KrautFed

Threw my camera bag in my mess bag and headed downtown to test out my new 50mm f1.8 lens. I didn't have a tripod so I it was hard not getting "shake". For those that do not know, the 50mm creates an absurd amount of depth-of-field where only a short distance is in focus.

ryanparrish

Beautiful, you can see the grit on the chain that is cool

squeakywheel

If you had a view camera, you could get the whole chain in focus.

Just sayin

TheDL

Nice pics!

Can you imagine what the DOF of a Canon 50mm F1.2 L-series lens must be like? Too bad I'll never be able to afford one to find out

jyossarian

Nice. Shooting at night w/ no tripod is always a challenge. Sometimes you can find ledges or just leave the camera on the ground, but most times you're stuck w/ the widest opening and shallow focus area. BTW, big ring, small cog combo for pics.

KrautFed

the POINT of the lens is to NOT get the whole chain in focus.

I'm pretty sure I could get the whole chain in focus with some of my other boring lenses.

squeakywheel

I kind of doubt you could. Depth of field is pretty scarce in macro photography.

KrautFed

Who said I only had macro lenses?

lpw71

The pics are amazing! What camera body are you using??

I've been just casually searching for a nice lens for my XT

seely

Nice... I've been thinking of trading in my digital and dusting off my AE-1 and Retina IIa's again. Film definately has a soul to it.

KrautFed

Thanks... I'm just using a Nikon D50, and this was using a Nikkor/Nikon 50mm f1.8. Last night was my first use with it, and its already my favorite lens. For $100 ($100-$115), you simply can't beat the bang for buck. I'd definitely recommend it for your Canon (Canon version of the lens of course)


For you die hard photo people, I tinkered with the white balance in Photoshop, but I really need RAW format to do it right, so I'm not going to upload them.

noisebeam

Here are two photos taken with a 50mm/1.8 lens, also with a narrow DOF due to wide apeture being used:


Al

oboeguy

Great pics!

beingtxstate

Cool pics!! You should try "painting" with the 50/f1.8 man it looks cool. Of course, you'll need your tripod for that

I had the D50 with the same lens, I had to sell it to make tution a couple of years ago, one of the saddest days of my life.

Keep that shutter open, you might miss something!

unkchunk

Wow. Anyway you can get a few shots of your bike arching her back.

FlippingHades

I have the same lens for my D70 body - you're totally right, it's an unbeatable value. And I love abusing the shallow depth of field

drfardook

Can't go wrong with the $75 Canon 50mm F/1.8. I've had one for about 2.5 years now and its still a favorite for film or digital. Big pluses are the small size and its light as a feather. The lens is pretty good but its plastic so don't juggle with it. If you have some more cash, there's the $300 50mm F/1.4 which is bigger but better build quality.

noisebeam

And now the Canon 50/1.2. I'd rather buy another bike though

Al

MCODave

That's so cute that you are fascinated with a 50/1.8. For years and years that was pretty much the standard lens that everyone had. I've got about 10 non-interchangable lens rangefinders from the 50's to early 70's that all have 40-50/1.7's or 1.8's on them.

The shallow depth of field that comes from using a lens like that wide open is pretty cool. If you bring a tripod next time, try taking the same picture (like the chain one) with the aperture wide open and with aperture stopped down. That would make for an interesting comparison.

roadfix

I used to have fun with my 300/2.8......talk about shallow DOF........although I used it mainly for astro-photography

slvoid

Anyone tried using one of those like, 0.8 lenses wide open?

jyossarian

Here's a poorly composed shot using my Nikon 50/1.8 lens and a flash taken when it was raining out and I couldn't get full shots of my bike. I figured the blurriness would be good for disguising my mess of an apartment.

grolby

Heh, so true. I'm not old, but my film camera is a Canon A-1 (AWESOME camera, btw!) with a 50mm/f1.8 lens as the standard lens that came on the camera (or so I am told, this camera is a year or so older than I am).

If I had the time, energy and money to find developing facilities I would probably be really into photography. Alas! I have none of those things.

Yeah, shallow depth of field can be pretty neat if used effectively.

I-Like-To-Bike

My choice for narrow depth of field in 35mm has always been my 105mm f2.5 Nikkor, and for 120 film the 180mm lens for my Mamyia TLR. Great head and shoulder shots and I always got sharp candid pictures of the family with background out of focus. But have pretty much put them aside since it is not worthwhile to me unless I develop and print myself and I gave that up quite awhile ago. For now I'll stick with fuzzy wuzzy digital of my wife's garden bike for Internet "beauty" shots.

SimonEd

Pure class!