I don't think there's such a thing as a 'useless' focal range. All you gotta do is walk a bit more

Well, 50mm is the proportion your eye sees, and indoor it is not that easy to gain space.

Imo 50 mm is best focal lens, but it is my preference and I find it limited on small sensors!

Vouch, i love my ∑30/1.4 when i had my cropper. Now that i moved to FF, i bought a ∑50/1.4 before even getting a standard zoom.

But if was going to spend $450~ on a ∑30.. why not buy a used tamron 17-50 non-vc and get a nifty fifty.

Hm, I was pretty set on getting the 50mm, but now after reading some of your responses I'm not too sure.
I guess I'll have to think about it more.

Welcome to our world, you will read a lot, speak a lot, take decisions is always a pain in the ass and you lose shots

Just think what is more suitable for your style and buy! Do not do like me!

Btw the Tamron EeK suggests is a good idea! Flexible lens and good general purpose lens!

This post was edited by bialator on Nov 29 2010 05:53pm

He already has a 18-55. I am assuming the IS version so to me, it seems like he it set for the general walk around range since that lens is plenty sharp. From what I am gathering, he is still new to DSLRs and photography in general so I couldn't see him spending 400+ on a lens yet without the knowhow of what it did or the advantages it would give. The only other reasonable and cheap lens I could see you getting would be the 55-250 IS for the telephoto range.

An idea you might want to try to do is in this thread.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=167850

They are basically sending a 50mm 1.8 across the world so other beginners can try it and post their photos from it. This is the lens you were considering buying. The forum this link is located on also has a lot of information you could try reading that might help your decision.

Well yes, in the end, 100 bucks is reasonable and at medium apertures you will get more quality than L zooms.
As I told below it can be a bit long in aps crop, but from the other side you can use it for portraits.