The Canon EF 50mm f1.8 lens was the primary lens that I purchased after my kit lens, and I’m exceedingly happy with my choice. Below is a review of Canons most inexpensive and lightest camera lens to date.

Build Quality

The build quality of the 50mm 1.8 feels gorgeous cheap and doesn’t feel like a quality lens at all. Everything from the outer shell to the mount is made from plastic which will wear and tear if you’re altering this lens around a lot. The 50mm is canons lightest lens and because of this the plastic doesn’t have to be that strong to hold everything together.

There is not much to this lens, you have one switch which controls whether you want to shoot in automati or manual focus and there’s also a focusing ring which is hardly usable because of it is little size.

The autofocus on the 50mm f1.8 is gorgeous fast but not HSM (Hyper Sonic Motor) fast; notwithstanding for underneath $100 you can’t actually suppose it to have this feature. The autofocus is also a little bit noisy but not unbearable by any means and in all probability wont put any one of from using this lens.

Image Quality

You may be thinking at this time that the lens sounds terrible and I would have to agree, notwithstanding the redeeming feature of this lens is that the effigy quality is very sharp, even stopped down to 1.8 the sharpness of this lens is splendid but shooting from 2.8 or a little above will give you even sharper images, somewhat even sharper than Canons professional lens the 24-70mm f2.8 which retails for around $1000.

Another redeeming feature is the Bokeh effect that you may get from shooting at a little F stop of f1.8. If you have ever wondered how the professional photographers get those blurry backgrounds then this is one of the main ways they do this. The Bokeh on the 50mm 1.8 is excellent, plainly it is not as good as the f1.2 nonetheless the f1.8 is $900 cheaper.

Another vantage of using the 50mm 1.8 is that it has a 52mm filter size, filters this little are very lowcost and you will have to get one to protect your lens from scratches and even cracks in the front glass.

Conclusion

Overall the Canon EF 50mm f1.8 camera lens is an magnificent upgrade from the kit lens or suitable for any individual wanting to shoot low light photography such as in a church, gym or even music concerts where flash isn’t allowed. Sure there are draw backs to this lens but the vantages outweigh them, and I don’t recognise of a better lens for 3 to 4 times the price.

Most helpful customer reviews

983 of 993 people found the following review helpful.
Sharp, fast, inexpensive
By Richard Aubin
Once upon a time the 50 mm lens was THE standard camera lens and was THE optical benchmark by which manufacturers were judged and compared. Although the basic lens focus has now shifted (at least at the low to mid amateur level) to zooms – you can still benefit from years of research and development that went into designing the 50 mm lens and this here lens may be the best lens, dollar for dollar, that you can ever buy. The question is can you afford not to own this lens?

208 of 210 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent Value
By Ryan Davis
I’ve had the 50mm f1.8 for about three months now, so I wanted to put in my two cents worth after a little field use. What originally attracted me to this lens was, obviously, the price. It is very, very inexpensive. This is likely due to the fact that the housing is, unlike its predecessor the Mark I, entirely plastic. That initially put me off, but after seeing some images posted that had been taken with this lens (and after seeing the prices of the f1.4 and the used mark I)I decided that I really had nothing to lose. There are, as with most lenses good and bad elements to this lens. Lets start with the bad.

Keep in mind that if you are shooting a canon DSLR (as I am) this 50mm lens actually behaves as an 80mm lens, so it isn’t that terribly wide. The fact that it is functionally 80mm can make framing shots a bit difficult. This is definitely a secondary lens and really isn’t that appropriate for a “walking around lens.” At least it isn’t for me, as I tend to prefer shooting wider angles.

If you have some sort of mishap with your camera, like dropping it, you can likely kiss this lens goodbye. I have fortunately never had to test this, but I imagine that it wouldn’t stand up to any sort of impact very well. The flimsiness of the build is very obvious when compared to some of the older canon lenses. MY 35-135mm USM is about 10 years old, and has a metal chassis. These lenses can often stand drops and still operate. This is not so for the 50mm mark II.

Since everything but the glass is bare bones, the autofocus isn’t terribly fast. If all you have ever worked with is USM lenses, you will have to be ready to take a little more time focusing. If you have experience with the 18-55mm kit lens, you will find that it is about the same.

All that being said, you are probably wondering why I rated this lens at four stars instead of, say, three. That’s because there are a lot of nice features to this lens that far outweigh the bad.

If you have never used a prime lens before (meaning, a “fixed” lens that doesn’t zoom) then you are in for a pleasant surprise. It is far more expensive to build a quality zoom than a quality prime, thus decent zooms tend to cost a mint. Also, zooms are only at their best in the middle of their range. The 50mm doesn’t move, and so has been optimally designed for its focal length. Shots are sharp at all aperture ranges; shots at medium apertures (f8-f11) will blow your mind. Really. Search the web for some images made with this lens in those ranges and you will buy it. Resistance is futile. Canon may have skimped on the body, but they didn’t cut corners on the glass. It is excellent.

The wide aperture (f1.8) is really outstanding as well. I had never really worked with a lens this fast before because, frankly, I hadn’t been able to afford to. You dispense with your flash and handhold at levels that you would not have thought possible. And once you get away from flash use during night/lowlight photography, you will see some truly amazing colors that flash typically obliterates.

The fact that it is fixed, and not too wide, forced me to be a little more creative than I normally would when framing shots. When I went to Burma this year, I left my principal lens at my hotel, and didn’t realize it until I was far away, so I was forced to use the 50mm as my principal lens. Some of my favorite shots of my whole trip actually come from that day, as I was forced to come to terms with the focal length limitations of the lens.

And finally, there is the price. A lens with glass this good that costs less than a filter setup, or a dozen 8×10 prints? How can you say no? Unless you have the bucks to spend on the f1.4 or the Mark I, this lens belongs in every EOS shooters bag.

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Canon Ef 50mm F 1 8 Ii Camera Lens

This is considered the usual lens for use with Canon SLR cameras

• Focal length: 50mm
• Maximum aperture: 1:1.8
• Lens construction: 6 parts in 5 groups
• Diagonal angle of view: 46 degrees
• Focus adjustment: Overall linear extension system with Micromotor
• Closest focusing distance: 1.5 feet
• Filter size: 52mm
• Dimensions: 2.7 inches in diameter, 1.6 inches long
• Weight: 4.6 ounces

Lightweight and affordable, this sharp lens with a fast f/1.8 aperture is an splendid initial lens for those who prefer a fixed focal length, and makes an splendid addition to any photographer’s scheme for available-light shooting. A conventional Gauss-type optical design ensures sharp performance even wide open, and it focuses as close as 18 inches/0.45m.

A medium telephoto lens with a big aperture brings the subject closer, gives rise to splendid background blur, gives a longer flash range, and affords a more immediate shutter speed to freeze the action. A frequent zoom lens, with it is natural angle of view and perspective, captures the subject plainly, with no special effects. However, you may use ordinary lenses in originative ways by varying the subject distance, aperture, and angle.