting. I managed a few twilight shots but I found that it had the annoying habit of losing focus completely for no discernable reason (maybe because I was shooting through glass?) which required me to manually recompose/zoom-in and focus again. I was able to read the text on a letter-sized sign (in 48pt font?) from half a block away. I was able to read the text in the photograph; it was too shaky to read-it while shooting hand-held. The best descriptor of the the zoom-ring would have to be, "clunky with a bit of wobble". Update Wed Oct 22 23:51:38 2008: This is not an internal zoom lens; the length of the lens changes as you zoom in, unlike the EF 75-200 mm f/2.8 L IS USM (US$ 1700, that Eric recommends, non IS version US$ 1200).

I was hoping to catch someone undressing in front of their window in the many apartments around the university, or a murder being committed, but no such luck.

Update Fri Oct 24 18:36:20 2008: Photos now available.

Update Fri Oct 24 22:12:23 2008: David suggests some alternatives:

What are you planning on take pictures of?

If you're going to take pictures of objects far away that you need to zoom into, then the 75-200 would be useful (remember to multiple by 1.6x to get the "true" length though).

If a good portion of your pictures will be indoors, or for close- to medium-distance objects, Canon's 24-70mm may be of more use.

There are also 70-200 f/4 lenses (IS and non-IS). Both are about US$ 700 less expensive than their f/2.8 counterparts.

First 50D Photos

Tell me exactly what you saw and what you think it means.
—Rear Window

I have finished reading the manual once. I am planning to read it again until I can explain the function of each button to anyone who asks. I estimate about six months before I can shoot comfortably with this camera.

Canon 50D Second Impressions

One of the problems I'm having, is adjusting to the weight of the camera— my right hand and wrist are sore after a shoot. Having become accustomed to holding my lightweight pocket cameras in my right hand with my index finger extended over the shutter button, I instinctively began doing the same with the 50D. However, since the 50D weighs 2+ lbs. and the body is taller, it puts a strain on my wrist and hand. I have to keep reminding myself to hold the camera with my left hand under the lens, relax my right hand and index finger and only use it when i need to compose and shoot.

Settings I have customized:

• Disable the beep (the camera would beep after achieving focus; I prefer to watch for the AF point to hilight)
• Reduce LCD brightness -1 level from the default, to 4 (I would probably need to increase this for outdoor viewing, but indoors, 5 is a bit bright)
• Enable Hilight Alert (blink over-exposed regions when reviewing)
• Reduced photograph resolution from the default 15.1MP (~5MB files average) to 8MP (~3MB)
• Disable the flash firing (the camera strobes the flash to meter the scene in low light; this is not affected when flash is supressed neither is flash firing using preset-modes )

I am finding the 50mm lens rather limiting for "landscapes" and large group shots, requiring me to stand quite further back than I am used to with my S60 and also not being able to get the same view angles as with the S60. My next purchase will likely be a wide-angle lens rather than a macro.

Update Sat Oct 18 16:34:15 2008: David responds:

The 50D has a 1.6x crop factor, so your 50 mm lens is acting like an 80 mm one--that's basically a portrait lens.

If you want a lens that has a field of view roughly as wide as your eyes, you would need to get something like the 28mm (f/1.8 available). Multiplying by 1.6, it will act like a 45mm lens; much closer to the "standard" 50 mm view of the old 35 mm film cameras (and current full- frame DSLRs).

If you're planning on doing more wide shots, it may be worth considering getting a wider lens. In a lot of cases it's easier to step in to get a close up than it is to step back to get a wide shot. Also, you can always "zoom in" my simply cropping the picture to get the proper framing that you want. If it's not possible to step back any further you're stuck.

Update Sat Oct 18 21:45:58 2008: Eric has a follow-up to David's comment above, about a, "lens having a field of view as wide as your eyes":

Your eyes have an angle of view that might be as much as 120° (wiggle your fingers off to the side while staring straight ahead to see what I mean). On the other hand, your perception of detail anywhere but straight ahead is atrocious, and then of course there's the "blind spot". So it's meaningless to talk about your eyes' "angle of view".

I'm pretty sure that standard lenses are standard because: the 45° field of view happens (for reasons I don't understand) to be the easiest lens to make so for a given price, the 45°-field-of-view lens is the fastest and has the highest quality.

Lenses have easily-determined fields of view; it's your eyes that don't.

Canon 50D First Impressions

Yesterday, one of my colleagues came in with a Henrys flyer which had a promotion where the purchase of any 50D body or body and lens kit would get a Canon camera bag, a grip and an extra battery. So this afternoon, I called the Toronto store to confirm they had one in stock and I picked one up just after 5PM along with the 50mm f/1.4 USM lens; my boss and my colleague walked down to the store with me. During check-out, when the salesperson asked if I wanted a UV filter, I turned to my boss quizically and he nodded and suggested I get one— it's $50 protection for the $420 lens from poking fingers of young children. As I was paying, the salesperson asked if I was a student (I had earlier said that I was calling from Ryerson when he had asked if I wanted him to hold the camera for me); Ryerson has a popular photography program.

After I got back, I cleared my work counter and while the battery was charging, I read through the manual. After the battery charged (100 minutes to full charge), I had to call my colleague over for help with attaching the neck-strap, as the single diagram showing the procedure was rather cryptic. Fortunately, he is experienced in this, as his wife has a Canon Rebel (film). Next, I tried to open the battery compartment and I gave-up, as I turned to the manual; he calmly reached over, opened it and inserted the battery. I took the 1GB CF card out of my S60 and inserted it into the camera and powered it up. I took a couple of shots and I was quite impressed with the bokeh (photos will be uploaded later). The view-screen is HUGE and AMAZING; it seems to have some sort of optical coating where the oil from one's face that rubs-off on the screen, does not seem to distort the image being viewed.

We had a difficult time configuring the inside of the camera bag using the velcro partitions, to hold the camera. More on this later.

The true test of this camera's capabilities will be in low-light. I tried taking some in my darkened apartment and it had trouble focusing on the far door; it instead kept focusing on a near-wall (I tried manually focusing but the results were blurry; I haven't figured out how to tell it to focus on something else.)

It's easy to take great shots in good light with this camera (in full auto mode). I am now thinking of going professional, hiring an extremely pretty female assistant (interested parties please include a recent photograph with your résumé) to walk around and take readings with a light-meter. Since Toronto Fashion Week starts next week, I wonder where I can get credentials to be able to photograph the models.

Time to watch Blowup again.

Update Thu Oct 16 23:16:43 2008: David suggested getting a Gorillapod.