Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II - a good lens?

Canon 20D.

I want a medium tele for product shots of suitcase sized objects. I'm
looking for a wide aperture for shallow DOF. My EF 85mm f/1.8 USM tele
takes nice pictures, but it is just a bit too long for my cramped studio.

At $80, the EF 50mm looks to be a reasonable deal. Apologies if the pros
and cons of this lens has been discussed a lot, previously.

-0-

Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"

Mike Rocket J Squirrel wrote:

Canon 20D.

I want a medium tele for product shots of suitcase sized objects. I'm
looking for a wide aperture for shallow DOF. My EF 85mm f/1.8 USM tele
takes nice pictures, but it is just a bit too long for my cramped studio.

At $80, the EF 50mm looks to be a reasonable deal. Apologies if the pros
and cons of this lens has been discussed a lot, previously.

It certainly is a reasonable deal--it's one of the "bargain" lenses in the
Canon system with performance much better than its price would suggest.

For the work you're describing you might also want to look at the 60mm
macro, which has very low distortion and greater sharpness, or, if you're
looking for a lens primarily for product photography and can afford the
money, the 45 TS-E, which gives you a vast amount of control over the focal
plane and perspective. Not saying you need either of those for what you do
but you should at least think about them before going with the 50.

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

J. Clarke wrote:

For the work you're describing you might also want to look at the 60mm
macro, which has very low distortion and greater sharpness, or, if you're
looking for a lens primarily for product photography and can afford the
money, the 45 TS-E, which gives you a vast amount of control over the focal
plane and perspective.

A tilt and shift lens? Cooooool - I never noticed it before. Shades of
the view camera I always wanted but could never afford! Speaking of
affording, that lens is certainly not inexpensive. Sigh. It has to go on
the wish list for the time being. Thanks for the recommendation for the
60mm -- I'll consider it.

What's a good resource that a fellow could browse to catch him up to
speed on how Canon and Canon-compatible lenses stack up?

-- mike rocket j squirrel

On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 08:44:59 -0700, Mike Rocket J Squirrel
wrote:

Canon 20D.

I want a medium tele for product shots of suitcase sized objects. I'm
looking for a wide aperture for shallow DOF. My EF 85mm f/1.8 USM tele
takes nice pictures, but it is just a bit too long for my cramped studio.

At $80, the EF 50mm looks to be a reasonable deal. Apologies if the pros
and cons of this lens has been discussed a lot, previously.

-0-

Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"

I have the 50 1.8 for use on my 5D

It is a very nice lens....and you can't beat the price!

Mike Rocket J Squirrel wrote:

J. Clarke wrote:

For the work you're describing you might also want to look at the 60mm
macro, which has very low distortion and greater sharpness, or, if you're
looking for a lens primarily for product photography and can afford the
money, the 45 TS-E, which gives you a vast amount of control over the
focal plane and perspective.

A tilt and shift lens? Cooooool - I never noticed it before. Shades of
the view camera I always wanted but could never afford! Speaking of
affording, that lens is certainly not inexpensive. Sigh. It has to go on
the wish list for the time being. Thanks for the recommendation for the
60mm -- I'll consider it.

What's a good resource that a fellow could browse to catch him up to
speed on how Canon and Canon-compatible lenses stack up?

There's no one source. http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/index.html has
fairly detailed test results on a number of Canon lenses. Beyond that I
find that I pretty much have to google any lens that I am interested in and
sometimes I come up blank.

http://hame.ca/tiltshift.htm has a very good set of links on tilt/shift
photography--note that the Canon is not the only game in town for T/S
lenses for the EOS system.


--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...
Mike Rocket J Squirrel wrote:

Canon 20D.

I want a medium tele for product shots of suitcase sized objects. I'm
looking for a wide aperture for shallow DOF. My EF 85mm f/1.8 USM tele
takes nice pictures, but it is just a bit too long for my cramped
studio.

At $80, the EF 50mm looks to be a reasonable deal. Apologies if the pros
and cons of this lens has been discussed a lot, previously.

It certainly is a reasonable deal--it's one of the "bargain" lenses in the
Canon system with performance much better than its price would suggest.

For the work you're describing you might also want to look at the 60mm
macro, which has very low distortion and greater sharpness, or, if you're
looking for a lens primarily for product photography and can afford the
money, the 45 TS-E, which gives you a vast amount of control over the
focal
plane and perspective.

I do a lot of album cover (and eventually CD cover) photography. Would the
45 TS-E be a good lens to get nice square images? I've been backing away
from the album and using a 70-200mm f/4 L at about 150mm.

Greg

"Mike Rocket J Squirrel" wrote in message
...
J. Clarke wrote:

For the work you're describing you might also want to look at the 60mm
macro, which has very low distortion and greater sharpness, or, if
you're
looking for a lens primarily for product photography and can afford the
money, the 45 TS-E, which gives you a vast amount of control over the
focal
plane and perspective.

A tilt and shift lens? Cooooool - I never noticed it before. Shades of
the view camera I always wanted but could never afford! Speaking of
affording, that lens is certainly not inexpensive. Sigh. It has to go on
the wish list for the time being. Thanks for the recommendation for the
60mm -- I'll consider it.

What's a good resource that a fellow could browse to catch him up to
speed on how Canon and Canon-compatible lenses stack up?


I use http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ to get a good idea of the
Canon lens line along with the features of the lenses. The reviews are more
subjective and he hasn't really gotten started on non-Canon lense but as far
as things like comparing physical sizes of the lenses and general quality of
the lenses I think it's very informative. I was just reading up on the
capabilities of the TS-Es there the other night.

Greg

"Mike Rocket J Squirrel" wrote in message
...
Canon 20D.

I want a medium tele for product shots of suitcase sized objects. I'm
looking for a wide aperture for shallow DOF. My EF 85mm f/1.8 USM tele
takes nice pictures, but it is just a bit too long for my cramped studio.

At $80, the EF 50mm looks to be a reasonable deal. Apologies if the pros
and cons of this lens has been discussed a lot, previously.

-0-

Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"

After I read this, I stepped outside for a couple of quick shots.
http://dwight.munroe.googlepages.com/samples
You'll see that the only difference between the two photos is the aperture
(20 v. 1.8) and the corresponding shutter speed. What it shows is the paper
thin DOF that I think you're looking for (at the 1.8 setting).

Caution - these are the full-size JPGs out of the camera.

dwight
(Rebel XT)

You'll see that the only difference between the two photos is the aperture
(20 v. 1.8) and the corresponding shutter speed. What it shows is the paper
thin DOF that I think you're looking for (at the 1.8 setting).

Yeah, I like that shallow DOF for portraits, too. Thanks for the demos.

-- m.e.