August 14th, 2007
Depth of Field on the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 Lens
This image is very similar to the one I used in our Weekly Photo Assignment #4, but I thought it was a good image to show while talking about a lens I bought recently. It’s the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II. It’s the cheapest (and lightest) lens that Canon makes. You can easily find it for about $80 USD.
I originally bought the lens because I needed something that would give me more options in low-light situations. This lens opens up to f/1.8, so it’s considered to be a pretty ‘fast’ lens.
Although I bought this lens for speed, I’ve actually been having some fun playing around with depth-of-field. When shooting with the aperture all the way open, you get a pretty limited depth-of-filed, especially if you get very close to your subject. The image above only has about 1/4 inch depth-of-filed. I really like the effect.
I would personally recommend this lens. In addition to the extra speed, I think it produces very crisp images (assuming you’re not intentionally limiting the depth-of-field). And, you just can’t beat the price.
If you’re interested in seeing how this lens stacks up against some of Canon’s pricier options, check out this review on The Digital Picture.
[tags]Plants, Tips, Lenses[/tags]