[domfijac]

Does anyone find the 50mm on digital a bit of a difficult length to use as a walk around lens?

It's probably just me... But what do you guys use a 50mm on digital for?

I've had it for a while and it's kind of halted my shooting because i want to use it but can't quite figure it out.

It's the first lens i've spent money on besides the A 50mm f1.7 and a Tamron BBAR 135mm f2.8 (Both nice and cheap) after the kit lens 18-55mm AL2?

[freewheeler]

Uuuumh? So you allready owned a 50mm lens when you bought another one
although you don't have figured out what to do with it?
First of all: The 50/1.7 is one of the best 50mm lenses.
No need to buy another one unless you need AF or any special quality of a
certain other 50mm lens.
But to answer YOUR question:
I use the 50mm as a walkaround lens when I want to isolate particulair
objects or subjects out of a scene by using shallow DOF.
One could also do portraits with it, but I prefer my FA35 and m85 and helios44 for that purpose.

[Pentaxor]

maybe because of the limited FOV that you find it difficult. I use the 50mm as a portraiture lens because it has a 75mm equiv. on a 35mm format which is really useful for subjects with a considerable distance or when I'm shooting 3/4s or 1/2s. I usually complement it with a 35mm lens or a 28mm lens if I wanted a wide FOV background for my subject. to simply put it in an APS-C dslr point of view, the 50mm eliminates or crops the unwanted background.

[Marc Sabatella]

I'd say your experience is very typical. It's more or less exactly as useful as a basic walkaround as the FA77 would have been on film - which is to say, something very few people did. It does make a nice short portrait lens, though, and 50mm is also the cheapest way to get into very large apertures, it's a good chocie for artistic still life where you can be enough in control of the shot that focal length itself isn't a major concern. I also use it occasionally for shooting drummers who, due to the very nature of their instrument, tend to be tougher to stop with a slower lens.

[Pentaxor]

for me, I need two lenses with two different focal lengths as my walk-around lenses. one with a wide FOV and one with a narrow FOV.

[roentarre]

50mm is a very usable focal length, its images are easy on the eyes with a normal perspective.

50mm photos

Fa 50mm f1.4 does purple fringe with zealot though.

[Marc Sabatella]

50mm may have had a "normal" perspective (in the sense of, prints made from a 50mm lens will be devoid of perspective distortion) on 35mm film, but on APS-C, it's too long for that - which is a large part of the problem here. Linear perspective ios depending entirely on subject distance (which is of course influenced in practive by FOV; perspective distortion is dependent on FOV only. There is no aspect of perspective that is related to focal length as something distinct from FOV.

[raider]

I also find that the 50mm/f1.4 is a bit long for general walk-around. Maybe 35mm or something is more suitable.

[domfijac]

yeah i think i'm gonna try to pick up a manual focus 28mm (coz they're cheaper) it might be more what i'm looking for as a walk around lens, the DA 21MM f/3.2 limited which would be great is a bit much for my budget at the moment. My 18-55mm AL2 is good but i just don't like the feel of it in my hand (i know: a bit wanky), all photos are clear and sharp but i really like the feel of my two 50's . any recommendations?

[Wheatfield]

Lenses that fall outside of the norm, be they telephotos or wides tend to be less useful for general photography, which is what is wanted for a "walkaround" lens.
The 50 is a great general purpose lens on 35mm filom, but on a clipped sensor DSLR, something in the 25-35mm range is better, with around 28-31 being pretty much the ideal.
I find the 31 to be my most useful lens overall, but it is a biggish and rather expensive lens.

[Pentaxor]

yeah i think i'm gonna try to pick up a manual focus 28mm (coz they're cheaper) it might be more what i'm looking for as a walk around lens, the DA 21MM f/3.2 limited which would be great is a bit much for my budget at the moment. My 18-55mm AL2 is good but i just don't like the feel of it in my hand (i know: a bit wanky), all photos are clear and sharp but i really like the feel of my two 50's . any recommendations?

if you going for a 28mm, then I would highly recommend the K28/3.5 if you can find one. but if not, a 28/2.8 would do as well. although I like the K28/3.5 the best. the Vivitar CF 28 or Pentax M28/2.8 are very good and much easier to find. also this focal length would give you the much needed FOV that you are looking for.

I agree with Pentaxor...

Put your kit lens on 28mm and see how you like that field of view.

I have the M28 3.5 and the vivitar 28 2.8 close focus and I really like them both. I dont remember exactly but I am sure I did not spend over $50 on them... maybe 55 for the vivi.