[Newtophotos]

First of all, don't shoot the messenger! I love Pentax, my cousin unfortunately was told by his college professor that Canon has better photo quality. If I had gotten to him first he would have a K-50! He purchased a Canon T3i rebel. The articulating LCD is neat but the body feels very cheap. At a wedding he was impressed with my DA* 55mm, he has only the 18-55 kit lens.

Are there any good primes lens (from Canon or third party like Sigma) for around $200 that could allow him to play with shallow depth of field and Bokeh? The Canon 50mm f1.8 is an option but doesn't offer good Bokeh due to the only 5 aperture blades.

He prefers to shoot with manual focus, is a Pentax adapter and DA 50mm f/1.8 an option?

[aleonx3]

He prefers to shoot with manual focus, is a Pentax adapter and DA 50mm f/1.8 an option?

There are tons of options and cheap legacy k mount or m42 lenses available. Yes, get a k- or m42 adapter for Canon mount, he should be able to shoot a faster manual focus lens for cheap.

[starjedi]

First of all, don't shoot the messenger! I love Pentax, my cousin unfortunately was told by his college professor that Canon has better photo quality. If I had gotten to him first he would have a K-50! He purchased a Canon T3i rebel. The articulating LCD is neat but the body feels very cheap. At a wedding he was impressed with my DA* 55mm, he has only the 18-55 kit lens.

Are there any good primes lens (from Canon or third party like Sigma) for around $200 that could allow him to play with shallow depth of field and Bokeh? The Canon 50mm f1.8 is an option but doesn't offer good Bokeh due to the only 5 aperture blades.

He prefers to shoot with manual focus, is a Pentax adapter and DA 50mm f/1.8 an option?

Super takumar 50mm f1.4?

[luftfluss]

First of all, don't shoot the messenger! I love Pentax, my cousin unfortunately was told by his college professor that Canon has better photo quality. If I had gotten to him first he would have a K-50! He purchased a Canon T3i rebel. The articulating LCD is neat but the body feels very cheap. At a wedding he was impressed with my DA* 55mm, he has only the 18-55 kit lens.

Are there any good primes lens (from Canon or third party like Sigma) for around $200 that could allow him to play with shallow depth of field and Bokeh? The Canon 50mm f1.8 is an option but doesn't offer good Bokeh due to the only 5 aperture blades.

He prefers to shoot with manual focus, is a Pentax adapter and DA 50mm f/1.8 an option?

The fact that the Canon 50/1.8 has "only 5 aperture blades" doesn't mean it does not have good bokeh. The Pentax M 50/1.7 has "only" six aperture blades and rates highly (9.1) on the Lens Database for bokeh.

Aperture blades are far from the sole determinant of the nature of bokeh.

Anyway, your cousin might be interested in trying out the Helios 44-2, a 58/2 lens famous for its swirly bokeh. I believe there is a club dedicated to it on the forum.

Taken with the A 50/2, 6 aperture blades:

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Last edited by luftfluss; 11-02-2014 at 10:12 AM.

[micromacro]

I would suggest either new EF 50mm f/1.8, or second hand EF 50mm f/1.4 USM (I believe it's possible to find around $200)

[Newtophotos]

Thank you for the feedback guys.

Stepping back for a moment, for a new photographer would the 55-250mm be a better choice than the 50mm?

[micromacro]

Can't say anything about that since I just bought EF-S 55-250mm IS (not II, but older) on ebay. I'm not sure that f4-5.6 will be the best choice to play with shallow depth if it's the main reason for the lens. I need it to cover the gap in focal length for Canon, since I do have only old manual focus M42-s for that camera for now, and miss so many flying birds without AF.

[reeftool]

Thank you for the feedback guys.

Stepping back for a moment, for a new photographer would the 55-250mm be a better choice than the 50mm?

If all he has is a kit lens, then a zoom in that range would be a very good purchase. I know nothing about that particular lens, however, but somebody else may have it and can chime in. Those long zooms are capable of some decent bokeh if you don't mind working at a distance. He would probably be better off with a tele-zoom than a 50 to start out with. Back when I first started, a 50/1.8 was the standard lens that came with most cameras. It's less useful for a new photographer on a crop sensor camera but something he can think about down the road a bit.

[Na Horuk]

If he is using Canon, that means m42 lenses should be easily adapted. So get an adapter and then buy Helios 44 (or any of its variants, 44-2, etc. Just make sure it is m42).
Or a Pentax K adapter and Pentax M 50mm (f1.7 or f1.4. I think you can even find ones online that have been permanently adapted for Canon cameras)

Adapting the DA 50mm f1.8.. I am not sure. I think it wouldn't work, because it has no aperture ring and the third party camera cannot select its aperture! So the M 50mm f1.7 would be more suited. They have the same genus of optical designs, and the M 50mm f1.7 is a tough little lens, for a really low price! Should be able to find one under $75 including shipping, depending where you live.

[Miguel]

He should be able to find the Tokina version of the DA Ltd. 35mm f2.8 macro for around $200-225. It's a wonderful lens.

M

[Paul MaudDib]

If you can spring for it, a Canon 85/1.8 - KEH has a BGN for $289. If not and you want autofocus, a 50/1.8.

If he's willing to do manual focus, you can't go wrong with an adapted Nikkor AI/AIS 105/2.5. Superb lens, and they can be had for around $100 nowadays.

[micromacro]

About EF-S 55-250mm IS which I finally received yesterday. Good copy for $66. Sharp at 250mm. For the price/quality ratio it's very good, imo.