The best 50mm lenses for your camera depend on what mount your camera uses but also what you plan to shoot. A ‘nifty fifty’, as they’re often called, provides a focal length that mostly equates to what the human eye can see. For this reason, 50mm lenses are typically used as portrait lenses or for street photography.
But a 50mm prime lens also provides different effects depending on your camera’s sensor. If you shoot with a full-frame camera, for instance, your 50mm lens will provide a natural perspective.
Put the same lens on a camera with an APS-C sensor and you’ll have an effective focal length of 75mm (or 80mm on Canon bodies). Micro Four Thirds users will find that a 50mm lens provides the equivalent of a 100mm focal length.
What is a 50mm lens good for?
As we said above, 50mm lenses are much-loved by portrait photographers. Their typical combination of speed and a wide aperture means you can create nice shallow depth of field effects and attractive bokeh.
For this reason, lens makers often have a number of 50mm options within their range. Canon, for instance offers f/1.2 and f/1.8 in its RF range, as does Nikon in its Nikkor Z series.
The best 50mm lenses are also small and light. A 24-70mm zoom lens is another popular optic. It’s hugely versatile, but it’s also typically twice the size of a nifty fifty.
A 50mm is also great because it gets you close enough to your subject but also forces you to move. It’s a great lens to learn photography with. It forces you to get creative with your compositions.
What’s more, the best 50mm lenses are also typically affordable. You can often find a fast 50mm lens in your mount for a relatively modest price tag.
