Is the 50mm lens boring?

[ongakublue]

Just wondering how many people here use a 50 as their main carry-around lens and/or for street photography?

 

[Eric Rose]

Why don't you make a poll out of your post.

 

[Punker]

I find 50 too telephoto for everyday carry. I used to carry a 28 everywhere but it was a bit wide although it came in quite handy many times. Now I just go everywhere with a 35.

 

[frobozz]

For years I didn't even own a 50. Canon FD 24/2.8 was my "normal" lens. The last few years I've been using a 55/1.2 Aspherical a lot, and enjoying the heck out of it. Just depends on what you want to shoot and how you want it to look!

Duncan

 

[vlasta]

Yes, very.

For me "normal" was 28mm, now 35mm.

 

[Leigh B]

No lens is boring.

The photos taken with any lens can be boring.

It's all up to the optics behind the camera's eyepiece or ground glass.

In 35mm I own almost all primes from 14mm (rectilinear) to 300mm.
And I cover that range completely with 3 zooms: 14-24, 24-70 and 70-300.

I find uses for all of them.

- Leigh

 

[cliveh]

Have a look at the work by HCB.

 

[Cholentpot]

50 is default for me. It does well in any situation I find myself in. I personally find 35 boring, not tele enough to isolate but not wide enough to show off. I like having character in my lens.

 

[gary in nj]

For film I like a 50mm. I have a 28 f2.8 that I find a little too wide, but necessary to have on hand. I don't own a 35mm for my 35mm cameras, but I think it is a lends that I should be seeking.

For my APS-C I have a Nikon 35mm that I like but the lens that is on my camera 99% of the time is a Sigma 16-35mm f1.8. Outstanding lens.

 

[removed account4]

Just wondering how many people here use a 50 as their main carry-around lens and/or for street photography?

i don't do much if any street photography ( i'm not very good at it )
when i do it, i use a "normal" lens on a box camera ( 4x5 )
and lately i have been thinking of getting rid of everything except my "normal" lenses it is much more "freeing"
when you remove the burden of too much gear, too many lenses, what would it look like with this or that or something else ..
then the instant has vanished.

 

[benjiboy]

Lenses aren't "boring", however the way that some photographers who lack creativity use them can make them so. Speaking personally for street shooting I like to use a Canon FD 35mm f2 lens and leave the focusing on 10 feet at f8 or f11 depending on the lighting conditions and by using the lenses hyperfocal distance I have no need to focus for the first shot and if I have time I can focus more precisely later.

 

[~andi]

Depending on the street:

up to 1 lane: 90mm
up to 2 lanes: 50mm
up to 4 lanes: 35mm
4 or more lanes: 28mm

Humor aside. 98% its the 50 for me. Generally I don't like distortion and very few people get the wide angle to work to my taste. Winogrand and Kubrick being rare exceptions.

 

[Pioneer]

From my perspective, Max Berek got it right in the first place when he designed the first lens for the Leica camera. The Elmar 50/3.5 is almost the perfect lens in my opinion, and it is almost certainly one of my most used lenses. It is very light, very compact, and very robust. Of course there are other 50mm lenses from other manufacturers that meet this same criteria, but none that I know of are so small during transport.

Not only does the Elmar 50/3.5 take terrific photographs, but the depth of field, even when wide open, is still very good. It almost always produces sharp, in-focus, photographs even if the photographer makes some minor focus errors because the depth of field is so forgiving. In my opinion, f2 and faster apertures don't provide that latitude and are very unforgiving in this respect. For those who are not out photographing all the time this is a bigger problem than many of them realize. I think it is one of the biggest contributors to dissatisfaction among amateurs who find it difficult to consistently take sharp photographs.

As for being boring, that is not an inherent feature of any lens that I have ever used whether it was wide angle, normal or telephoto. But it can be a feature of the photographer. Some of the most exciting photographs I have viewed have been taken with the "normal" focal length for the given film format in use.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

A 50 mm lens is boring only to those with little imagination. In other words another focal length will not magically make one more creative.

 

[Martin Rickards]

It was nigh on every manufacturer's standard lens and, as such, had to be as good. I'd say that the competition improved the breed as no other.

 

[Sirius Glass]

The answer is no. For years I used the 50mm lens as the main lens for 35mm. Now I use 28mm to 300mm AF zoom lens.

 

[ransel]

On 35mm cameras, I mostly use 35mm lens, but I love the look I get with my Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.4 when shooting portraits.

 

[greg zinselmeier]

my "goto" lens is the f3.5/ 100mm canon ltm for 35mm

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

HCB worked mostly with a Leica with a 50mm lens. I find his work exciting.

 

[narsuitus]

Just wondering how many people here use a 50 as their main carry-around lens and/or for street photography?

Even though I own six 50mm lenses for my 35mm cameras, the 50mm focal length has never been my favorite carry-around lens and/or street photography lens.

The 35mm is my favorite carry-around and street photography lens; the 40mm my second favorite; and the 45mm my third. Only when I shoot theatre do I prefer the 50mm.

Of the six 50mm lenses I own and use, the 8-element Takumar is my personal favorite.



50mm Lenses by Narsuitus, on Flickr

 

[blockend]

A 50mm has possibilities and limitations as a street photography tool. The downside is it's difficult to fill a frame with juxtaposed elements of varying depth, and keep all of them sharp. In a film context you generally run out of film speed to accomplish a suitable shutter/aperture combination with such an approach, and risk diffraction to achieve it. The upside is a 50 gets close and has a certain classical look so long as no single element is too near the lens.

As a walk around lens for non-street photography a 50 has a lot going for it. After years of experimentation I've succumbed to ancient wisdom, and concluded 35mm is the least compromised focal length for a mix of subjects.

 

[Sirius Glass]

If your photographs are boring the first thing that you should do is move closer and get extraneous objects out of the composition.

 

[markbarendt]

Not boring.

 

[baachitraka]

If you are new to a place, perhaps 28/35mm is more attractive but if the place is familiar you will appreciate 50mm.

Walk alone and walk longer distances...

My favourite is Helios 44-2 58mm lens.

 

[Paul Howell]

I cut my teeth on a Kodak Retina IIIC with 50mm 2.0 followed by a Pentax Spotmatic with 50 1.8, it was only later that I got a tele and wide. Many of my best images taken for the wire was with a 50mm.