heres my questions and everyone opinions before i got my 50...
http://www.microskiff.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1270577766
and after a few months it does take some great pictures.
your dslr has a very high iso, so it would make loow light shooting very very impressive... my cameras iso max is 1600, and becomes grainy at 800.... you rs prolly will be a bit better....
also, i have heard that unless you get a special tool to zoom with, zooming in/out during movie mode is rough and can become choppy.... also unless you have an extenal mic or two, the internal one will pick up the sound of the zooms gears... one more reason for a prime lens....
the 100$ 50 gets good, crisp photos and can blur the backgound or foreground with ease. if you are in a small boat, it can be difficult to get everything in frame, as it simply isnt a wide angle lens, but it can get most things....
ill do some sample pics for you tomorrow with my three lenses.... they wont be exciting, but they should give you an idea...
also, i beleive before the 1990's most camera "kit" lenses came with a 50mm prime, not like todays kit lenses, where the zoom lenses are norm.
all the below pics are used with a 50mm. no kind of filter, although i wish i had a filter for most of them
f/7.1
cant find the aperture, but its a 50mm
this redfish was tough to get because the 50 was the widest lens i had, and in a 16ft boat with the subject 4 feet off the transon, i get 12 feet to get everything in frame... i also dont like climbing on the bow to get a pic when fish are swimming underneath me and hungry. this aperture was f/4 at a speed of 2500 and iso 200
or if your too confined in the boat, learn to swim with your feet, just dont drop the camera!
this swimming shot was f/4 3200 iso200
this one i cheated and used flash, but i was prolly 10-15 yards away and used flash, but it was handheld
this last pic was either f/1.8 or f/2
none of these pics had a polorizer on them, and now i really wish they had..... photography is a learning experience, and with that said and not to derail your thread, i would be open for suggestions on any of these pictures... thanks!
ill do a side x side comparison tomorrow of a 18-55is, 50, and 70-300