Bought a new Canon 50mm today...

thehitmen

thehitmen

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Karl
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Have to say i love it!

Anyone got any tips for using it, my first sample image with it :)

dy2kax.jpg
 
50mm is a nice portrait lens, either on a crop body or (although many would disagree) full-frame.

Open it up all the way and try doing some low-light shots. Take a portrait by candlelight!

A.
 
Candle light would be a struggle with the 1.4, and while it's allegedly possible with the 1.2 I still think that'd be pushing things...
 
trencheel303 said:
Candle light would be a struggle with the 1.4, and while it's allegedly possible with the 1.2 I still think that'd be pushing things...
Click to expand...

That depends on so many things (ISO, tripod, shutter speed, number of candles, proximity to candles) that saying it's a struggle depends on the situation. Hand held with a 350D and one candle then yes, you have a point.
 
I loves a challenge :nuts:

I tried in vain to find a candlelight pic at f/1.4, but here's one I did at f/2, to give an idea of light levels and exposure:

50portrait2.jpg


EXIF hounds will note that this was 1/25 sec (handheld!) and ISO 3200 on a 5D mk II.

I think I shied away from using f/1.4 due to the tiny depth of field.. not so much of a problem if you're doing a single portrait rather than a group shot, just focus on the eyes ;)

Other than cooling the colour temperature a little in ACR, I haven't altered this.

A.
 
Anorakus said:
50mm is a nice portrait lens, either on a crop body or (although many would disagree) full-frame.

Open it up all the way and try doing some low-light shots. Take a portrait by candlelight!

A.
Click to expand...

I find I use my 28/85 primes more but the 50 is great, and does full length in an enclosed space

trencheel303 said:
Candle light would be a struggle with the 1.4, and while it's allegedly possible with the 1.2 I still think that'd be pushing things...
Click to expand...

wtf?

any would do as theres about a stop between best to last and it comes down to af and high iso noise handling
 
Perhaps I should have qualified my comment a little more by using the word handheld... although I did think it was fairly obvious what I was getting at. Come on peeps, think.

As for the comment though I do take it back after seeing Anorakus's picture, nothing wrong with it except the white balance appears to have gone to pot - unless the candles really made everything appear as orange as that.
 
trencheel303 said:
As for the comment though I do take it back after seeing Anorakus's picture, nothing wrong with it except the white balance appears to have gone to pot - unless the candles really made everything appear as orange as that.
Click to expand...

They did.. make everything go orange, that is.. try it for yourself!

It is possible - just! - to get a neutral colour balance from candlelight in ACR, by moving the temperature slider down as far as it will go. I tried it, but the resulting pic didn't look natural to me - a candlelit scene looks very warm to the naked eye, so the resulting photo should have a bit of warmth in it. Even your brain's auto white balance has its limits! :D

The auto white balance on the 5D mk II gave up completely on this pic, but I wouldn't expect it to cope with such a strong colour cast.

A.
 
My judgement of colour appears to be really bad, so I reckon you're right.
 
Candlelight should be easily do-able with a moderately fast lens.The thing is to keep the exposure on the quick side - you really just want to capture the candles and the faces if possible - over-exposure just loses the atmosphere of the candlelight completely.

Candlelight has a colour temp of about 2000K IIRC, which should produce a more natural result. This is a bit of a fudge - but something like this?

4539482910_981accab90_o.jpg
 
CT said:
Candlelight has a colour temp of about 2000K IIRC, which should produce a more natural result. This is a bit of a fudge - but something like this?
Click to expand...

Yup, I managed to do that in ACR, but it doesn't look right to my eye. A candle flame looks yellow, not white - it's almost as if there are really bright bulbs on the candles!

A.
 
Anorakus said:
Yup, I managed to do that in ACR, but it doesn't look right to my eye. A candle flame looks yellow, not white - it's almost as if there are really bright bulbs on the candles!

A.
Click to expand...

Well I'm not sure about that - I'd opt for white candelight personally. Tungsten light looks orange to our unaided eyes, but our brain makes the adjustment for us, so we don't see it normally until we take a photo then it leaps out at us. We correct the colour balance to look more 'natural' so I don't see why candlelight should be any different.

Personal taste has to come into of course, and what effect you're trying to convey.
 
trencheel303 said:
Perhaps I should have qualified my comment a little more by using the word handheld... although I did think it was fairly obvious what I was getting at. Come on peeps, think.
Click to expand...

yeah that half stop won't make much difference handheld, its just time to bump the iso 1.4-1.2 takes a 1/60 and makes it ball park a 1/90 which isn't an azaming amount more hand holdable

I knew exactly what you meant but didn't see the major difference. I tend to work around f2 for DoF and IQ across my lenses, dropping to 1.8 (85/28) or 1.4 (50) if I need to
 
I love my 50mm f1.4. It's proved brilliant in low light and I regularly use it at karting events when the light is usually poor. As mentioned, as a portrait lens it's pretty good. This was taken with the sandy nifty fifty that was on tour a couple of years ago, which convinced me to get one
94490480.jpg
 
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