Canon 50MM f1.8 or Lightroom?
 

With the new baby here i've started taking more photos. Yesterday I took a great photo class with a local portrait photographer here (gotta love groupon, best $25 i've spent in a LONG time).

Well, she mentioned how she does the MAJORITY of her portraits with a 50mm. I noticed that canon has a great 50MM f1.8 that can be had for around $120 (it's a cheap plastic lens, but every review says it's basically the bargain of a lifetime).

My biggest problem has always been post editing; I use to have a copy of photoshop and it just was way to confusing for me. I've recently been using picasa for quick simple changes. The instructor used lightroom and i've read good reviews. Amazon has the student/teacher version for $80 and I was thinking about it.

I can't really swing both.


Oh, and my brother gave me his 20D! He had it sitting in the closet collecting dust so I've recently replaced my Rebel XT with the 20D.

One thing, i've been holdling on to the XT just in case something happened to the 20D. Now i'm thinking i'm just hording; should I sell it? Any potential problems I could realistically run into with the 20D? My brother used it quite a bit, and I generally hate used things because you never know how it was treated.

I currently shoot with Canon 17-85MM f/4-5.6 IS which i've had for a few years

In my opinion, go with the lens, as lightroom "could" be acquired via other means. Plus, it's nice having a lens that quick.
-Tyler

Be careful about this lens. I seem to remember when my wife was looking for her 50MM lens that she looked at this one as well. She did some review researching about it, and there were several complaints that it would get stuck on the camera. Several people had to send their cameras back to Canon to get it removed. She ended going with a more expensive lens that was not plastic. I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure that is what she found out.

This is the lens that she ended up going with, and she has nothing but great things to say about it.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...Autofocus.html

P.S. My wife also found the full blown version of PS too complex, and she uses PS Elements for all of her editing.

I would go for lens over software...

Buy lens, produre Lightroom (*COUGH*torrent*COUGH*) and don't get rid of the Rebel because the 20D shutter will fail eventually.

I can't remember if you can check the total pictures/shutter actuations on the 20D. But shutters fail, it costs +/- 150$ to have it replaced. I did that with the 10D a friend essentially gave me (shutter was busted, camera would take one picture and need to be reset), shutter replaced last summer, has been going strong since. It's an independent shop in Cali, NOT Canon who will charge you 200$ just to take a look at it. I can dig up the info tonight if you'd like.
Besides, it's nice to have a lens per body. You look like a pro.

The nifty fifty is a great lens. I second what Zorro said, allegedly, in theory.

The 1.4 is much better built.

50 1.8 is probably the best bang for the buck lens in existence.

lens

acquire lightroom in other ways and implement it into your workflow. Lightroom 3 is great.

Check eBay for used gear to save a couple more bucks.

bear in mind that a 50mm lense on your camera is about an 80mm on a full frame camera...that focal length is great for portraits and even on full frame it's a great lense. Great you are taking a class...that's the best thing you could do for your photography.

1.8-1.4 will give you great indoor images with lower light without having to use the flash and you can play with DOF. I agree buy the best glass you can afford, always, and get lightroom later.

Lightroom is a great program for basic post editing. I haven't learned full on PS yet (it is a goal) but I can do a ton with Lightroom and have had it since the beta version came out a few years ago. Great stuff.

This^^^

as someone who owns many lenses and also sells on Ebay, I will say that usually it's not worth buying lenses used..There are exceptions to that of course but generally I buy at B&H and keep all the packaging if I ever want to see them.

To save a few dollars unless you know the seller, you might be buying someone else's problem.

I've had fantastic luck buying used and refurb'ed gear through both B&H and fredmiranda.com's buy & sell section. It's a great way to get the gear you need when you're on a tight budget like the OP.

So..... which way are you going??

to late, sold the rebel :( Got $320 for it so I'm happy though. If the shutter on the 20D goes, will give me an excuse to upgrade....(really, both cameras are pretty out of date, i figure I'll use the time to get my skills together, work on acquiring more glass.....and if/when this thing dies....pick up something new) That said, my brother didn't take a TON of photos, and reality may be that when this thing dies, he'll have his 5D sitting in the closet :D


Got the 50 and acquired lightroom :) For $120 it's really a no brainer, would I like the 1.4? Yes, maybe one day.