# Prime Lens 50mm, 1.8 - can i use another aperture size?



## KreGg (Sep 19, 2011)

A really basic question, but since I'm all new to photography, I don't know this.
I wanna buy my first DSLR and since I don't have much money to spend in the first moment, I am looking to buy the camera body only with a 50mm, 1.8 lens.

At first, my main objective is to achieve some cool looking pictures with the subject in sharp focus while I get some blur on the background.
But I am sure i will also want to take pictures with both subject and background in focus and some pictures with no subject, just the "landscape" or things further away.
I know for these, I should have other lenses, but it wouldnt be affordable right now.

So my question is, with the 50mm 1.8 lens, can I change the aperture setting, say make it f/11 or 22, so I get a deep depth of field, with everything in focus?
Or would I be stuck on the 1.8 setting that would never give me good focus on things far away?

Thanks.


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## marmots (Sep 19, 2011)

that number on any lens is just the minimum f/ stop


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## cgipson1 (Sep 19, 2011)

Yes...  you will have a range you can choose from  ( 1.8 to F22 or whatever the lens goes to!)


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## Derrel (Sep 19, 2011)

A 50mm 1.8 lens can get you a defocused background when used at wider apertures like f/2, f/2.2, f/2.5, f/2.8, f/3.2, with the subject fairly close to the camera, and the background a fairly long distance behind the subject. The subject needs to be close, and the background NEEDS to be far behind, to maximize the effect. If for example, the subject is 35 feet distant, and the background is only 10 feet behind the subject, then both subject and background will be pretty close in sharpness at such a long camera-to-subject distance.

For half-body adult and full-body child and toddler pictures, a 50mm works great at 6 to 15 feet, with the background around 40 to 100 feet behind the subject. Use a wide aperture, focus VERY CAREFULLY, and shoot away! Be aware that at the closer ranges, like say 3 to 8 feet, at f/1.8, there is doggone little depth of field...it's a safer bet to stop down to f/2.8 until you have your technique absolutely nailed and spot-on.


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## kundalini (Sep 19, 2011)

I foresee more research in your future honorable grasshopper.

The aperture number (f/*.*) given to a particular lens is its maximum.  The focal length remains constant on a prime lens.


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## KreGg (Sep 20, 2011)

Ok thanks for the help guys


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## Patrice (Sep 20, 2011)

Remember that f1.8 does not mean a small aperture. F1.8 is a _larger_ aperture than f11. The lens aperture indicator written as f1.8 really should be written as f/1.8 (as a fraction). f/1.8 is a bigger number than f/11. The numerator of the fraction is the focal length of the lens while the denominator is the number of times the selected aperture divides into the focal length.


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## Josh66 (Sep 20, 2011)

On some lenses, it will be written as 1:1.8 (or whatever the maximum aperture is for that lens) - that's the same thing...


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