You want to take your digital camera to another level, and buying a 50mm lens is the ideal one. Here we present the best options in the market at the best quality and price.
If there is a goal that any photographer will tell you that you need to have on your Sony, Olympus, Nikon, Canon, Pentax, or other camera brand when you start to enlarge it for the first time, it is undoubtedly the 50mm lens. This well-known lens is popular for very good reasons. It is cheap, bright, and has excellent optical quality, and with it, we will also learn more than one lesson about photography.
In this article, we are going to review and select the best 50mm lens for your digital cameras. We will also explore and discover all the possibilities that a 50 mm lens offers us and tips that will help us reach our full potential. Are you going to miss it?
Why a 50 mm camera lens?
The 50 mm is already a classic, like the 35mm camera lenses, and one of the most popular fixed lenses, in part because it is the objective that comes closest to the field of vision of the human eye. Hence, you have ever heard that it is a normal lens as far as focal distance is concerned. This lens is one of those that you will find with better value for money, but not only that, it triumphs so much among photographers and has become an essential complement to your team. Let’s see in detail the reasons for its popularity.
It’s Cheap
As it is a simpler lens than a zoom lens, it needs fewer elements inside, and that inevitably affects its manufacturing cost, which is lower. In fact, probably in any camera model you are looking for, one of the cheapest targets you can find is 50 mm.
Of course, I mean the cheapest model, usually 50 mm 1.8. If you want to go a step further, you can go up that scale,where the quality of materials with which the lens is built, a greater opening, and faster autofocus will go hand in hand with the price increase.
It is Small, Lightweight and Discreet
Another point in favor of 50 mm is that it is quite small and compact, which makes it a lightweight lens that we will not mind carrying always loaded in our backpack. Even if you already have a zoom lens that covers that same distance, you will take it because the results will be very different.
In addition, if you want to achieve a good goal but the camera has a more discreet appearance because the situation you are going to portray requires it, such as in street photography, 50 mm is the ideal goal.
It’s Very Luminous
This is one of the most powerful arguments for which you will want to acquire this objective. If you have checked the maximum opening of your kit lens or the off-road you have, most do not open more than an f/5.6 when they reach 50 mm in their focal range, while if we work with this fixed seal, at least we can already enjoy an f/1.8.
What implications does this have? Well, the main thing is that now the lack of light will not be so scary, and you can get well-exposed shots without having to resort to raising the ISO too much (and the consequent noise it causes) or to lowering the shutter speeds, forgetting to freeze your subjects. For indoor photography, for example, this is tremendously useful.
It has great optical quality
The 50 mm from an optical design point of view is much simpler than any focal zoom, and that is not to the detriment of quality but quite the opposite. The optical performance of 50 mm is far above most of the focal variables.
A 50 mm lens has fewer elements in it and allows for greater clarity thanks to the diaphragm apertures with which it works.
Get closer to your photographic motives
With the advent of digital photography and the advances that technology has allowed us to enjoy, we have increasingly opted for variable or zoom focal lenses, which allow us to work with a greater degree of comfort. Of course, certain types of photography are already a must, for example, sports photography, but there is life beyond comfort.
We should not fall into laziness, and this type of lens reminds us of the importance of approaching subjects to photograph them and obtain more intimate images. The result of taking a zoomed shot or physically approaching the subject varies a lot, so it is important to leave our comfort zone and move to find the perfect composition.
With 50 mm, the zoom will be your feet, and what seems at first glance like an inconvenience will teach you one of the most important photographic lessons: to get closer to your subjects to get better shots.
Make Photos with a Very Attractive Bokeh
Do you think the concept of bokeh is right? That tells us about the quality of the blurring of a lens. Well, with fixed focal length lenses like this 50mm, the bokeh we get is much more attractive than the lenses with variable focus.
Find a background with bright lights, open the diaphragm of your camera, and blur that background. You’ll see how good it is!
Make Your Best Portraits
This lens is also ideal for portrait photography. Thanks to its great luminosity and shallow depth of field using wide diaphragm apertures, we will be able to highlight the subject of the background and thus emphasize attention to it. With this objective, we will also achieve a smooth atmosphere thanks to the artistic blur that it produces.
In addition, for many shots, we will need to approach the subject to achieve the frame we want, and that will undoubtedly help us achieve a more intimate and stronger portrait.
Play with Depth of Field
Another one of the implications of the great luminosity that you can obtain with the 50 mm is that as we work with larger apertures of diaphragms, we can play with a smaller depth of field. For shots in which we want to highlight and direct the gaze of those who observe the photograph on a specific point of the image, this is ideal. If you try to do it with your kit lens, you will see that the results are not the same at all. But do not be discouraged! You already know that the depth of field depends on more variables too.
It also serves for Macro Photography
Although it is not its main task, 50 mm can also be used for macro photography. How? Investing the objective in your camera and adapting it to the body with an inverter ring.
If you want to do the test and you do not yet have an inverter ring, you can put the objective inside out in front of your camera and check the results yourself.
Versatility
In addition to portraits and macro photography, if there is another thing that stands out from this objective, it is its great versatility. With it, we can obtain high-quality images and sharp themes as diverse as landscape photography, street photography, night photography, photography concerts, or street photography.
Choose the 50 mm that your camera needs
Of course, until now I have been talking to you in general terms about the 50mm lens, but I’m sure you’re wondering which one you need for your camera. For that reason, below I indicate the 50 mm you will need depending on the make and model of camera you use. And in some options, you will also see that you can choose between less and more luminous objectives. Without further ado, let’s see the best 50mm lenses for Nikon, Canon, Sony, and other digital cameras.
Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8 S
Nikon’s fixed-focus lens for its full-format, mirrorless Z-series cameras consists of 12 optical elements, including two ED glass lenses and two aspherical lenses to enhance contrast and brightness.
Externally, the 50mm Z model is significantly bigger and heavier than a good old F Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.8G mount, but compared to other F 50mm mount alternatives from Sigma and Tokina, it is pleasantly transportable.
The lens has just one AF/MF selector, but the wide and precise ring for manual focus is not redundant if you switch to autofocus mode, as it can then be used to correct the exposure or ISO level.
Nikon made a lot of noise with the Z mount at 55 mm inner diameter and because of the proximity of the lens and the sensor, compared to the Nikon F mount. All this contributes to improving the quality of the image.
It’s not a fad. The 50mm Z is incredibly accurate, a fraction cheaper than the 35mm f/1.8 S, and it’s the most accurate lens we’ve ever had to test.
Chromatic aberrations are virtually non-existent regardless of aperture, as are image distortions, and the autofocus stepper has never “lost track” in our tests.
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Tokina Opera 50mm f/1.4
Designed to be the first in the high-end Opera series, this lens is positioned above the company’s AT-X line goals and competes with the latest premium offerings from Sigma and Tamron.
Inside, its 9-element optical unit includes three SD (super-low dispersion) lenses and an aspherical lens that helps to minimize chromatic aberrations, with a new ELR (extremely low reflection) coating that reduces drag effects. flickering and reflections.
The Opera 50mm is protected against dust and moisture, and even though it is equipped with an ultrasonic crown motor instead of a more modern stepper motor, it remains fast and reliable.
But it is especially the quality of the opera images that impresses the most. The sharpness is excellent, even for a large aperture at f/1.4, to become sublime from f/2 to f/11. Side chromatic aberrations (purple fringe) are very well mastered in the corners of the frame; do not worry about image distortions because there are none at all.
The Opera 50mm will cost you much more than a Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM A, but it is the new reference in sharpness for Canon SLR or Nikon fixed focus.
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Sigma 50mm F1.4 Art DG HSM Lens
Sigma’s previous 50mm lens model was known to be very heavy, and the replacement series (called ‘Art’) accumulates extra grams. He wins 50% in length and reaches a weight of 815 g (300 g more than before).
The main reason for the increased weight of the Art lens is that it has a much more complex and sophisticated optical block than its predecessors, gathering 13 instead of 8 elements. There is a complex aspherical lens and three SD (Special Low Dispersion) lenses.
The finish is superb despite the absence of protection against the weather, and the focus ring does not offer the same fluidity as a lens such as Zeiss Milvus.
Nevertheless, you can really rely on Sigma’s autofocus system, which is fast and accurate.
The Sigma is incredibly accurate, even at f/1.4, with a soft, creamy background blur. The sharpness drops to f/1.4 in the extreme corners of the frame of the picture. The color fringes are minimal for an opening, even in the corners of the frame, and the distortion of the angles is simply negligible.
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Tamron SP 45mm f/1.8 Di VC USD Lens
Not really a 50mm lens, the 45mm Tamron provides a slightly more generous 51-degree viewing angle instead of the classic 46-degree full-frame cameras. Unlike competing 50mm lenses from Canon and Nikon, it combines an aperture of f/1.8 with 4-stop stabilization.
He is physically smaller than some of his competitors, like Sigma and Zeiss, and lighter with his 540 g. Tamron offers complete weather protection and a fluorine-based coating on the front elements. The ultrasonic crown autofocus system allows manual control.
Sharpness is very good even for large apertures from f/1.8 to f/2.8, although it is a disadvantage compared to the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM. The gray areas are very soft, and the transition between sharp and fuzzy areas is very gradual.
The sharpness is appreciable, but even with maximum aperture, lateral and longitudinal chromatic aberrations are discrete and difficult to locate. The distortion of the angles is significantly greater than for the 50mm Art Sigma lens, but nothing too bad.
The artistic fuzziness continues to impress by slightly reducing the opening, thanks to a rounded opening made of a diaphragm with nine lamellae.
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Zeiss Milvus 50mm Lens f/1.4 ZF.2
Autofocus cameras have been around since 1977, so it may seem odd that Zeiss is still struggling to make manual-focus lenses. In any case, the fixed-focus lens of the Milvus range provides a good feel for use.
The 50mm f/1.4 features a traditional, beautifully machined metal tube and full weather protection. The optical assembly is inspired by Zeiss’s legendary Distagon principle. The wide range of rotation of the diaphragm ring helps to optimize focus accuracy, and its unparalleled fluidity makes focusing a pleasure.
The Nikon series features a mechanical diaphragm aperture with a “de-click” feature, which allows for progressive aperture transitions during video captures. This diaphragm is missing from the Canon range.
True to its reputation and price, the Milvus offers exceptional image quality. With a large opening, it combines beautiful contrasts and spectacular sharpness over almost the entire surface of the image.
The blurs are artistic, and the lens maintains a pleasant softness in the areas of blur when you close the diaphragm a little. The color fringes are almost nonsense with this lens, even in the corners.
There is still more distortion of the image compared to the Tamron’s SP 45mm f/1.8 Di VC USD, but less than for the 50mm fixed-focus competitors of Canon and Nikon.
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Samyang SYIO50AF-E F1.4 50mm Lens
Renowned for the quality of its fixed-focus lenses at reasonable prices, the Korean manufacturer Samyang has recently started to market autofocus lenses, especially for full-size Sony E frames.
There are currently five E-mount lenses to choose from, plus two Canon EFs and a Nikon F. This 50mm lens offers a ‘normal’ perspective with Sony A7 and A9 cameras, with a fast shutter speed of f/1.4. It is twice as long as the Canon and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lenses for full-frame SLRs. Its robust design consists almost exclusively of metal elements. Which explains its weight of 585g.
The performances of this Samyang do not disappoint. The sharpness is very uniform throughout the image at f/1.4 and becomes excellent at f/2, with contrasts just as exceptional. Vignetting effects are particularly important up to f/2.8, but the color fringes remain negligible, and there is very little distortion of the angles.
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Fujifilm Fujinon XF 50mm Lens F2 R WR
Available in black or silver, we cannot deny the fact that the Fujifilm XF 50mm lens is a bit expensive for an f/2.8 lens. Indeed, it has the slowest shutter speed of all the objectives in the test group.
In any case, the finish is impeccable, with complete weather protection, a mechanical diaphragm ring for aperture priority shooting and manual mode, as well as a high-quality optical block that includes an ED aspherical glass (for extra-low dispersion). The diaphragm, with nine lamellae, is circular.
Autofocus is virtually silent. As with other systems equipped with stepper motors, the focusing ring is electronically coupled and, in this case, allows particularly precise manual controls.
With Fujifilm X cameras, the lens has a focal length of 75mm and offers a narrow depth of field at f/2, making it an ideal instrument for portraits. The sharpness under a large aperture is excellent throughout the image; there is good resistance to glare and flicker; and the color fringes are almost impossible to identify under wide openings. A slight pincushion distortion may occur, but it is usually imperceptible.
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Nikon AF-S FX 50mm Lens
Nikon’s Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM A or Zeiss’s Milvus 50mm f/1.4 lens is half as short and weighs only a third of its weight. It is simpler than the Sigma with its eight optical elements instead of thirteen and less robust than the all-metal Zeiss.
A consequence of the reduction in dimensions is the smaller diameter of the filter, which for the Nikkor is 58 mm, which is rather small for a lens of 50 mm f/1.4. The simple optical block does not consist of an aspheric lens (unlike Nikon’s more affordable 50mm f/1.8), and there is also no ED glass (extremely low dispersion) or NanoCrystal coating. The accuracy of autofocus is more problematic with very wide aperture lenses, and the Nikkor behaves rather well on this plane, unlike its counterpart at Canon f/1.4. The sharpness is average at f/1.4, but reduce the aperture to f/2.8, and this lens will provide outstanding clarity throughout the image.
Lateral chromatic aberrations are minimal, but longitudinal fringes of color are perceptible under the wide aperture. The diaphragm with nine lamellas allows you to have beautiful artistic blurs by reducing a tiny opening. The only weak point is the distortion, which is worse than we could accept from a normal fixed focal length. Overall, this is an objective that justifies the additional cost compared to the Nikon f/1.8 optics.
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Panasonic Lumix G 42.5mm f/1.7 Power OIS Lens
The Micro 4/3 lenses only need to produce a small circular image, and this Panasonic is generally compact and very light with a weight of only 130g—a fraction of the weight of some premium-priced SLRs. Thanks to its 85mm focal length, the Panasonic is ideal for portraits, and the aperture at f/1.7 allows a rather narrow depth of field. It is well designed and offers an optical image stabilizer.
It is perfect for Panasonic devices; for Olympus cameras with sensor stabilizers, we prefer the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 45mm f/1.8. Autofocus is fast and accurate, and color fringes are not a concern; even raw files are automatically corrected. There is a subtle twist of barrel distortion, but you will probably not notice it. The sharpness is good, but not exceptional, and many other competing lenses better handle sharpness in the center of the frame.
Equipped with the focal length of a near ‘telephoto’, the optical stabilization of this lens will be perfect for Micro 4/3 devices, the latter having no internal stabilizer.
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Tips for the Good Use of 50 mm
Now that we know the reasons why the 50mm lens is so well known and good in photography, let’s see some tips to make good use of it and take advantage of it.
If you use very large diaphragm apertures (f/1.4 of f/1.8), be careful with the focus, since the depth of field is so low that only a small movement of the camera or the subject to be photographed could make the approach inadequate. For portraits, it is advisable that you use openings like f/4 to make sure that the whole face of the person comes out focused (if that is what you want, of course).
I have told you about the precious bokeh that we can obtain with this objective, but do not limit the forms that that bokeh can have. With cardboard and a little bit of zeal, we can make those shapes what we want.
The fact that with this objective, the zoom is your feet is not entirely accurate. Yes, if you want to approach a photographic motif, you can only do it if you physically move, but keep in mind that in this way we will be changing the perspective of the shot.
Take care of the lens. These objectives, and I refer mainly to those in the most economic range, do not have materials of the best quality in their construction, so it is important that you keep them always clean and well kept. Good care allows the lens to last much longer.
Conclusion
Most professional photographers feel helpless if they do not wear the 50mm f/1.4 in their backpacks. If you are tired of your basic objective of 18-55mm and want to take a step further in photography, enhance and beautify your models, make fascinating any object that surrounds you, and transform any boring moment into an indelible graphics memory, you are already taking a 50mm to your camera.
Note: My love for 50mm f/1.4 does not mean that every situation has an adequate lens. Not all lenses get all kinds of photos. But the 50mm f/1.4 is a wonder, for the record.
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