Photography Culture

Choosing a 35mm or 50mm Lens As Your First Prime Lens

Chris Gampat
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09/09/2014
1 Min read

Last Updated on 09/09/2014 by Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art Lens Review images (1 of 13)ISO 4001-800 sec at f - 3.5

When it comes to getting a first prime lens, many of us on the staff reached for the 50mm f1.8–otherwise known as the nifty 50. But as time progressed, almost the entire staff also moved onto the 35mm field of view. In fact, many of my personal friends have too because 35mm lenses could arguably be stated to have a field of view of what you actually see in a scene. But this is one of the biggest debates for prime lens owners: 35mm or 50mm. In a recent video, DigitalRev tried to solve this debate. Kai makes some great points stating that one is a great travel lens and street photography lens and great for working with tight spaces, but when it comes to getting bokeh you’ll want to go for the other (obviously the 50mm).

And just in case you’re curious, you should check out our Sigma 35mm vs 50mm Art comparison. The video on choosing a 35mm or a 50mm lens is after the jump.

35mm 50mm comparison digital rev kai sigma street photography video
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.