Photography Tips | Why Everyone Should Have 50mm Lens

One of the reason on why everyone should have 50mm lens in their bag is that, it is a versatile lens. It is not expensive if you choose 50mm with f/1.8 (Canon around USD 150) and just a little bit more if you chose 50mm f/1.4 (Canon around USD 400). Yes off-course there is another  expensive 50mm like Canon 50mm f/1.2, but here, we will talk about the most affordable, 50mm f/1.8/ & f/1.4.

© 2014 Wazari Wazir | My Wife and Daughter Arianna | 50mm | f/2

Even though it is affordable, quite cheap, do not underestimate its quality. They are very good, for those of you who have one, for sure will agree with me. I’ve been using 50mm quite a lot especially for photographing my children, personally I think 50mm is great for portrait, it may not produced a beautiful bokeh (how the lens renders out of focus areas) like 85mm f/1.8 or 135mm f/2.8 but if you compare their price, 50mm is better value for money.

If you take a look at the portrait of my daughter Arianna above, 50mm lens produced a beautiful bokeh, I’m using aperture f/2 to throw the background out of focus, to make my little princess stand out from the background.

© 2014 Wazari Wazir | Annapurna Range From Sarangkot | Pokhara | Nepal | 50mm

I’ve also use 50mm lens for landscape photography, like the photograph above, I know that 50 mm is not the best lens for landscape but like I said before, it is versatile, you can use it in a situation where you don’t have a tripod and need a fast lens, a lens which have big aperture like 50mm f/1.4/1.8. Most entry level DSLR camera nowadays comes with a  standard kit lens, usually zoom lens like 18-135mm with aperture of f/3.5-5.6. With aperture like that, you should know that it is not fast enough for low light situation, without the need of a tripod.

50mm lens also a good for travel photography, a great companion to your existing kit lens. They will be a great help capturing low light photography where the tripod is forbidden. You may say that, having 24-70mm f/2.8 is better option for travel photography, where you don’t have to switch lens, yes that’s true but look at the price. So for beginners who doesn’t have much cash on their hands but still wanted to captured great picture, then, give 50mm a try.

When taking about traveling, I like to travel light, the only lens that I carry with me when traveling is 24mm and 50mm prime lens. I don’t have zoom lens with me. If you look at the Blue Mosque photograph above, I shot it with 50mm lens but that one, I’m using a tripod.

By now, hopefully you will understand that 50mm is a versatile affordable lens, you can use it for portrait, landscape, architecture, almost anything and  another thing about 50mm lens is that its mimic the field of the human eye, that’s why some people called it “normal lens” if you attached it to a full frame camera. Yes, definitely it has some limitation but with limitation, comes creativity. Do not let its limitation hold you back, use it creatively.

*If you have hard time getting a sharp picture using 50mm at wide aperture, please read this article –  Photography Tips With 50mm Lens