Lens question: Ok, so I'm feeling a little dumb and very confused. I am in the market for a 50mm prime lens. I shoot with a canon, so my choices are: 1) f1.8 $100 ish 2) f1.4 $380 ish...

ArtP

Ok, so I'm feeling a little dumb and very confused. I am in the market for a 50mm prime lens. I shoot with a canon, so my choices are:

1) f1.8 $100 ish
2) f1.4 $380 ish
3) f1.2 $1600 ish

I know there has to be more difference in them then just the f stop. Can someone help? I tried talking to people at best buy (not a camera store, I know) but they were NO help at getting me to understand the differences. Help me please! LOL

skiman Loc: Ventura, CA

ArtP wrote:

Ok, so I'm feeling a little dumb and very confused. I am in the market for a 50mm prime lens. I shoot with a canon, so my choices are:

1) f1.8 $100 ish
2) f1.4 $380 ish
3) f1.2 $1600 ish

I know there has to be more difference in them then just the f stop. Can someone help? I tried talking to people at best buy (not a camera store, I know) but they were NO help at getting me to understand the differences. Help me please! LOL

Nope, just f stop. But to get sharp low distortion pictures wide open requires good optical engineering which costs money.

marblclear Loc: Sacramento CA

Yes, the f stop is good measure especially if you really want to isolate your subject. The price difference has to do the with the glass and material used to make the lens. Obviously the more expensive the lens the glass and materials will have a higher quality. So it is really what you want to spend, what level of photographer you are, and the features of the lense. Unless you are a professional you don't need to spend $1600, you also don't want to go cheap so the medium priced lens would be what I would pick, although $600 is still pretty expensive. Are these Canon lenses, if they are you might try some of the other lens brands, Tokina, Sigma, etc. you can still get a good quality lense from these other brands. Good luck.

marblclear Loc: Sacramento CA

Oops, I thought one of the lenses was $600, the $300 range lens is reasonable.

ArtP

yes, they are all canon lenses. Thanks for the info. I definitely was not planning on spending the $1600 for the high end lens. I am a part time photographer, I do a lot of concert shoots, so I seem to live in low light situations.

marblclear Loc: Sacramento CA

If you are shooting in low light situations then an image stabilization lens would also be a good feature.

ArtP

that is a very good point marblclear. thanks

skiman Loc: Ventura, CA

ArtP wrote:

yes, they are all canon lenses. Thanks for the info. I definitely was not planning on spending the $1600 for the high end lens. I am a part time photographer, I do a lot of concert shoots, so I seem to live in low light situations.

Unless you are on-stage a 50mm is not ideal. A 105mm f2.8 or 70-200mm f2.8 would be a better bet. However they are expensive since zoom and fast = $$$

ArtP

I have noticed that. I have my "wish list" of lenses, all are around $2000....needless to say, they will have to wait a bit.

amehta Loc: Boston

ArtP wrote:

Ok, so I'm feeling a little dumb and very confused. I am in the market for a 50mm prime lens. I shoot with a canon, so my choices are:

1) f1.8 $100 ish
2) f1.4 $380 ish
3) f1.2 $1600 ish

I know there has to be more difference in them then just the f stop. Can someone help? I tried talking to people at best buy (not a camera store, I know) but they were NO help at getting me to understand the differences. Help me please! LOL

The difference between the f/1.8 and f/1.4 is the f-stop, the overall optical quality, especially bokeh, and the build quality, as the f/1.4 is mostly metal and more robust.

The difference between the f/1.4 and the f/1.2 is the f-stop and the uniqueness of the f/1.2, it is a "specialty" lens.

amehta Loc: Boston

ArtP wrote:

yes, they are all canon lenses. Thanks for the info. I definitely was not planning on spending the $1600 for the high end lens. I am a part time photographer, I do a lot of concert shoots, so I seem to live in low light situations.

Look at the focal lengths you use in your current pictures that you like. Two other lenses to consider:
* Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 ($420 @ B&H)
* Canon EF 135mm f/2L ($1100 @ B&H)

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Art, you left off the 50mm f1.0. They are available used for +/- $4000.
That's the one I want!! :thumbup:
SS

rockdude

The larger the lens opening or f stop is, the 'faster' the lens is and the better the glass is, ideally, so you can shoot in lower light, have a faster shutter speed and have a sweeter out of focus or 'boca' blurred background
That 50mm f1.2 is probably a fairly heavy larger lens with beautiful sharpness and boca, not to mention the high price
but it is typically made for pro's who can afford and use it often for the reasons mentioned
a 1.4 is really all most people need IMHO

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

ArtP wrote:

Ok, so I'm feeling a little dumb and very confused. I am in the market for a 50mm prime lens. I shoot with a canon, so my choices are:

1) f1.8 $100 ish
2) f1.4 $380 ish
3) f1.2 $1600 ish

I know there has to be more difference in them then just the f stop. Can someone help? I tried talking to people at best buy (not a camera store, I know) but they were NO help at getting me to understand the differences. Help me please! LOL

There's a huge difference, isn't there? As in anything else, going for the extreme top model will cost you more and have drawbacks.

Each time you increase the aperture by another stop, you are letting in twice the amount of light. That requires a lot of research and development on the part of the manufacturer. It also requires larger glass, and that glass has to be really, really good, because when used wide open, any flaws will be noticeable.

So, even though a faster lens will let in more light, it will be larger, heavier, more expensive, and probably not as sharp as a faster lens. When I had a Nikon SLR back in the 1970's I had the standard 50mm F/1.4. The F/1.2 was all of the things I mentioned above. It was very impressive-looking, but it was also very expensive.

RTFM

The F1.2 is the only L lens and is weather sealed (with a filter). The others are not.