Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler One for Mark...

So, I'm toying with the idea of gettin a Canon 50mm prime lens for my Rebel XT. As far as I can tell, I have 3 choices:

The f1.8 Mk II--really crappy build quality, but cheap and excellent visual quality

The f1.8 Mk I--same as above, but better build quality. Hard to find; there's a couple on eBay and it looks like they're going to cost more.

The f1.4--excellent build and image quality. 3-4x the price.

Whaddya think, Mark and the rest of y'all?

I think in just about all but professional/serious enthusiast situations, the F/1.8 II will do fine for someone.

Yes, it's got the look and feel of a toy. But there will be very little real-world image difference on a camera like the Rebel. It's lighter, the speed (max aperture) difference isn't that big of a deal in most situations and, though I hate to say it, it's virtually disposable at the price.

If someone isn't a professional/serious enthusiast, and they don't shoot tons of stuff in the dark, I think the only reason they should look at the F/1.4 is because it feels like a real lens! Of course, most of those people aren't manually focusing anyway....

Ditto what Mark said. My f/1.8 II is about 9 years old now and still functions perfectly. So despite it looking and feeling like it could fall apart if you look at it wrong, it really is quite durable. And the price/image quality ratio is unbeatable.

+1 from me. I don't know if I have the Mk I or II, but that fast little bugger is indispensable. Although, if you hand it to other people, they likely will not understand the concept of "zoom with your feet".

Not to hijack the thread, but since you guys are camera guru's, what is the cheapest "good" DSLR out there? Want to get into astrophotography, so need something I can adjust the shutter opening for long exposure, etc...

CCD cameras are actually better of deep space stuff, so I may go that way as well, as they make special ones for telescopes.

If we lived closer, I could lend you my ST-239 which I never seem to have time to use these days. It's only 640x480 but chills down pretty cold and seems to take good pics. I'm not the most patient person in the world so Fastar and CCD are a match made in heaven

Just a little closer, a little closer, a little closer...

Photographer Falls Into Lion Enclosure at National Zoo

I would say think about future proofing. If I go by your avatar, you have young children. One day they may be playing sports - maybe high school basketball or football. If you dabble in that type of photography, the faster the lens the better.....Argon

But it's not likely you would be shooting sports with a 50mm, and an F/1.8 is already much faster than any tele lens he would likely ever be looking to buy...