In praise of the 22

Back2M wrote:

thunder storm wrote:

Alastair Norcross wrote:

Given that I use the 50 pretty much exclusively for portraits, peak sharpness isn’t necessarily desirable.

Depends on the subject. The skin of young children can often handle a lot sharpness.

You own both the 32mm and 50mm? Any thoughts? At $100, sure, hard to beat. It's got the benefit of being 2/3 stops faster (the 32mm f/1.4 represents 51mm f/2.2) and tighter framing. I know it'd get left at home though if I got one again now that I have a 32mm though... Still curious nonetheless your vote/thoughts on it.

I like the 50 STM a lot, especially for the price and size. Even with the adapter, it's about the same size as the EF-M 18-55. The 32 is better, though. The 50 isn't faster than the 32, except, in a certain restricted sense, when you are comparing the 50 on a FF camera to the 32 on an M. Given that I use the 50 on my M6 and, occasionally, on my 7DII, the extra light-gathering ability is purely theoretical. Also, the sense in which the 32 represents 51 F2.2 is rather artificial. It is the equivalent of a 51 F2.2 mounted on a full frame camera of equal sensor tech to the APS-C camera you mount the 32 on. But this means that, roughly, the noise performance and DOF characteristics of the 32 mounted on a current M are equivalent to mounting a 51 F2.2 on, say, the EOS R or 5DIV. F1.4 is still 1 1/3 stops faster than F2.2 in terms of what shutter speed/aperture/ISO combination you need to set for a particular exposure. You need to be careful about taking all the equivalence talk too literally. But, the main point for this discussion is that you should compare lenses with respect to the camera you intend to mount them on. Given that we are talking about comparing the 32 with the 50STM for use on an M, the 32 is 2/3 stop faster than the 50 (and has the advantage in low-light focusing). If the 32 on the M represents 51 F2.2 (on full frame), then the 50 on the M represents 80 F2.8 (on full frame).

Sorry for the long reply. The bottom line is that the 50STM is excellent value for money, and, at $100, well worth getting. It gets a lot less use on my M6, now that I have the 32, than it used to, but I'm still glad to have it, and expect to use it from time to time.