After much loving use, I have finally decided to upgrade my 50mm f1.8 and it has been a tough decision. I thought it would be a fitting time to write a short post about why I loved it so much and what it has taught me.

Synonymous with bokeh, great in low light, regularly seen hanging round the necks of London hipsters and the first thing I recommend to anybody taking up photography.

What is the magic behind this bargain piece of Japanese glass?

When you hear mention of this lens producing great Bokeh, it is a Japanese term meaning blur and in photography it refers to out of focus area of the image and how it appears. The goal is a smooth creamy texture where highlights appear as blurred spherical shapes, drawing the viewer towards the focus point of the image. This effect can be seen in the image below, naturally you look at the front of the lens first which is what I wanted to achieve when selling the lens, showing the glass is free from scratches.

This lens is so brilliant in low light because of this high aperture of f1.8. This refers to its ability to open up and let in light. A high aperture of 1.8 or 1.2 will open up and let in huge amounts of light where as a low aperture of f22 will be like a pin hole and only let in a tiny amount of light. This is great when you want to take photos without much ambient light and you dont want to use your flash. 

The by-product of a high aperture is shallow depth of field (dof). This is the next thing that makes this lens so popular and really allows the user to be more creative. Dof refers to the plane of focus of an image, how much is sharp and how much is blurred. This goes back to drawing the eye of the viewer to a particular part of the image as I discussed earlier. Most basic lenses will have a maximum aperture of f3.5-4 this will leave the majority of the image in focus and makes it hard to isolate your subject. This lens is great for adding depth to your images and helps your work look less like it has been snapped on a phone and more like it has been crafted by a professional.

Being a prime lens means you can’t zoom in and out and traditionally a 50mm lens on a 35mm camera is the closest to what you see with the human eye. This has the benefit of making you really think about what you are taking a photo of because to fit it in the frame you have to move around on your feet. 50mm is also a great length for portraits because it doesn’t warp the subject so people look in proportion and natural.

I regularly get asked by people “I want to get into photography what should I buy”? My answer is always the same. Go to a shop and hold a Canon and a Nikon, decide which brand feels the best in your hand and then spend what you can afford on that body. Then I say as soon as you can afford it the next thing you should buy is a 50mm prime. If you have a Nikon Don’t worry Nikon have their own equivalent of this lens.

This lens will let you become free from the chains of your flash, isolate your subject, take beautiful portraits, frame your images with more thought and most importantly look like you know what your doing!

If you don’t have one buy one, you will thank me later.

As a little test head to my websites and see if you can pick the images that were shot using this lens.

www.jackterry.co.uk or www.jackterryweddings.co.uk

Jack.