Have fun with your new lens laura

I really really want one of these. The problem I have is when I started looking at them they were £65.00 and now they're well over £100 and I have a pyschological problem parting with my cash

I've tried eBay and they go for over £85 quid on there on a good day, so at the moment I'm 50mm less, and still on the look out. Cheapest place I've found is Argos, but they are constantly on back order...

One day tho

Amazon have someone selling them at £78 plus £4 postage.
I seem to remember finding it slightly cheaper than that when googling.

It's awful isn't it, but I can't see the prices dropping anytime soon

Have you tried second hand? though it is one of those lenses that is so versatile, I expect most people hang onto them

They seem to go secondhand on E Bay nearly as much as new. Certainly not cheap enough to make them a bargain.

Wow, so glad that I got mine when I did then! I love mine.

The attraction was mainly due to the bargain price. Few people tend to have primes and never experience the quality of them, so £70 or thereabouts that they cost was a great price, and probably only £50 secondhand. It is an opportunity for shallow depth of field and bokeh that most people would never see with say an f3.5-4.5 zoom. As it turns out, the 50mm is excellent as a portrait lens on a DX format camera but for general use I would guess many people don't get to use it as it is too long and doesn't offer the flexibility of a zoom. If I look through a lot of my stuff, 50mm isn't a focal length I hit that often but I got mine at about £50 I think and it's staying for now! The new price is £100 plus. Thieving ....

A better general purpose lens on a DX camera is probably a 24, 28 or 35mm prime - depends on your subject of course. I like to get in pretty close to mine so 28 or 35mm (i.e. 42mm or 52mm) is often more use to me, but the cost of these primes is 2 or 3 times that of the 50mm. I still 'worry' that because it's a fixed length a shot will appear in front of me and it will be missed and hence I still find myself using my absolute favourite, the Sigma 24-70 EX.

Stu - have you adjusted (calibrated) your 24-70 to your body?

No, it seems spot on. I bought it off a very experienced user who has a very critical eye and has experience of top quality lenses, usually Nikons. Thinks nothing of sending stuff to be factory calibrated if he sees an issue. He rejected several before keeping this one, but moved onto bigger and better when going to FX. I find it focusses just right and is very sharp so no need (in my opinion). I don't think it's the best handling lens, zoom ring is a bit clumsy and too close to the body, but optically I am very chuffed with it.

Crikey, wish I could find that link now! That's an absolute steal...

as others have said, the price of them is way over a ton new, and secondhand on eBay they seem to hit as much as £90 pounds and most go for over £80!