THE 50mm PRIME LENS

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For readers who have been with me from the start, please forgive me for revisiting the 50mm prime lens. I believe the lens is great enough to warrant an additional posting.

Prime (or fixed) lenses do not have any zoom; they are locked into a viewing angle that forces you to physically move back or forth to get the right composition. While many people would find this inconvenient, the advantages to prime lenses far outweigh the few drawbacks.

Canon and Nikon both make excellent 50mm lenses with f-stop setting of f1.2, f1.4, f1.8. 50mm prime lenses are great in low-light situations, they are very small and portable, they are extremely sharp and relatively inexpensive, and they are light weight compared to many zoom lenses. One could also argue that they will last much longer than zoom lenses, as there are fewer movable parts within the lens construction.

This particular image was taken at a hotel spa with poor lighting. The interior was dark and dreary, with fluorescent lights and only a small window to the outside. I was confronted with the challenge of lighting the model in the cramped space, and after a few unsuccessful attempts at using studio lights, I pulled out the 50mm lens.

If you are in a similar situation with less than ideal lighting, yet there is at least one window, try the following:

1. Place the camera on a steady tripod, and use a remote shutter release to avoid camera shake. If you do not have a remote shutter release, use your camera's self timer (also called a 10 second timer on some models).

2. Place the model so that the window is on the side and slightly behind him or her. The reason the window should be behind the model is to illuminate the background for a soft, pleasing look.

3. Place a large reflector on the other side of the model, closer to you camera. The reflector should be bouncing window light onto the darker side of the model.

4. Set your camera to Aperture Priority, and the lens to it's lowest f-stop number. If you have a 50mm lens, set it to f1.4 or f1.8, depending on the model that you have.

5. Turn off all the lights in the room. This is essential, as you do not want to mix different color temperatures. Window light is normal daylight, whereas interior light bulbs are either tungsten or fluorescent, which are yellowish and greenish respectively.

6. Your camera's white balance can be set to "cloudy", which will warm up the potentially cool daylight coming in from the window(s).

7. If the room is particularly dark, the shutter speed will be very slow. For this photo, the shutter stayed open for 3 seconds just to get enough light to fill the room. That is why it is essential to trip the shutter without touching the camera. Remember to ask the models to remain perfectly still.

After you take the photo, you should get a pleasing image similar to my sample photograph, with a low depth of field appearance, and soft, warm backlighting. Other great prime lenses that are similar to the 50mm lens is the 105mm, 85mm, 35mm, 28mm, and 20mm. Lenses that are wider than 20mm tend to be quite expensive, but equally proficient. If you are on a tight budget, do not discount the idea of purchasing used prime lenses. I would only encourage used lens purchases from professional camera stores however, as you will have at least a few weeks of warranty if something goes wrong with the lens.

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