Whether you’re a newbie or a professional photographer, you need a standard prime lens in your kit; it’s excellent for almost all types of photography, but more so for product photography. That’s because a standard lens mimics the human eye’s natural field of view. When used in product photography, the standard lens will accurately capture the item as you see it. However, the meaning of the standard prime lens may change depending on your camera — if it has a full-frame sensor, for example, this is the 50 mm lens, often called the “nifty fifty.”
But if you attach a 50 mm lens to a camera with a smaller sensor, its field of view would look like what you’d see with an 80 mm lens on a full-frame sensor. So, if you have an affordable mirrorless camera, it probably uses a cropped sensor. That’s why I recommend getting a 30 mm or 35 mm lens instead. When used with a full-frame camera, the 35 mm captures a wider field, but most APS-C cameras will crop in to make it look like a 50 mm lens.
The Canon EF 50 mm f/1.8, which costs $125 on Amazon, is a great standard lens for Canon EF-mount cameras. If you have a mirrorless Canon RF mount camera, a Nikon, or a Sony, you’d have to spend closer to $200 to get a 50 mm. Also, consider getting a 35 mm lens like the Canon RF 35 mm f/1.8 ($499 on Amazon) for APS-C mirrorless Canon EOS R models. If you have a Sony camera, you can get the Tamron 35 mm f/2.8 from Amazon for $199 instead.
