Camera Labs

Walked into Jessops today, slapped down my £100, and said - Lens please sir.

Good feeling buying my first lens! Hopefully the first of many lenses!

The only downside - The Jessops in Dunfermline didn't have in stock, sold out! So they are getting me in one for the 24th...although they said Tuesday, but thats the 23rd...I'll just phone them on the Tuesday and see if they got it in or not!

Sures its not the most expensive lens in the world, and sharpness isn't to good at 1.8 or 2.0, but to be fair its light, its small and its under £100!

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Canon EOS 5DmkII + BG-E6 + Canon EOS 40D + BG-E2N + Canon EOS 33
Canon 17-40 F/4L USM + Canon 24-70 F/2.8L USM + Canon 28mm F/1.8 USM + Canon 70-200 F/2.8L USM IS + Canon 85mm F/1.8 USM
Canon Speedlite 580EX II + Canon Speedlite 540EZ + 2 x Nikon SB-80DX
Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger - 5 x Cactus V2s Wireless Reciever

MY FLICKR!

Hi Daniel,

Just a suggestion: Cancel the Jessops order (£85.49 online even with the CameraLabs voucher) and go to Gordon's Affiliate Stores page and click on the Amazon.co.uk box. Enter the string "EF 50mm F/1.8" in the search box and you'll see that Amazon have this lens in stock, it's new and is eligible for free delivery and it only costs £66.78. Your choice, of course, but you can save yourself some money and, if you follow the links suggested above rather than going direct to Amazon, you can help support the site.

Blatant commercial plug over!

Wherever you get it have fun with the new lens. I have one (bought via Amazon) and optically it is very good value indeed.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

OH NOES! I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THAT!

>_<

well, I'll feel like an idiot canceling, since I've kind of talked to the guy who works there so sorry Gordon!

I'll make sure than when I eventually buy me some telephoto goodness (or wideangle!) then it goes through cameralabs!

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Canon EOS 5DmkII + BG-E6 + Canon EOS 40D + BG-E2N + Canon EOS 33
Canon 17-40 F/4L USM + Canon 24-70 F/2.8L USM + Canon 28mm F/1.8 USM + Canon 70-200 F/2.8L USM IS + Canon 85mm F/1.8 USM
Canon Speedlite 580EX II + Canon Speedlite 540EZ + 2 x Nikon SB-80DX
Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger - 5 x Cactus V2s Wireless Reciever

MY FLICKR!

Well, I got it a day earlier than expected!

The girl in Jessops said they would e-mail me when it came in, although much to my surprise, their keyboards do not have a _ (underscore) key or the capability to produce this character, therefore she put a - (dash) instead hoping this would still work, although on the Saturday she didn't tell me...leading me to believe this morning that it wasn't in stock, but to my surprise when I phoned later on just to be sure, they had it in! So with only 30min before closing time there was no chance I could get the bus in to the town, so outside my uncle pulled up, I then proceeded to apprehend the vehicle he was in..ok not quite he gave me a lift in and caught it in time, but heh It was making a pretty descent Hollywood script huh!

Anyway I have it, and boy is it small! Although the Auto Focus isn't that fast and is a little but clunky when it goes from one extreme to the other, I didn't expect much for £90.

The F/1.8 Aperture however seems so far to be pretty good, give a nice shallow DOF on a cropped frame sensor, and also allowing a lot more light in (3.1 times more than my 18-55mm @ F/5.6) meaning shots in slightly lower light are more achievable now!

Anyway I've not really used it since I only got it a little while ago, but I'll be using it tomorrow hopefully so I'll give more word back then about any more pros and cons I find out!

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Canon EOS 5DmkII + BG-E6 + Canon EOS 40D + BG-E2N + Canon EOS 33
Canon 17-40 F/4L USM + Canon 24-70 F/2.8L USM + Canon 28mm F/1.8 USM + Canon 70-200 F/2.8L USM IS + Canon 85mm F/1.8 USM
Canon Speedlite 580EX II + Canon Speedlite 540EZ + 2 x Nikon SB-80DX
Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger - 5 x Cactus V2s Wireless Reciever

MY FLICKR!

Nice one Daniel - and I'll forgive you for not ordering through Amazon! Just this once though, mind!

PS - we also have a deal with Jessops if you're ever ordering through their website - see this page for a list of affiliate stores

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Affil ... ping.shtml

We also have a 5% gift voucher for use at Jessops online if you click through to them via this link - not applicable to DSLRs I'm afraid, but it is good for lenses, compacts and accessories.

Jessops discount voucher

The 'nifty fifty' is one of the performance bargains out there. You're right, it isn't the best wide open, but it still shines for the price you're paying. Be careful though, soon you'll get addicted to the shallow depth of field and you'll want the 50mm f/1.4 and then you'll sell your soul for the 85mm f1.2.

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Leica M9, Nikon D300s, Leica X1, Canon S95, Zero Image 6x9

ha! Well, until I get a part time job (since im still at school) I won't be buying anything else nevermind the F/1.4 or 85mm f/1.2 goodness! (or 50mm F/1.2L)

The DOF on the F/1.8 is already pretty shallow in comparison to what i'm used to on my 18-55 and 80-210. On the cropped frame, I bought it mainly because at school we are doing some portrait photography after the October holidays (ending this monday) so it was a nice cheap lens to buy for this purpose, especially since the cropped frame gives an effective focal length of 80mm. Besides it does give descent performance for the price you pay for it, and I wasn't expecting miricles from it anyway, only one other person in my class has a DSLR so the 1.8 should be enough to hold of the D80 18-135 owner in the class

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Canon EOS 5DmkII + BG-E6 + Canon EOS 40D + BG-E2N + Canon EOS 33
Canon 17-40 F/4L USM + Canon 24-70 F/2.8L USM + Canon 28mm F/1.8 USM + Canon 70-200 F/2.8L USM IS + Canon 85mm F/1.8 USM
Canon Speedlite 580EX II + Canon Speedlite 540EZ + 2 x Nikon SB-80DX
Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger - 5 x Cactus V2s Wireless Reciever

MY FLICKR!

I would agree with you that you are way ahead of the curve if you're in school and you already have a DSLR. The 50mm f/1.8 is a perfect lens for your situation. With the crop factor, you are at a perfect working distance for portraiture.

You can also use that lens as a cheap alternative to a macro lens by purchasing a reverse mount (about US$10). If you do a search you'll find several articles and photos that are surprisingly good for it not being a dedicated macro lens.

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Leica M9, Nikon D300s, Leica X1, Canon S95, Zero Image 6x9