Tools of the trade: Canon’s 50 1.4 and 3 batman lessons
Posted by mikedotephoto on June 9, 2008
In this article, I’m going to show a couple things I’ve done with a lens that should be a staple in anyone’s kit.
Canon’s 50 1.4 is a pretty good prime, and the first lens I pick up when I can’t use a flash and the lights are low. When I use it, I usually try to turn the autofocus off instead opt to manually focus. I find that that helps when using primes. It forces me to move around a lot more, and it’s relative lightness and small size allows me to operate at a lot of different angles.
Also, having the lack of a zoom on the lens allows it to shoot in lower light, giving you good shutter speeds in a situation where even a fast (2.8) zoom would not. That allows you to shoot without flash within situations that using a flash would be intrusive, and (for you risk takers), dangerous.
I like the style of photography that using primes is good for. I shoot a lot of stuff with available light, and try to avoid using a flash whenever possible. Because I have an old flash it sometimes it doesn’t go off.
Batman’s lesson #1: String is good.
Batman’s lesson #2: Chasing string is fun
Batman’s lesson #3: No standing on the laptop!
