Canon 550D... will i regret it?

[corpustle]

I'm considering buying a 550d but am worried i'll regret not spending more and getting the 7d. If anyone could give me their experiences of both that would be awesome!

I'm looking to mainly shoot shorts, possibly a feature and some corporate work.

Thanks

 

[chilipie]

bare in mind the 50 mm F1.4 on the 550D will actually be a 70mm because of the crop factor caused by the sensor being 4/3 and the lens being made for the full frame cameras

the 50mm F1.8 on the other hand is the ef-s lens and will give you 50mm, but you lose that 0.2 stops and there is nicer bokeh on the F1.4 due to more blades. but you'd expect that from a lens that is thrice the price.

i have the F1.4 and i'm getting the F1.8 from christmas for my 500D

the 1.4 cannon is a really nice lens, checkout my flickr for examples www.flickr.com/photos/bigmikeyeah
most of my recent stuff is with the 50 EF F1.4 prime lens, apart from the two most recent of the face in the water.

Not true, I'm afraid. The 550D has an APS-C sensor (which is a bit bigger than 4/3" - a crop factor of 2x), with a crop factor of 1.6x over full frame. A 50mm lens on a 550D has the same field of view as an 80mm lens on a FF camera, though it's still a 50mm lens (with the same depth of field characteristics).

Canon do not make an EF-S 50mm lens. All of their 50mm lenses can be used on any EF camera, including full-frame ones. The crop factor still applies to EF-S lenses - the reason they are not usable on FF cameras is because they do not project a large enough image to cover the whole sensor, and so there would be severe vignetting. The 1.4 is two thirds of a stop faster than the 1.8, as the f-scale is a logarithmic rather than linear one.

Sorry, I feel a bit mean now, I just don't want people to end up buying things based on misinformation You have some lovely photos on your flickr account by the way, that icy face one is brilliant!

 

[Milk]

Not true, I'm afraid. The 550D has an APS-C sensor (which is a bit bigger than 4/3" - a crop factor of 2x), with a crop factor of 1.6x over full frame. A 50mm lens on a 550D has the same field of view as an 80mm lens on a FF camera, though it's still a 50mm lens (with the same depth of field characteristics).

Canon do not make an EF-S 50mm lens. All of their 50mm lenses can be used on any EF camera, including full-frame ones. The crop factor still applies to EF-S lenses - the reason they are not usable on FF cameras is because they do not project a large enough image to cover the whole sensor, and so there would be severe vignetting. The 1.4 is two thirds of a stop faster than the 1.8, as the f-scale is a logarithmic rather than linear one.

Sorry, I feel a bit mean now, I just don't want people to end up buying things based on misinformation You have some lovely photos on your flickr account by the way, that icy face one is brilliant!

Touché sir. you are right, although now i am a bit gutted that it's not an ef-s don't want one anymore. Also thanks for clearing up the difference between 1.4 & 1.8 i wasn't sure how to word it, i guess it did seem misleading on retrospect, i'll just gtfo now :/

 

[escher]

Hey, question here: for EF-S lenses, does the mm number actually correctly reflect what you see?

I don't have my camera handy, but would the 18-55 EF-S lens set to 50mm give you a different image than a 50mm EF lens?

BTW, the 50mm f1.8 is cheaply built and a lot of them have manufacturing defects. I threw mine away. The 50mm f1.4 is a beautiful lens and worth every penny.

 

[chilipie]

Touché sir. you are right, although now i am a bit gutted that it's not an ef-s don't want one anymore. Also thanks for clearing up the difference between 1.4 & 1.8 i wasn't sure how to word it, i guess it did seem misleading on retrospect, i'll just gtfo now :/

Don't worry about it mate, just thought I should clear things up If you want a 50mm equivalent, have a look at the 35mm f/2, 28mm f/2.8 and 28mm f/1.8… I'm looking at getting the 1.8 when Warehouse Express get them back in stock. There's also a Sigma 30mm f/1.4, but it won't work on FF cameras and the Canon 1.8 is supposedly a bit better.

Hey, question here: for EF-S lenses, does the mm number actually correctly reflect what you see?

I don't have my camera handy, but would the 18-55 EF-S lens set to 50mm give you a different image than a 50mm EF lens?

BTW, the 50mm f1.8 is cheaply built and a lot of them have manufacturing defects. I threw mine away. The 50mm f1.4 is a beautiful lens and worth every penny.

It doesn't matter what the mount is, a 50mm lens is a 50mm lens. The number on the lens is its actual focal length, not the 35mm equivalent. Obviously things like distortion and colour fringing will vary (with both being more prevalent on zooms than on primes), but the field of view will not change.

I haven't heard anything about manufacturing defects in the 50mm f/1.8. They're certainly not very sturdy compared to their bigger brother, but optically it's great value for money.