New lens or new camera?

magicbastarder

BlastedGlute wrote: »

It's more like 80mm right?

no, it's 50mm.
minor pet peeve of mine, but i don't think there's much point in talking about 35mm equivalent anymore, when the DX sensor is the sensor size of interest for people who are getting into photography.
saying to someone who may not understand the terminology that their 50mm is an 80mm equivalent of a format they're not likely to use for years at least is just muddying the waters.

BlastedGlute

So what your saying is, don't confuse the new guys?

magicbastarder

there's no idiot proof option, unfortunately.
one option may be to have a 'multiplier' value - so the 35mm on a nikon DX is about a 1.25 multiplier (so is actually a short telephoto); but this obviously is going to run into trouble with a lens usable on more than one format...

BlastedGlute

I would have recommended a 30mm 1.4 from sigma, nice focal length and fast f. It'd feel far more versatile than a 50mm on a cropped sensor. I wouldn't walk around on a street photography day with an 85 strapped to a full frame, like wise I don't fancy the 50 on a cropped.

I'm sure "they'll" figure it out eventually. I'm not even a year into this hobby but I learned the difference the week I got my camera. :-/

magicbastarder

i've never considered the extra half a stop or so a 1.4 gives over a 1.8 worth the price of entry you'd probably pay on a digital body, to be worth it.
i've a 1.4 on my film kit, but that only cost €80.

BlastedGlute

Only reason I would suggest a 1.4 over a 1.8(in the 50mm range as I'm pretty sure there is no 30mm 1.8 for canon?) would be because the sigma 1.4 produces much more even and pleasing bohke due to the extra blades. A 1.8 has nice dof to but sharpness of your focus point and composition of your out of focus elements means the 1.4 will create a more pleasing photo, even at the same f.stop. imo of course :P

Adrian.Sadlier

magicbastarder wrote: »

there's no idiot proof option, unfortunately.
one option may be to have a 'multiplier' value - so the 35mm on a nikon DX is about a 1.25 multiplier (so is actually a short telephoto); but this obviously is going to run into trouble with a lens usable on more than one format...

When a full frame lens is used on a camera with an APS-C sized sensor (also called DX by Nikon), the multiplier (or "crop factor" as it is often referred to) is 1.5 for Nikon and 1.6 for Canon.

Personally, I will always spend money on glass first. I will not upgrade the body until I understand the limitations of my existing kit - and whether those limitations are due to the camera or me.

And I always try to buy glass that will work on a full frame sensor - althought it will be a few years before I can afford one of them!