17-85mm versus 50mm f1.8

Jesoid

Jesoid

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John
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Hi,
I have been looking at the portrait section and some of the photos are simply stunning, I note many are taken with a 50mm f1.8 lens, before I rush out and buy one can anyone advise what is the difference between this and the 17-85mm kit lens that came with my Canon.Sorry if this seems a dumb question but very new to this game :)
Regards
John
 
The main difference, it's a prime lens. Prime lenses have less glass and that means better quality.

Also they can be taken down to low apertures like 1.8 or even 1.4 which means they can be used in low light situations.

Nifty fifties are amazing quality!

Oh, and they're very cheap!

Just get one.

Dean
 
I happen to own both of those lens :thumbs: the main difference that you will notice apart from the obvious prime vs zoom, is that the 17-85 max aperture is f/4-5.6 vs on the 50mm where you can get f/1.8 being able to go down to these levels will allow you to get a super shallow DoF and also work in lower light conditions :thumbs:

Also using the wide end of the 17-85 will result in a bit of distortion, the 50mm is popular as it's a very cheap way to get into primes and it also is a quality bit of kit but it's also a great focal length because it's not far off the equivalent to the human eye :D

But if your doing say studio stuff you will not normally be using wide apertures as you are using the lights to expose the image your taking :D

Hope that helps a little, and welcome to TP :wave:

Matt
MWHCVT
 
Thanks guys,
Birthday coming up so will be top of the wish list, After recently spending £700 on a new 300 mm L lens I couldn't get my head around the fact that a 50mm prime could be picked up for around £70 but then I noticed the f1.4 version is around £250.
I look forward to sharing my results.
Thanks also for the welcome Matt
 
Jesoid said:
Hi,
I have been looking at the portrait section and some of the photos are simply stunning, I note many are taken with a 50mm f1.8 lens, before I rush out and buy one can anyone advise what is the difference between this and the 17-85mm kit lens that came with my Canon.Sorry if this seems a dumb question but very new to this game :)
Regards
John
Click to expand...

You need to try a 50mm and you will see the draw to them! Prime's can be restricting but only in terms of zoom!
 
another recommendation for the 50mm prime.
makes you think ( and move )
 
Is the much difference between a 35mm and 50mm both 1.8, which is better surely they should be the same sharpness etc, just different focal lengths. i went for the 35 thought it would be more usable inside with less space.
 
Quickshooter said:
Is the much difference between a 35mm and 50mm both 1.8, which is better surely they should be the same sharpness etc, just different focal lengths. i went for the 35 thought it would be more usable inside with less space.
Click to expand...

Price!

I have both. My 50mm cost me £70 from e**y but I bought a new 35mm for £162 from C***ys as the s/h ones on e**y were all going for about £135 and thought I would have the warrranty!

H
 
oh right is that it then. Nearly every one bangs on about the nifty fifty, but hardly every the thrifty thirty lol don't if that works ha :)
 
Except a 50mm on dx sensor will have the same view as 80mm on Canon FF sensor or 75 on NikonFF sensor. That is why Nikon do a 35mm dx lens.
 
right yeah very true, thats why I went with the 35mm thought it would be better for the inside stuff :)
 
My two favorite performers are my 50mm 1.4 and 80mm 1.8, much more so than any of the L zooms that I own. They lack the instant flexibility that the zooms afford, but in the right situation they are irreplaceable. I didn't really buy into the whole prime lens thing till I bought one, but now I would say that a nice set of primes will beat a set of zooms hands down across the same focal range. It sounds strange, but sometimes the zooms just feel so limiting, whereas the prime lenses just let you get on with taking the picture!

Maybe I should just stop waxing lyrical and go out and buy a Fuji X100 and have done with it! :)
 
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