Is it worth upgrading to the 50mm f/1.4?

Chai

I like to photograph mainly children, newborns and I would like to eventually do birth photograpy. What lens is good for these types of situations? (I already have the "nifty fifty") I tend to lean towards no flash. However, I would eventually like to learn this as well.

Moose

Howdy @Chai - While I absolutely love the 50mm f/1.8, it does have it's shortcomings. Most notably is it's softness when shot wide-open (using the lowest available aperture). In order to get added sharpness, you usually have to stop down to f/2 to f/2.8.

For the types of subjects you like to shoot, it would be a good investment to upgrade when your budget allows for it. The Canon 50mm f/1.4 is a fanstastic lens and will allow you to capture razor sharp shots around f/1.8 (still relatively soft when shot wide-open). For a few dollars more, you might consider the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 (see here) which is fantastically sharp when shot wide-open. It's one of the best 50mm prime lenses currently on the market.

In addition to the lens upgrade, I highly recommend adding an external speedlite (flash) like the Canon 320EX (see here) to your arsenal. They're super simple to use and when capturing images indoors, an external flash will allow you to bounce light off a ceiling rather than directly at your subject. This spreads the light evenly throughout the room, giving you more natural looking shots indoors versus the built-in flash which blasts your subject with harsh light and results in a dark background. Happy shooting! :)