Testing out my new 50mm lens

I finally went ahead a bought a new lens for my camera.  Until now I have been using the 18-55 kit lens, and haven't had many complaints, but I thought I would go ahed a get a fixed length lens to see how I liked it.

I got a great deal on Amazon for the Cannon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens (under $300 shipped.)  I am a large aperture junkie and so I was psyched to get an f/1.4.  I found myself almost always shooting with my aperture wide open and so I couldn't wait to play with the new lens.

My first test was setting up the two lenses on the box, opening up the aperture all the way and watching what happened to the background.  

You can see how nicely blurred the second image is, as well as how much less distortion there is when you compare the shape of the box. 

For my real world test I took the camera to the kid's Christmas party and took a few shots:

Facepainting:

Waiting in line to stuff a build-a-bear:

Letters to Santa:

I'm pretty excited with how they came out.  I do have to get to used to working with a non-zoom lens, but so far so good. 

Day 23: Before Bedtime

Visions of princesses dance in her head:

Day 21: Sometimes

Sometimes J actually lets me put her hair in pig tails:

Day 20: Man-made

E got braces this week.. so now she is a cyber-kid! 

Day 19: Underneath

Someone was popping out from underneath the sofa this morning:

Day 18: Price

School photo time... Check out those prices! Yikes.

Day 17: In My Fridge

It is clearly time to make a Costco run since typically we have 3-4 gallons of milk in the fridge at any given time.  We are down to the bottom of one gallon of white and a half gallon of chocolate.  And of course, front and center are all my supplies to make Iced Coffee.