Vintage Digital/This Old Lens: A Canon EOS 5D Prime Addendum. Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM.

Recently wrote about this vintage digital camera and prime.

I do not state this lightly. This setup, much like the zoom I cut and paste this camera section from, has me questioning the state of the escalating spec race. Reminds me of what has been going on with cars for years. Ever increasing power leading to ever decreasing 0-60 numbers. I was guilty of being a fan for years. But then I made a pivot I worried would lead to regret. I went from a Dadmobile HEMI powered Charger to a vehicle with roughly half as much power. But I found HP plenty enough, especially since it had stellar handling. In fact, it was much better suited to real life driving scenarios. Flex a mess of HP and you run the risk of losing your license. Flex stellar handling and you can have your fun within the realm of legal speeds. As a result, I am good.

Similarly, cameras have steadily increasing specs.

Nice. But do we need this all?

And once again I am guilty of playing along. My top camera has some impressive MP specs. And even with that high MP it also manages an impressive FPS count. This camera?

12.8 MP

3 FPS

Now do not get me wrong these specs come in quite handy when you actually need the pic. There are other advantages too numerous to list here. It would take over the post. But for everyday use, I am finding that 12.8 MP and 3 FPS work just fine. Now that is the camera end of things.

The prime lens?

It is great. I like it even more than the zoom. Better build and no operational compromises as far as I am concerned. Especially taking the low price of entry. Sharp, has good colors, and in place of the zoom’s close focus performance, it has bokeh that I rather like.

And both camera and lens cost a fraction of modern solutions. Not bad for a camera produced in 2005.

But as I think about it… should I be surprised? I regularly use film cameras far older to great results… Anyhoo. I digress. After a bit of a zoom bender I went back to this prime. And here are those pics below. Many of the repeat pics so I could compare them to past results. And it did just fine.