A while ago, I stumbled upon an article on how to be a better photographer. The article addressed the most common mistakes that young photographers make. The point and shoot generation that takes a hundred pictures and ends up liking two, whereas thirty years ago a roll of film was something precious and one was trying to make every shot a keeper. It was to everybody who takes photography a little more seriously. There were a few other things the article mentioned – in particular that we are too lazy, so used to that 18-200mm zoom that we forget what it means to take real pictures. 18mm SNAP! 83mm SNAP! 45mm SNAP! 137mm SNAP! By using that kind of lens that author says, we only convert our DSLR into a really expensive 12 megapixel point and shoot cameras instead of the photographic tool that we were looking for.

Now let us get to the normal lens. 50mm is considered normal because it resembles the human field of view. It is the most natural of all focal lengths. It used to be the most common lens – the kit lens of the 60s & 70s. Over time the glass got more sophisticated but also more simple. Even by today’s standards the 50mm lens delivers outstanding performance, while being relatively cheap. If you are looking for a lens that performs well under low light conditions you will not get around a 50mm (The King of the Night).

So yesterday, I took my Pentax SMC-A 50mm f/2 out of the lens hood and keeping that article in mind I started taking pictures. It is a $25 lens and if you consider that, I think the results are outstanding (I admit manual focusing can be a bit hard at times). A great bokeh. Shallow depth of field. All one could be looking for in a lens. Well, the zoom is missing but who cares? You have to interact with your subject. You are a photographer! Not a spy. In my opinion they should start handing out cameras with 50mm primes again. Nowhere else you get so much lens for your money.