Canon EF F/1.4 50 Mm Lens is a Photographer's Winner

Back to Basics

If you bought a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi (known in some parts of the world as a 400D) you may be a little disappointed. Not with the camera body, it's top-notch. It combines a speedy processor and features for beginners or the serious amateur.

The 18-55 mm EF-S f3.5-5.6 lens sold as part of XTi kit is disappointing. The photos aren't crisp, the auto-focus noisy and slow, and the aperture range extremely limited unless you're shooting outdoors. If you're only taking family snapshots outside and the quality of an average point-and-shoot digital is all you expect don't worry about buying another lens. If you want to take miraculous shots, consider investing in new glass.

The Canon EF 50 mm f/1.4 is a great replacement. Many shutterbugs are used to zoom lenses, they're standard equipment on most cameras. In the dark ages of film SLRs a zoom lens was the mark of a professional and a luxury few casual shooters could afford. The Canon EF 50 mm is a step back in time.

It's fixed, a prime lens with no zoom. Before the advent of standard zoom lenses a 50 mm was the standard lens on a newly purchased SLRs. It's the same as standard sight. Generally, what you can see is what will be picked up by a 50 mm lens.

This is a draw back to many, but the aperture, a whopping f/1.4, lets in a ton of light and opens your photography up to a whole new range of low-light possibilities. Neon signs, downtown at night? No problem. The wide-open aperture allows you to use a fast enough shutter speed that a tripod isn't needed. Changing the Rebel XTi's ISO setting to 800 or 1600 creates a world of photographic possibilities.

No, you can't sit in the back row of your child's school play and zoom in on the action. You have to be close and plan your shots. For me, that's half the fun. What can I do from this distance, you can ask yourself, planning your photographic assault. How close do I have to get? With a little planning this lens will reward you with ultra-sharp images. Would you rather have a dark and muddy photo of little Johnny in his tree costume, or something he can show his children a couple of decades from now?