50mm prime

[clintham]

havent been photographing long and i have just bought my first prime lens - canon ef 50mm f1.8 II
so are there any tips you can give me? i have only ever used zoom lenses (18-55 & 55-250) which have much higher apertures, f4-5.6

also are there any 'classic' prime lens shots that i just cant miss out on taking? the type of shots everyone has to try with a prime lens?

i dont want my lens to arrive, me to attach it and think 'what now'. obviously get out there and experiment but if i can have a few targets and ideas im a few steps ahead.

 

[bigsharn]

Portrait shots are your friend, The 50mm is generally better for the stuff like portraits where you don't need a huge amount of DoF in the picture. They're also good for low-light situations like gigs.

I found that my 50mm (Although I am a Nikon user) is really good for skate shots at f/4, so it's worth looking at extreme sports (or rather those less extreme sports)

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

The first thing I'd suggest you do is find out the sweet spot on your lens. Whilst your lens is designed as an F1.8, doesn't mean it'll be perfect wide open. Go take some shots at F1.8, 2, 2.2, 2.5 and 2.8 to see how good your specific lens is. There's generally a little variance on the quality of lenses. My old nifty wasn't really sharp until F2.5, though it was OK at F2.2. Once I'd tested it, I never used it at F1.8 or F2.

The other key issue I found with the 50mm was AF accuracy, particularly in poor lighting conditions. Understanding the limitations of your lenses will help get the best out of them.

Personally I found the 50 really good in daylight conditions, particularly portrait stuff at F2.5. At that aperture, my 50 was as good as the L series lenses that I have.