Is a 50mm f/1.8 a good general outdoor lens on a Nikon D5100?
Asked 12/11/2012
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I shoot with a Nikon D5100 (DX/1.5× crop) and am choosing between a 35mm and 50mm prime. I know 35mm is often considered more general-purpose, but I’m drawn to the 50mm f/1.8 for its shallow depth of field and portrait look. For general outdoor photography, is 50mm practical on this camera, or will it feel too tight compared with 35mm?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
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The 50mm 1.8G is a great lens. But there isn't going to be a huge difference in image quality using any of the 35mm or 50mm primes.
I don't think anyone but you can really answer which one is more suitable for you. There may be some situations where you can only get so close, or so far, to frame your shot, and one focal length or the other might limit you somewhat, but for most situations you can zoom with your feet as ElendilTheTall pointed out.
Do you currently have a kit zoom lens? If so, my suggestion would be to review a sampling of your shots and see what focal lengths you tended to use. If you use Adobe Bridge or Lightroom, they will quickly give you counts of how many images shot at various focal lengths. I know I was surprised to find that I only tend to use the extreme ends of my 18-200 and not much of the middle, although I can also happily shoot all day with a 50mm.
Or you could set your zoom to 35mm and use it for a day, then spend another day shooting at 50mm. See if either one is more comfortable or frustrating than the other. I would guess you would adjust quickly to either and it wouldn't make a huge difference in the end.
I would tend to guess the wider the better for general use on a crop sensor camera, the 35mm being more "normal" focal length. But it really depends on your style of shooting.
If you think you may move up to FX format, you might want to go with the 50mm, as it's a true FX lens, and would be a normal focal length on an FX body.
Originally by user4191. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user4191
13y ago
0
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Yes, a 50mm f/1.8 can work outdoors, but on your D5100 it behaves like roughly a 75mm-equivalent lens, so it will feel noticeably tighter than a 35mm. That makes it very good for portraits and for isolating subjects with shallow depth of field, but less flexible for everyday walk-around scenes where you may not have room to step back.
A 35mm on DX is closer to a traditional “normal” field of view and is generally the more versatile choice for general-purpose outdoor shooting. The image-quality difference between typical 35mm and 50mm primes is unlikely to be dramatic enough to decide the issue by itself.
A practical way to choose is to review photos from your kit zoom and see which focal lengths you naturally use most often. If you tend to shoot near the longer end, the 50mm may suit you well; if you often want a wider view, the 35mm is probably the better fit.
In short: 50mm is usable outdoors, especially for portraits and bokeh, but 35mm is usually the better all-around prime on a DX Nikon.
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