Canon 50mm f1.8 II Tips

[tinusvdb]

I recently purchased a Canon 50mm f1.8 II lens to use on my 500d. I started off with big expectations as I have only heard good things about using these lenses, but find that I battle to get good shots. I generally use my camera on aperture priority. Please give me some tips on how to use this lens to its full potential. Some "DO's" and "DONT'S" if you will. What apertures to use for different kinds of scenes etc.

Thanks

[inkista]

Ok, here are mine:

1) Only use the lens wide open (at f/1.8) if you really really HAVE to. Stopping down the lens to f/2 or f/4 will make the lens sharper, and give you more DoF to work with. Don't worry, you'll still be blurring out the background. Using f/1.8 is an extreme. The lens's sweet spot is f/4-f/5.6.

2) You probably still have to increase the iso if you're shooting inside the house without flash. Don't worry, it' s a big sensor. iso 800 won't hurt as much as you might think it will.

3) Try using a single AF point if you're having trouble locking focus where you want it. Telling the camera where to focus is better than letting the camera choose. Make sure you get AF confirmation before hitting the shutter button. Focusing is more critical when you have a thinner DoF.

4) Remember the 1/focal_length rule. This lens doesn't have IS. Your shutter speed should probably be at 1/60s or faster to eliminate camera shake if you're handholding. And that assumes you know how to hold your camera (don't laugh. Every time I go to the zoo I see at least a half dozen SLR shooters who have it wrong).

5) Aim for an area of high contrast (ideally a black-meets-white edge that's sharp). The autofocus works better with high contrast than with low.

6) Don't forget you don't have to use this lens to get a blurred background. You can stop this lens down to f/16 for landscape or street shooting, too.

[tinusvdb]

Hey inkista,

Wow, I did not expect such a good response so soon. Thanks very much, I will try keep all of the above in mind when I shoot again.

I have put my 18-55mm kit lens back in the box to force me to try figure out the 50mm, as the wide angle of the kit lens is very tempting and I keep switching back to it.

[tinusvdb]

I have found that I need to underexpose about 2/3 stops, do you have to do anything like that ?

[NewGirl13]

Very helpful tips! I've been shooting with my 50mm a lot lately and I'll definietly be implementing some of that advice.

[enfox14]

I also just got this lens and my biggest problem is remembering to move back far enough so that I don't cut off the top of my subject's head. It is difficult to do in small rooms. For example:

[inkista]

Yeah, that's what people mean when they say that a 50mm lens is long on a crop, or too long on a crop body for portrait shooting indoors. It all depends on your personal preference in terms of working distance. You might be more comfortable with the EF 35mm f/2, EF 28mm f/1.8 USM or Sigma 30mm f/1.4 HSM instead, but all of those lenses are more expensive than the 50/1.8 II, which is why they typically don't get recommended to a newbie who isn't sure a prime is for them.

I keep hoping Canon will eventually come out with a $200 EF-S 35mm f/1.8 USM lens for crop shooters, like Nikon did.

[V8Demon]

I currently have my SECOND copy of this lens as I was a bit clumsy one evening and shattered my first one.

While the current copy I have is very sharp I feel my first copy was better; especially wide open.


For example; this is a wide open hand held shot with my first one....


Camera Model: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XS
Image Date: 2009-04-17 13:55:36 (no TZ)
Focal Length: 50.0mm
Aperture: f/1.8
Exposure Time: 0.0003 s (1/3200)
ISO equiv: 200
Exposure Bias: +0.67 EV
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
White Balance: Manual
Flash Fired: No (enforced)
Orientation: Normal
Color Space: sRGB
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined

[tinusvdb]

I would have expected the background to be completely blurred ? When I shoot at 1.8 the dof is REALLY shallow. I mean If I remember correctly the photo below was taken at f/4 and the background is blurred a lot.

[V8Demon]

Focus distance plays a factor in DOF.