Re: What's the point of a 50mm? Or rather, where does a 50mm shine?
thousandths wrote:
I promise this is not a troll post. tl;dr: for those who get a lot of value from a 50-55mm prime, what situations does it excel at?
My 35mm GM order got delayed a second time, which caused me to ponder my two open pre-orders for the 35GM and 50GM f/1.2. In my kit, if I'm going to take primes with me, I will generally pick things at differing ends of the spectrum, such as pairing the 24GM or CV40 with an 85.
This review (linked at the bottom) that someone linked to in another thread had similar thinking and put into words something I hadn't been able to put my finger on. Whenever I feel like I'd want something in middle range where a 50mm might be appropriate, I'd probably opt for a 24-70 and maybe one extra fun prime.
While the Zeiss 55mm was one of my first lenses when I moved to the E-Mount ecosystem, it rarely gets used despite having not a single bad thing to say about it. I just haven't ever had the heart or urge to sell it, other than the allure of the 50GM because I never wanted to play roulette on the quality variation of the Zeiss 50. Also, as someone in an apartment, 50mm is sometimes too challenging for tighter indoor spaces.
So, my question is: for people who use and like a 50mm for things other than landscapes, what types of shooting does it excel at? What makes you pick it over other focal lengths?
Henri Cartier-Bresson is often described as the greatest photographer of the 20th Century. Virtually every photograph he ever took was taken with a 50mm lens. With a couple of exceptions, they were all printed uncropped. You could look at the great variety of his images.
Jul 16, 2021 at 06:15 AM
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