canon Lenses

TrevorW · #1 23-05-2009, 03:36 PM

I recently saw advertised a Canon f1.8 50mm lens for $150 are they any good for wide angle star fields

barx1963 (Malcolm) · #2 23-05-2009, 03:52 PM

Yes, yes and very much so yes.
Check out

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/a...se.php?a=58204

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/a...se.php?a=58091

The second one is mine, also ask jjj what she thinks!

Octane (Humayun) · #3 23-05-2009, 04:09 PM

Trevor,

All my early work was done using the 50mm lens. However, I had the f/1.4 which is built a lot sturdier. Stopped down, it performed quite well. This should work equally well.

Regards,
Humayun

dpastern · #4 23-05-2009, 04:13 PM

The 1.4 is sturdier and has USM, but optically, they are pretty closely matched. The f1.8 is a very good bargain, well worth getting. But then, I'm old school, I believe that every photographer should have a 50mm in their kit bag

Dave

MrB (Simon) · #5 23-05-2009, 04:34 PM

Forgive my kinda embaressing noobieness(only just got a DSLR), but is the FOV of a 50mm lens on the 1.6x(APS) Canons the equiv of a 88mm on a full frame DSLR/film SLR?
Have been puzzling over this for a while whether Canon quoted FL is 'true' Fl or '35mm equiv'
I'm kinda sure its the 'true' FL coz the EF series is also used on full-frame DSLR's and film SLR, just not 100% sure.
Helps my filmSLR brain to know for sure.....

Thanks

jjjnettie · #6 23-05-2009, 04:56 PM

I love my Nifty 50

Octane (Humayun) · #7 23-05-2009, 05:05 PM

Simon,

The 50mm is designated for a 35mm frame.

The equivalent would be an 80mm lens on a crop body sensor.

Regards,
Humayun

MrB (Simon) · #8 23-05-2009, 05:25 PM

Thanks Humayun

acropolite (Phil) · #9 23-05-2009, 07:07 PM

Optically the F1.4 and 1.8 are very close, the main difference, apart from the body construction, is in the aperture blades. The f1.8 has only 5 blades, the F1.4 has 8.

For astro use it really doesn't matter but for general photography some feel the bokeh (or out of focus effects) on the F1.8 are a little harsh in comparison to the 1.4.

dpastern · #10 23-05-2009, 09:40 PM

The 1.4 has nicer bokeh, I can confirm this, since I own both lenses ;-)

Dave

bojan · #11 23-05-2009, 09:45 PM

There were some bad experiences with nifty-fifty....
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ght=canon+50mm

bojan · #12 23-05-2009, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrB

Forgive my kinda embaressing noobieness(only just got a DSLR), but is the FOV of a 50mm lens on the 1.6x(APS) Canons the equiv of a 88mm on a full frame DSLR/film SLR?
Have been puzzling over this for a while whether Canon quoted FL is 'true' Fl or '35mm equiv'
I'm kinda sure its the 'true' FL coz the EF series is also used on full-frame DSLR's and film SLR, just not 100% sure.
Helps my filmSLR brain to know for sure.....

Thanks

Focal length is folcal length.

There is no "true" of "false" focal length.

However, there is a thing called FOV (Field of View) which differs, dependig on the size of sensor used in particular body.

TrevorW · #13 25-05-2009, 02:03 PM

so the nifty fifty is a goer

bojan · #14 25-05-2009, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrevorW

so the nifty fifty is a goer

I suggest: try before you buy..

troypiggo (Troy) · #15 25-05-2009, 03:13 PM

Pretty sure you can get them cheaper than $150 used. Might be an option.

outwestwa · #16 25-05-2009, 05:06 PM

Simon
I use this FOV calculator http://www.howardedin.com/articles/fov.html then transfer the dimensions to the FOV options in starry night pro its pretty spot on when you match up your photos with it.
Laurie.

MrB (Simon) · #17 25-05-2009, 08:15 PM

Thanks Laurie, have a couple of programs that do similar.
One thats getting long in the tooth... simply called CCD, the other called CCDCalc.

scarper (Mart) · #18 01-06-2009, 10:07 PM

you cant go wrong for 150 bux........if u wanna try it then i have one you can try.

bojan · #19 02-06-2009, 10:05 AM

Well, $150 is a lot if thrown away for something that does not perform... And it seems the quality of nifty-fifty recently varies a lot. Perhaps an older version (second hand?) is a better option.
I can only say that my Canon FD 50mm F1.4 SSC works very well both in centre and in corners (a way better that any standard lens that comes with Canon body), but it needed mechanical mod to fit onto EOS.

dpastern · #20 02-06-2009, 09:07 PM

Bojan - I'm yet to see someone complain about the optical quality of the nifty fifty from Canon. Sure, build quality yes, optical quality, no. I spent quite a while on POTN's equipment sub forums and never saw it bashed. Yours is the first that I've personally seen bashing the lens in question. It's a good little lens imho, one that should be in every Canon users camera bag. Whether or not it's useful for astro imaging is another story.

Dave