Every photography forum has a thread about the 50mm. Every YouTube channel has made the video. The “nifty fifty” is either the perfect first lens or a mediocre compromise, depending on who you ask.
I’ve shot on a 50mm as my only lens for eight months. Here’s what I actually think.
The Case For
The 50mm focal length is often described as “close to the human eye.” This is technically imprecise — human vision doesn’t really work like a lens — but it gestures at something true: images from a 50mm tend to look natural. There’s no telephoto compression, no wide-angle distortion. This neutrality is useful. You stop noticing the lens and start noticing the subject.
It’s also fast. A 50mm f/1.8 is cheap and a 50mm f/1.4 is affordable. For the money, nothing else gets you into that kind of aperture. That matters in low light.
The Case Against
The 50mm is not particularly good at anything. It doesn’t compress beautifully like an 85mm or 135mm. It doesn’t give you the expansive feeling of a 28mm or 35mm. If you know you like portraits, get the 85mm. If you like street, get the 35mm.
The 50mm is the lens you get when you don’t know yet what kind of photographer you are — which is exactly why it’s the right starting point. Shoot it until it feels limiting. Then you’ll know exactly what to get next.