Unrealistic expectation of new 50mm f1.8?

Hi, Mike,

It seems you're being forgotten by the boffins bickering with one another.

Yes, your glass is "fast" in the sense that it allows for a large aperture to let in more light (f1.8 being your largest aperture.) But you're correct to worry that shooting at large apertures like this is going to limit your depth of field (the area in focus) when you have a number of people, some closer and some further away from the camera. So stopping down a little (shooting around f4.5) can actually be a good idea.

The easiest fix, if you're not using flash, is simply to increase your ISO to 1600, 3200, or 6400. Remember that you need a shutter speed of at least 1/50 to produce a steady (no camera shake) shot. You also may want to freeze movement (for example if there are kids running around) which case you'd need an even faster shutter speed.

Hope this helps.

best,

Jake