Everyone has a different shooting style, and everyone has their own preference, but it’s quite known in the photography world that the 50mm is a ‘must have’ lens, regardless of what you shoot with.

I personally am a Nikon shooter, and my very first lens was the Nikon 50mm f/1.4G. The 50mm has the same perspective as our human eye, and with the fast aperture of f/1.4, it’s amazing in low-light and can create some amazing Bokeh.

This was the first lens I had ever bought, and to this day, even though I own the likes of the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8, the 50mm is still very much one of my “go to” lenses.

I initially purchased it with my Nikon D7000, and although the field of view was very restricted, because it maintained a good perspective and with no distortion on the images, I still very much loved shooting with it.

As previously I had only been shooting with an iPhone or point and shoot, and then onto the Nikon D7000 + 50mm f/1.4, I was just immensely impressed with the images I could produce.

Even today, a year later, with all the other lenses I now own, the 50mm f/1.4 I use the most. It’s incredibly light, it holds perspective, creates great Bokeh, and best of all, it’s cheap.

I was hesitant to use the word ‘cheap’ as £329.95 is not exactly ‘cheap’, but when you compare it to other lens offerings, it is very cheap.

Nikon and Canon also have a cheaper offering to their 50mm range, at f/1.8. Depending how serious you are about photography would depend on how much you want to invest, but both Nikon and Canon have 50mm prime lenses available from a low price-point of around £100 (you would have to double check AF compatibility), going up to around £300 for the newer lenses at f/1.4. As before, the 50mm is a great walk around lens if you’re shooting Full-Frame, it can be quite challenging on a Crop-Sensor body, but not impossible to use.

I highly recommend the 50mm regardless of what you shoot with, and if you’re concerned with the restricted field of view with using a 50mm on a Crop Sensor, the 35mm f/1.8G is available from Nikon and has an equivalent field of view as the 50mm on a Full-Frame body, slight loss in terms of perspective, but still great at f/1.8.

Either way, I personally feel that eventually, all photographers from amateurs to pro’s, crop or full frame, should all eventually have a Nifty-Fifty in their camera bag.

Related posts:

1. Equipment Review – The 50mm f/1.4 vs. 50mm f/1.8
2. News: Zeiss to finally make a zoom lens for Canon & Nikon? – CameraTalk w/ Matthew Saville
3. Crop Frame Sensors vs. Full Frame Sensors
4. Coolest Lens in the World? For £100,000 it Had Better Be! Meet the 6mm Nikon Fisheye Lens
5. Nikon D600 Entry Full Frame Camera To Be Released?