Do I need a 35mm lens?

[plonq]

I am either trying to talk myself into one, or out of one. I have a 50mm lens, and I love it immensely, but I find that it just pulls things in a little too tight for my liking. I am afraid that I am going to back off a pier, or into traffic while trying to frame a picture with it.

In many respects, with my camera a 35mm lens would function more like a proper 50 anyway, but I am not sure if going from a 50 to a 35 is a big enough change to warrant the expense.

On the other hand, I could get a somewhat slower 24mm lens for about twice the price - and I would definitely notice the difference going down to that size. What to do?

f/1.8 50mm lens for which I could almost pay cash out of my allowance, or f/2.8 24mm lens at twice the price?

Any suggestions from you camera buffs out there?

Comments

[lilsongbird.livejournal.com]

Depends what you are shooting. Tiny objects or fine detail- its worth it! If you aren't doing that kind of extreme close up/detail shot however... Probably not worth it.

If you want later today I can post stuff shot with a 55mm and 40mm lens I think it is... Or is it 35mm? I'm a bit brain dead but I'll give you specs later and show you the difference in shots.

[nrasser.livejournal.com]

"Nifty" 50mm was uncomfortably tight at all times on my Canon T3i. I will be looking for a 28mm, hoping to see more choices on the market soon

[kfops.livejournal.com]

You already know of my ham-fisted photo-techniques, so you can take this as you will. I have both a 50-200mm and a 35-50mm and I find I use both of them reasonably often. Often enough in fact that I should probably get a second body. There are just some shots I can't take with my 50-200mm; I can never pull back far enough or get that really wide view that I'm looking for.

I don't have experience with any lenses beyond that, though.

[dakhun.livejournal.com]

Gather the header information from all of your pictures taken with a zoom lens and draw a histogram of all of the focal lengths your pictures were taken at. If there are peaks in the graph other than at the extrema, then you need prime lenses with those focal lengths. If the peaks are at the extrema, then you need a longer/wider zoom.