(above shot was taken with a 50mm at f1.8)
Here’s a question that I got from Stacie who recently attended our class and has now been bit by the camera bug big time! Makes me so happy!
We talk about the advantages of Prime lenses in our class so she asked me about which one to buy. I thought it might be helpful for more people so I asked if I could answer her online in case others might find my answer useful.
“I’m stuck deciding between two lenses and was wondering if you could give me a push in one direction or the other. As a refresher – we have a Nikon D3000 with the stock 18-55 lens as well as a 55-200. In class we had chatted about getting a short, prime lens and I was excited about that as I had looked at them before. These are the two I’m deciding between (although if I am completely missing the mark – please tell me).” One is a 35mm f1.8 and the other is a 50mm f1.8.
Well, as with any purchase for your camera, you have to decide how and what you like to shoot before we can answer the question.
Since the 35mm is more of a wide angle, you’ll be able to get more edges and backgrounds in your shot, shoot in tighter spaces and get closer to your subject. This is helpful for travel, landscapes, street photography and portraits where you want the background as part of the shot.
The 50mm on the other hand might be a better choice if you are typically shooting portraits. Even though both lenses have an aperture of f1.8, you’ll still get a more shallow depth of field with the 50mm because of the slight telephoto you get with the 50mm (with a crop sensor) which compresses the distance between you and your subject.
For my money, I’m going with the 50mm because I like to shot portraits! I love the look of a shallow depth of field! But again, it’s really up to how and what you shoot.
I hope that was helpful! Thanks for the question Stacie!
Now get out there and shoot!
xo Christiana
