Just got my 50mm f/1.8 II...now what??

Just got my 50mm f/1.8 II delivered and I'm pretty excited about testing it out on my T2i tonight.

This will be my first time ever shooting with anything other than the 18-55mm kit lens, so it should be interesting.

Any suggestions on types of shots I should take to learn a little more about this lens?

I would set the av mode to 1.8 and shoot around. I will wow about the dof. Enjoy!

Canon 450D, Kit lens, 50mm f/1.8, 60mm f/2.8, kenko extension tube

Well, just make sure it's stopped down to at least f/2.8 so that you won't feel disappointed from the first shots (that still gives some bokeh but it's much__ sharper then 1.8).

Also, since you mentioned the kit lens, if you stop the 50 to around f/4-5.6 and compare the shots to the kit lens at 50-55 mm and similar aperture (or actually any aperture) you'll be quite pleasantly surprised. I was

Have some fun with the DoF at f/1.8 (that's what I did the night I got mine ). It's paper-thin!

Keep in mind though, that you'll need a faster shutter speed to get sharp shots than is necessary with the 18-55 IS (since the EF 50 f/1.8 does not have IS).

You will love the walk-around-ability of your camera with that lens too -- feels like a point-n-shoot with that on it. It's the perfect theme-park lens, IMO.

This lens isn't so great opened all the way. When I first got mine I had other explain this to me after complaining that many of my images weren't as sharp as they could have been.

It's a portrait lens, so the first thing you might want to try with it is taking portraits. Try to think outside the box, and you will find that the possibilities are surprising, despite the minimum distance. The lack of zoom forces you to focus more on composition, which is a great thing for any beginning photographer like myself.

Here's what I've been doing with my "nifty fifty" lens (the only one I currently own) for the past couple months:

http://picasaweb.google.com/maartendepue/Onderweg

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-- James
'Take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints.'

I think f1.8 is great, don't avoid it - this is the first shot I took when I got the lens, 320, ISO200, f1.8:



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Sam K., NYC

Skanter, very nice pic.

It's a portrait lens, light, cheap, fast but you cannot expect best IQ at f/1.8 or f/2. If you use only zoom lenses, you can find yourself trying to zoom also with this one....

I agree, don't be shy to shoot it wide open and take advantage of the very thin DOF for dramatic effect portraits. I've had several units of this lens and most were sharp wide open, and really good stopped down to 2 or 2.5. But try your sample at 1.8, it might end up very sharp as well.
Have fun, it's a great little lens.

Marla.

f1.8-2 is fun, but challenging to use due to tiny DOF and focusing precision. I would recommend starting at f2.8 which still provides lots of blur, but improved sharpness and just enough DOF that you can easily focus. Really, I shoot mine at f2.5 most often unless shutter speeds require f1.8.

Go wherever a band is playing, set it to f/2.8 iso 1600 and 1/100ss and see what happens

Or go to a local theater and see if you can pick off some covert shots (most theaters don't allow shooting).

Sign up with Model Mayhem and invite a model. Many are willing to do it on TFCD basis.

Go to a festival, party, family reunion, visit a church, shoot under a dark and cloudy sky, shoot flowers. Go to a museum, exhibition, go out on the street, shoot shopping people, if you're living in a big city there may be fairs, living statues, performances, dance demo's.

Get another any brand or make 50mm f/1.8 (a cheap manual nikkor lens for example) and you've got a 1:1 macro lens if you mount the lenses front to front.

Have fun!

Chi City said:

Just got my 50mm f/1.8 II delivered and I'm pretty excited about testing it out on my T2i tonight.

This will be my first time ever shooting with anything other than the 18-55mm kit lens, so it should be interesting.

Any suggestions on types of shots I should take to learn a little more about this lens?

Click to expand...

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Imqqmi



http://www.pbase.com/imqqmi

The DSLR jargon cheatsheet:
http://www.jmbfoto.nl/dslrcheatsheet.pdf

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions guys! Very much appreciated...

I live in the heart of Chicago, so this should be quite fun!

One at f/1.8:



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