I'm comparing Canon lens and need assistance...?

Question

I presently own the Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM Lens. What differentiates this lens from the Canon EF 50mm Lens 1:1.8 II, e.g. Will the addition of this lens give me more flexibility and creative opportunity than with simply the first lens? What will the second lens enable me to do additionally? thnx

Answer 1

The 50mm will give you very good low light performance. It has a much larger aperture. It is a great lens for portraits on a cropped sensor DSLR like the Rebels or the 40D. The wide aperture will give you a nice shallow depth of field (subject in sharp focus and background blurry) and is a very sharp lens. For the price everyone should have one in their camera bag.

Answer 2

The EF 50mm f/1.8 will probably cost you around US $100. Yes, it's all made of plastic and it looks and feels like a toy. However, it has very good image quality and is a much better lens to use in low light than your current lens (even though it only has a single focal range of 50mm).

It has very good bokeh (that out-of focus background). It makes a very good portrait lens. I, myself, own the better built (but dearer), EF 85mm f/1.8 which also has FTM (I wanted the slightly longer focal length) and it also has very nice bokeh.

For a hundred bucks or so, you really can't go wrong with a 50mm f/1.8...

Check out the review of the EF 50mm f/1.8...