After Doris' contribution, here's Simon E.'s 10 reasons for using standard
lenses:
1. They're ridiculously cheap, and light and small.
2. They are invariably the fastest lenses in the range, and definitely the
fastest for the money. And often the overall sharpest. Hey, that should be
at least another one!
3. Angle of view is a great compromise between "getting it all in" (ie poor
composition) and cutting out extraneous rubbish. Don't let anyone tell you
compromise is always a bad thing, life's full of 'em. Check the corners of
those wideangle shots - unwanted litter, small dogs even people creep in
there. Round things that aren't round any more. And for heavens sake don't
point it upwards, you'll have someone's eye out with those converging
verticals!!
4. Good balance between plenty of DOF and shallow DOF (head & shoulder
portraits at f/4 or wider work great. As a result...
5. Bokeh is usually very nice, and controllable.
6. If you buy a macro 50 it has even more uses. Most 50s work well on ext.
tubes or bellows, or with a close-up lens.
7. Things look 'normal' (ie the apparent perspective) taken with a 50 (this
argument could be extended the 40 f/2, an 'honorary 50mm', but a subject
totally galling for those of us who can only dream about them).
8. "Plasticity of space" (c) D. Fang is not a quality exclusive to
wideangles. Standard lenses have it too IMHO.
Yes, I *know* there are only eight, it's late and I can't be bothered to
think of any more. Apologies to Doris for apparently ripping off her
enlightening post, which was a serious explanation of the merits of using
wideangle lenses. I hadn't thought of some of those points, thankyou Doris.
I'm being lighthearted - sorry if it doesn't come over well, I can't help it
- but I think 50mm lenses are the best bargain in the world, and my 50 f/1.8
would be my 'desert island' lens (well, in the absence of a 40 f/2 to
compare it to).
Simon E.
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