Gues it kind of fits in the gadget section. But still, I was wondering if anyone could help me with making a choice. I own a Canon 600D with a 18-55mm kitlens and while that is all dandy, I want something sharper and for low-light. Not with the main reason of being able to turn down the ISO, I don't really care about that its mostly just the sheer inability to take a shot in some situations (due to too low shutter speeds, for example - and I dislike using the onboard flash).
I'm on a tight budget now and I was wondering if it is worth it to go for the Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM for allround shooting, which would effectively be a 64mm on this sensor.
The Pnackae is a Nice lens but the 50mm f/1.8 is only around 100$ and is really sharp when stopped down to 2.8, and f/2.0 is still great for a 100% lens, and the larger main apeature means it will be able to focus much more easily in low light!
I would deeeeeefinitely go for the 50mm f/1.8 lens. For $100.. that lens just eats light. It's earned a few nicknames, such as Plastic Fantastic and Nifty Fifty.
Thanks for the reply! I have been checking out the 50mm f/1.8 as well, but I feel that the 1.6 crop factor makes it too tight in many situations (effectively becoming an 80mm lens and its built quality is less as well). Where I am now (South Korea for a semester abroad), comparatively, the prices are rather favourable: the 40mm is 120 euro's while the 50mm is 65 euro's - dirt cheap. Sadly the 35mm f/2.0 is out of my price range at 220 euro's. I gues I'm almost answering my own question here! Nevertheless, I wish I could get some user experiences.
Yea, ASPC sensors can be a bitch. When it comes to bang for buck, however, I personally don't think you can beat the 50mm f/1.8 in overall image quality and sharpness.
Well as they say with primes, either take a step back or frame your shot differently, oh and BTW you can also get some manual flashes for Dirt cheap, theyre not the greatest but for what your doing theyd work well and come in handy!
Thanks for the input! I went out to the shop today and tried several with my 600D (the 50, 40 and 35mm) and picked the 40mm after about 2 hours of testing them. Loving it, sharp, the size is great, decent fast AF, very silent (was pleasantly suprised about that) and great built quality.The 35mm was nice as well having a distance meter and similar built quality (though louder AF mechanism), but the extra 5 mm (8mm equivalent) of room was not worth 1.5 times the price of the 40 imo. The 50 was too tight, the massive aperture was fun to try out for a little while though, but it was rather soft.
@OmarCCX Was thinking about a Nikon but I didnt want to lose AF. While I know my way around a camera, I'm not a pro by all means so I like the focus assistance =).
@BeyondNight True and yes I may look into some flashes later or go DYI and make a difuser out of something =).