why is it so popular then?

I like it because of the F 1,8. The depth of field is very small. And with the crop factor of 1,6 on the 450D sensor it is like a 80mm which is good for portrait.

because it takes photos the same as the human eye, and it lets lots of light in, so it is possible to shoot in low light and it can be very cheap.

also what Qhotex said

This post was edited by doyleo on Apr 20 2009 12:44pm

oooOO

think i can this under $5bills?

50mm 1.8 is great lens for that, but get the kit lens allso so you can use wider angle allso. It has a fixed focal lenght, so you cant zoom around. 50mm on film camera is the "normal lens", not a wide angle but not a tele lens, these cheap dslrs have smaller sensor, so some of this 50mm is cropped out, so its little "zoomed" in from this "normal" focal lenght, this makes the lens good for portraits and when u want a bit distance on bigger subjects your shooting. Good thing about prime lenses(fixed focal lenght) is that they have way better image quality than same priced zoom lenses and you get wider aperature with them, so you can shoot in darker, that allso gives you nice background blur for portraits or what ever u want it for. naturally you can change aperature on it, so you dont need to use the lens so that u get background blur if u dont want it.

hmm lol I guess I am the only one in here who isn't THAT impressed with the nifty fifty
Well if your budget is limited right now then it would be a good idea to get a camera with those crappy 18-55 kit lenses and a 50mm f/1.8 lens to go with it but you may will want to get a much better zoom lens later on and a decent one cost around 500 bucks and more

btw nice signature mr yoink maybe you could "yoink" yourself a nice camera as well

EDIT: oops I was talking about the Canon EF-S 18-55 lens

This post was edited by Futurama on Apr 20 2009 03:02pm

The 18-55 Nikon kit lens isn't too bad.

I just bought my 450D (Xsi) with a 18-55mm (the kit lense) a 55-250mm telephotolense (for longer zoom) and an accesory pack that had a 40$ bag, 40$ UV filter, 100$ battery for around $ 1300 CAN from Henrys.

the 450D and kit lens by themselves around $800-900 CAN I think? you can get a XS for $200 CAN less - or get a used one for even cheaper.

I highly recommend the 450D, I'm a 17 year old highschool student so the money doens't flow quite as steady to me - but I saved up and took as many extra shifts as I could fit in between school, friends, soccer and volleyball. I was only getting into photography as a serious hobby, but now I'm loving it so much that I may think of it as an alternate career

nn tele lens unless you shoot bird or sports or stuff like that. 450 is great, but costs more than 400