Are You Wondering Which Lenses To Invest In?

3 reasons that the “Nifty Fifty” is the first camera lens a new photographer should buy

In an article at Improve Photography Jeremiah Gilbert gives us 3 reasons that the “Nifty Fifty” is the first camera lens a new photographer should buy.

I must concur wholeheartedly. I still use this these lens frequently.

I especially use this lens since I do portrait work. I wish I would have read this article before I spent hours scouring the Internet.

Reason #1: Training Your Eye
A 50mm lens comes the closest to capturing what you eye naturally sees, so many beginning photographers find it a good training lens. Keep in mind though, that if you have a crop camera, such as a Nikon D5300 or a Canon 70D, then it is the 35mm lens that is roughly equivalent to 50mm on a full-frame camera (a 50mm lens is still a GREAT choice for a crop). The reason this is a good focal length to train your eye is that there is nothing to get used to. If, without a camera, you need to get closer to something to get a better look at it, you’d do the same with a 50mm lens (or equivalent) mounted on your camera. Likewise, if you need to back up to see something more fully, you’d be doing the same with a 50mm lens. Having a fixed focal length also requires you to spend a little more time composing each shot, which is never a bad thing.

Reason #2: Shallow Depth of Field
When you see a portrait, for instance, that has a softly blurred background behind the subject, this is caused by using a shallow depth of field. This can be achieved by using a low f-stop on the lens. However, your kit lens probably only goes down to about f/3.5, whereas a truly shallow depth of field begins around f/2.8.

Read the rest of the original article over at Improve Photography

Source: Improve Photography