Canon 50mm ef f 1.8
Will the Canon EF 50mm F/1.8 II lens be good for an XTi?
and I am planning to upgrade to a 5D by the end of this year (unless they release a new model that I find intriguing.)
So the question really is,
Is this a lens that will work and be useful with the XTi (with portraits as my base subject) and will it also work with and be good for the 5D (though I plan to get more lenses between now and then…)
I’m sorry that I ask a lot of questions. I can’t afford to go to college for this stuff right now, so I am kind of self teaching myself everything and the advice of many of you top contributors has helped me a lot…
That means… fhotoace, steve p, pooky… mr. sam i think it is… perki88 i think… If i forgot you, im sorry, I still really appreciate all the advice.
Your questions are valid and this is a learning process (for all of us, you know)-so please dont feel bad.
it’s a cheap lens–as in not expensive, but it’s sharp. But it’s not like an “L” lens (that costs ten times more). It works perfectly well with 5D. It works very very well for stage work (unfortunately I don’t have any photos to show you now) because it’s “fast”. The f 1.4 one costs three times more, and let us not even go to the f 1.2, which is, like, ten times more expensive. Canon discontinued the f 1.0, which looks like an eye of a bug staring at you, but it is $2,000 or something.
Here is what I did as a tutor for my nephew.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/little_pooky/2294708762/sizes/o/
Left is at f 1.8 and right is at f 5.6
You’ll note some vignetting (the dark corners)–some people think it’s cool, but I don’t agree. It can be corrected with software but I left it as is.
On the same day. Just a normal view. As you can see, (click on ALL SIZES to see a larger one)–Cheap and Sharp if it’s used correctly. 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/little_pooky/2345386925/
I gave it to him. He has Digital Rebel XT. He likes it very much.
It’s really perfect for portrait for your camera as it works as a 80 mm lens–a short telephoto. Open it wide and everything else but the person’s eyes (hopefully) is blurry.. and dreamy.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/little_pooky/2479229867/
(Above is Canon 100 mm f 2.8 Macro at f 2.8). Not the same lens obviously but I am sure you can get blurry background with this little one.
