Orphoto Loc: Oregon

There are a fair number of photographers who seem to be unable to refer to a 50mm lens without adding the cutesy label "nifty".

In extremely small doses I smile. Beyond that I cringe.

I understand the history and derivation. Back in the day most cameras were sold with a 50mm lens. More often than not you had one lying around. These days it is an investment in that focal length, just like any other.

No other focal length is afflicted with such a nickname.

Why must some seemingly always attach the nifty when speaking of a 50?

Grumpy older man or silent majority?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

If it's the plastic fantastic 50 at f/1.8, yes, it is a nifty 50 too. But, if urban hipsters from Brooklyn are just applying 'nifty' to any ol' 50, including the $1000 all the way to $2200 offerings from Sony, Nikon and Canon, it's really just that their whiskers have grown too far into their brains.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I know what you mean - "Your mileage might differ," is one I can do without, although I do like some cliches. Just because words rhyme, they don't have to appear together all the time. I like, "It is what it is," though, although many people don't. It seems to put a final touch to a situation, like Amen at the end of a prayer. That's the way it is, and you can't do anything about it.

Quixdraw Loc: x

Back in the late '60's, a 50 was the fastest lens most of us had. I used a Nikon 50 1.4 for several years in all kinds of light and got a lot of great photos. Later on, I managed to get hold of a 55 1.2. It was a lens with wide general capability, and was popular with street photographers. I still always bring one when I travel for evening / night shots, particularly in cities, and it still does a great job - a useful tool. The term, nifty fifty, simply alliteration and many find that kind of nickname attractive.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Yea, I simply call it a 50.
Same with cutesy camera & lens nicknames... Arg.

Silent majority.

BebuLamar

I think most if not all of the 50 are nifty. I think most not nifty are a bit longer in focal length like 58, 55 or so.

Bill_de Loc: US

If this was important enough to you to start a thread about it, you must be a bored, grumpy old man, hanging out with some strange folks.

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DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

Nap time, huh!

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

I never understood the “Nifty” baby talk. I always thought it was generational, like adults taking gummie bear vitamins. Also Oly for Olympus or Pany for Panasonic. They never really grew up. We always called it “50mm” or a “normal” lens.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

People wanna feel/be perceived as "cool"???

Should I be calling my cellphone "Sammy"?
Or Sammie, not sure which it identifies as.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

I wonder how many of us got sucked in on this must have nifty item. Mine is fine and I really like it…at least I did about a year or so ago when I last used it.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

With the year-end coming, I've been doing the annual analysis of lens usage. There's a good bit of culling still due in 2021 so my statistics are only a snapshot, with 3% of 2021 images from two of my three 50mm lenses, none from the nifty EF 50mm f/1.8. In 2020, all three 50s totaled 8% of the total image count.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

This thread reminds me of that scene for "My Fair Lady" where Henry Higgins sings "Why Can't the English Teach Their Childre How to Speak"

Slang., lingo, jargon, hackneyed colloquialisms, bizarre abbreviations, computer terminology and online cute abbreviations, endless technobabble and millions of acronyms, military words, communications language that originated with morse code, and kinda "buzz-words" that some folks think will make an outsider an instant insider are all ever-present. Every profession, business, art, craft, hobby, sport, has photography is no exception. Some are passing fads and some stick forever. It is a fact of life and we just gotta live with it. Fortunately, some of the really annoying ones fade away but eventually will be replaced with new ones.

I remember when portrait photographers were considered "low-class" if they told clients "I'm gonna shoot your kid, soup the negs, pull some proffs, and then you'll pick the shots one you like for blowups and yes, I will retouch the diaperrash! Now the upscale snobbish crowd wod say NO!!! We photograph you, children, create a set of "previews" or worse"debut prints" ("Proofs" are a dirty word) from which you can select for our Masterpiece collection of fine portraiture"! We don't retouch- we ENHANCE! God forbid you should ask for a "deposit" or a retainer, it is an "INVESTMENT! No wonder folks are shooting selfies for family pictures. Oh, and photographic consultants or salespersons were called "proof passers". They were carefully chosen among folks who were up to the ears in debt, desperate for money, and only given commission on sales! SHARKS!

Thumbnails, Why not toenails? The next time one of my assists says "copy that-boss "I will escort him to the roof and throw him off!

Flash GUN?- watt are we using flash powder in a T-Gun that is triggered with flint! Is it I.S.O, I-sew, I-so- who cares? An electronic flash unit, a Speedlight, a mono-light, or a studio flash unit is not really a STROBE. An actual stroboscopic light source is a rapidly repeating flash that is used for photographic motion studies, special effects, automotive engine timing, emergency lights atop a police car, or warning lights on road hazard barricades. OH, did anyone actually mash potatoes with a Metz "flashgun"!

Why is a low-profile, non-retro-focus lens call a "pancake"- do we clean it with maple syrup?

Ever been on a motion-picture production set. Do the age beer in a KEG-light. After you mount a huge Panavision camera on a TOP-HAT- do you place it on the camera operator's head? I have work still on several of these sets and it took me weeks to decipher their lingo.

"Nifty-Fifty" sounds more friendly than a 50mil. sound more lie is a 50mm Browning heavy machine gun that was developed during WWII.

Barndoors belong in the farmyard, snoots are par of an anteater, what's so beautiful about a "beauty light" to look lie a round stainless-steel sink with a drain at the center, with its built-in stopper in the raised position. Why not call it a "sink light"? If you still do a film in the darkroom, you cou use it alternately as a print washer!

My many the 50 is considered a "normal" but who around here is "NORMAL"? Photographers are supposed to be eccentric. That is what would happen if drilled another hole, off-center on a vinyl record and played it on your concentric turntable

Even the cuss words have changed and vary with ethnic and national roots. When I drop a heavy tripod in my foot, I can yell BOLIX, BUBKIS. or a few French-Canadian terms that pertain to artifacts of the church and nobody gets offended.

My advice, if a word annoys you, don't use it or encourage it, others will follow suit. If you broadcast the fact that doesn't like it- some folks will use it more to annoy you!

10-7 Good Buddy or QRT!

lmTrying Loc: WV Northern Panhandle

Just so I'm clear on what you said. Not every 50 is nifty. To be nifty, a 50 should be capable of (faster than) f/1.8 or wider. Correct? Or does plastic have a bearing on this definition?