How do I squeeze the most zoom out of my 50mm/1.8?

[drr0b]

Hi,
I just bought a Canon 500D/RebelT1i with 18-55mm kit lens on Saturday, and a 50mm/1.8 lens on Tuesday. I hope to buy a 55-250mm lens (or something) in a few months' time, but want to squeeze as much detail out of my prime in the meantime.

I would be very grateful for any suggestions or tips.

Here is an example: a pigeon in my back garden. Here is the full frame pic


and here is a 100% crop, using the Adobe RAW converter


Also, would I be better off using the ARC or Canon's own RAW converter?

Thanks in advance,
r0b

[dcclark]

Zoom and detail are two different things. Your 50mm lens does not zoom at all -- it's fixed at 50mm, which is the level of "closeness" which it can see. The only way you'll make objects appear larger is to use the good old 2-footed zooming method: walk closer!

The 50mm is not really a lens intended for close-up work. It's not telephoto and it's not a macro lens. It is, however, great for low-light indoor settings where you want a more-or-less full view of a scene.

To get the most sharpness and clarity, however, you should do a few things:
- Work on getting faster shutter speeds. If you're getting blur, it may be because of camera shake. In that case, a faster shutter speed will help. A tripod can also help eliminate blur.
- Make sure you're focused in the right place. Your camera will show you where it's focused -- or let you choose the focal point yourself. In either case, be sure it's correct. (Did you choose to focus on the bird?)
- Shoot at smaller apertures, such as f/8 or f/10. This goes directly against the first recommendation, since smaller apertures result in slower shutter speeds. But, with smaller apertures, you will have larger depth of field. At f/1.8, you have almost no depth of field to speak of, and so anything not directly in focus will be blurred.

Hope this helps!

[drr0b]

Thanks for your suggestions; I think I'll try sticking it on manual, up the shutter speed and close the aperture, and let the ISO take the strain !

Yeah I meant detail rather than zoom. I know that the lens isn't meant for telescopic or macro work, but it's sharper than my kit 18-55mm!

[inkista]

Actually, all those tips that dcclark gave you for the 50/1.8 will work with your 18-55, too. The 18-55 gets noticeably sharper when it's stopped down to f/8. The sweet spot for the 50/1.8 II is f/4-f/5.6.

Lenses typically change performance throughout the aperture range. Wide open (at the maximum aperture) tends not to be the sharpest a lens can be, and can sometimes exaggerate chromatic aberration and purple fringing, as well as any vignetting (light falloff in the corners). If you're after image quality, stopping down at least a little is often a good idea.

That doesn't mean you should avoid shooting wide open if you need to, just understand what the tradeoffs are when you do.

[BCampbell]

Originally Posted by dcclark

- Shoot at smaller apertures, such as f/8 or f/10. This goes directly against the first recommendation, since smaller apertures result in slower shutter speeds.

The Canon 50mm f/1.8 gets very sharp around f/4. Stopping down further may increase sharpness, especially at the corners (more evident on full frame), but not very noticeably.

drr0b, you can get some pretty amazingly sharp photos out of that lens, especially considering the price. Thing is, you want plenty of light for that. I find that even at f/2.8 and above it's really clear, which is still a pretty wide aperture. If you bump the ISO you'll be introducing noise which may set your goal back a little here (though the T1i has pretty good high ISO performance).

On the other hand, going wide open with a high ISO lets you get low light shots that would otherwise be impossible with the kit lens, even if they're not 100% sharp and noise free.

One nice thing about flickr is being able to see how other people took photos, in the EXIF data (if people don't hide it). There's a whole group dedicated to this lens so you can sift through photos and see what settings other people use to get what results.

[drr0b]

Originally Posted by BCampbell

The Canon 50mm f/1.8 gets very sharp around f/4. Stopping down further may increase sharpness, especially at the corners (more evident on full frame), but not very noticeably.

drr0b, you can get some pretty amazingly sharp photos out of that lens, especially considering the price. Thing is, you want plenty of light for that. I find that even at f/2.8 and above it's really clear, which is still a pretty wide aperture. If you bump the ISO you'll be introducing noise which may set your goal back a little here (though the T1i has pretty good high ISO performance).

On the other hand, going wide open with a high ISO lets you get low light shots that would otherwise be impossible with the kit lens, even if they're not 100% sharp and noise free.

One nice thing about flickr is being able to see how other people took photos, in the EXIF data (if people don't hide it). There's a whole group dedicated to this lens so you can sift through photos and see what settings other people use to get what results.

Thanks for that info and link, it looks very useful! How do I go about seeing the EXIF info of those pictures?

inkista, thanks for the info on the sweet spots ! I was just wondering about the purple fringing; I shot some ducks with shutter priority, resulting in f/2.2 aperture and some evil fringes. Any tips on removing purplies?

[BCampbell]

Originally Posted by drr0b

Thanks for that info and link, it looks very useful! How do I go about seeing the EXIF info of those pictures?

Ah sorry, should have mentioned; click on a photo to view it's page, and at the bottom right it will say "taken with a Canon xyz", and below that a "more info" link. That will show you all available EXIF data. If those aren't there, the user has hidden that info.

[inkista]

Originally Posted by drr0b

Any tips on removing purplies?

I personally like messing with saturation sliders. You also want to avoid backlit subjects and blown highlights.

[drr0b]

Great advice, thanks inkista!