canon 35mm f2 or 50mm 1.8

[w33 brl]

hi lads

I'm looking at getting a 35mm F2 is there any benefit other than been wider than the 50mm 1.8 that ive all got?

I'm really want to get into street photography and i think the 35 will be perfect as i tried with the 50 before and it wasnt wide enough

 

[Jay_A]

Cropped or full frame sensor?

 

[jenic]

35 will be around 50 on a crop, so if crop then 35, if FF then 50.

Although that's regardless since you said yourself the 35 is perfect for what you need, so you should be directly comparing 35mm lenses surely?

 

[w33 brl]

cropped ive got 550d

well the reason i asked is that the 35mm go for around £250 from what ive seen
just wanted to know if there were any other benefits as an extra £180 on top of what i paid for my 50mm with no added benefits seems abit pointless

 

[planetx]

In general terms (film days) 35mm was considered the must have 'street lens'.

Lots of people say 'street' - are you wanting candid, from the hip, architecture, portraits etc.

Have you got the balls to approach people for portraits? If so a 50mm is very handy.

If you want a 'from the hip' style of shooting a 35mm @ f8 will get everything sharp once your hyper focal distance is dialled in.

No one lens is perfect of every situation.

A consideration - it's easier to crop PP than to get home and not have the whole scene because your lens wasn't wide enough.

Something people don't always understand is the centre of every image with any given lens has exactly the same perspective when viewed from the same position.......meaning you shoot a scene on a 50mm and on a 35mm the centre portion of that image when cropped equally will ALWAYS be the same.
If your camera is hi enough quality you won't see any change, only around the edges of your field of view.
Some lens do compress more but with 35mm/50mm the difference is so minimal.
On a crop sensor you want to try 20/24mm on full frame 35mm.
Always buy the best quality lens you can afford.

I am shooting a 50mm f1.2 lens from 1979 - love it. ( on a D3)


Www.woodyx100.com

 

[Mistercorn]

I'd probably go for the 35mm on a 1.6 crop. Nether will give great bokeh but are good solid lightweight lenses, read the reviews on The Digital Picture if you haven't already.

MC

 

[planetx]

Always thought the Bokeh on a 50mm to be quite good.
But I'm a Nikon guy so can't comment on a Canon.

I know my 50mm lens has creamaliscous Bokeh

 

[Mistercorn]

The 1.8 with the five blade aperture isn't great, the 1.4 is far better but mine suffered from flare and CA in bright light. Never tried the 1.2 but my 85mm 1.2 is epic.

MC

 

[planetx]

Which re enforces my point - buy the BEST lens you can afford ALWAYS

 

[Jay_A]

Which re enforces my point - buy the BEST lens you can afford ALWAYS

What he said

 

[Niall]

Personally I’d go for the 50mm for the shallower DoF, the 35 is good for certain photos, but the 50’s images will pop more when wide open which is the purpose of these fast aperture prime lenses really, especially considering that if shallow DoF wasn’t on your agenda then you could just buy a slower zoom lens and have both focal lengths.

 

[planetx]

Using wide apertures for 'street' is quite risky, hence the use of wider lens and shooting @ f8 is a popular setup.

It's different horses for different courses

 

[Niall]

Using wide apertures for 'street' is quite risky, hence the use of wider lens and shooting @ f8 is a popular setup.

It's different horses for different courses

Should that be what he wants out of it then your standard walkabout zoom will suffice seeing as the wider aperture of these lenses will be made redundant.

 

[planetx]

Wtf is a ' standard walkabout zoom'?

I'm guessing the OP is wanting a prime lens, compact, bright and less obtrusive?

A good prime will out perform one of these ' standard walkabout zoooms' you mentioned.

 

[Brazo]

Something people don't always understand is the centre of every image with any given lens has exactly the same perspective when viewed from the same position.......meaning you shoot a scene on a 50mm and on a 35mm the centre portion of that image when cropped equally will ALWAYS be the same.

Www.woodyx100.com

Perhaps I'm misreading you here but i'm not sure I understand.

I am aware that yes you can crop a small part of a wide angle image and get the same effect as a telephoto but not exactly the same perspective. Wider angle lenses have the perspective quality of 'pulling' objects apart and telephoto lenses have the effect of pushing things together or compressing perspective which is why portrait lenses tend to be a longer focal length and have a more flattering look for people.

A good example of this is an iphone with a 5mm lens will never take a flattering portrait as its effectively an ultra, ultra wide thats been massively cropped to give a 'normal view' by the crop factor of the tiny sensor. Think of the 'big nose' selfies!

I know 35 and 50 are a lot closer than the extreme examples I have given above but the 'compression' or perspective effect will still be there to some extent.

 

[Niall]

Wtf is a ' standard walkabout zoom'?

I'm guessing the OP is wanting a prime lens, compact, bright and less obtrusive?

A good prime will out perform one of these ' standard walkabout zoooms' you mentioned.

I didn't mean standard in terms of a standard like a 50mm, I meant it in terms of your average walkabout lens, I.e. The 18-55, 15-85.

But yeah that's fair enough, but most lenses are sharp at F8 so it wouldn't make a world of difference. If the OP intends on using it for other purposes such as low light then the prime would be advantageous.

 

[planetx]

Perspective is only changed by moving your feet not changing your lens.

 

[Brazo]

Maybe perspective is the wrong term that I am thinking of then but very different viewpoints can be obtained by different focal lengths as I explained above.

 

[Niall]

I think that perhaps distortion would be a more apt term, i.e. Pincushion distortion at longer focal lengths and barrel distortion at wider focal lengths.

 

[planetx]

Regardless of what focal length you use - optical centre stays constant throughout, it never changes.

 

[Brazo]

Example take a portrait at 200mm and at 24 mm (full frame equivalents)

Keep the head the same size and you will notice the head looks very different in both shots and the backgrounds couldn't be more different.

Thats what I'm on about.

 

[planetx]

Aaahhh but in order to do that you would have to move your feet or move the subject meaning your perspective has totally changed.

 

[Brazo]

Yeah I thought we may have been talking cross purposes!

 

[Cup_Phil]

Neither of those.. you need the 28mm 1.8