Young and aspiring photographers/videographers can get sucked up in the whole madness of acquiring the coolest and latest gear and camera add-ons. Yes, photography and cinematography can almost suck up your life's earning yet you'll want to keep acquiring, there'll always be that new paraphernalia you're lacking. My advice to young photographers with a thousand and one question on what add-on to buy is -‘JUST STOP’, look no further from a good camera, a laptop and a 50mm, at the end of the day you don't want to be the kid with the gear that's got no game.
Hone your skill with a 50mm, If there's any lens you can't do without, it has to be a 50mm. It's everything you want in a lens, it efficient, handy, cheap and very versatile. As a young photographer it helps you shoot better, you don't have the benefit of a zoom function therefore, you're forced to get more physical with your shots.
The 50mm is a prime lens, prime or fixed focal length lenses are usually inherently sharper than zoom lenses as they have fewer and less moving parts inside the lens, it's a versatile lens in terms of performance and application, it can serve as a good lens for portraiture, travel and street photography, a very handy lens you can travel with, lightweight and fast with good aperture.
The 50mm helps you compose better shots, with no zoom feature it engages you with your subject by helping you get up-close or away in order to get the right composition, due to its size.
I find it easier to experiment with, it comes really handy when you're experimenting or trying out different techniques; reversing it for macro photography, lens whacking even for tilt-shift effects, you can't do this with any of the heavier and more expensive lens. Its very risky I wont advise you to try any of this technique except you're pretty good and losing a good lens wont rattle you.
For videographers and young filmmakers, a good 50mm f1.4 is a good addition to your tool kit especially if you have a full frame camera. With jaw dropping shallow depth of field, the bokehs are so sweet you can lick 'em. True confession, whatever excuse I have to give, I just must add a 50mm shot to the mix, it sort of like ties everything together for me. Call it my signature look.
I find it easier to experiment with, it comes really handy when you're experimenting or trying out different techniques; reversing it for macro photography, lens whacking even for tilt-shift effects, you can't do this with any of the heavier and more expensive lens. Its very risky I wont advise you to try any of this technique except you're pretty good and losing a good lens wont rattle you.
For videographers and young filmmakers, a good 50mm f1.4 is a good addition to your tool kit especially if you have a full frame camera. With jaw dropping shallow depth of field, the bokehs are so sweet you can lick 'em. True confession, whatever excuse I have to give, I just must add a 50mm shot to the mix, it sort of like ties everything together for me. Call it my signature look.
Sample pictures of 50mm
courtesy Dagonite
courtesy Cainey
Written by Unknown
