Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens
by Canon
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens
Customer Review: Much better pictures than you'd expect
Summary: 5 Stars
When you see a lens with a plastic mount and a price this low, the natural response is to assume it's a piece of junk. But, to my pleasant surprise, this little lens has produced some shots that rival my favorite L (pro series) lens. It's great for portraits, especially if you're shooting with a full-frame body. On a 1.6 crop camera (i.e., a Rebel), you might find that you need to be farther from your subject than you'd like, but as explained below that isn't really a problem.
One of the biggest advantages of this lens is the f/1.8 aperture. It doesn't sound quite as impressive as the more expensive 50mm 1.4, but it's definitely enough for almost any situation. It allows you to get really nice bokeh even when shooting a portrait on a 1.6 crop factor body, with a greater distance from the glass to the subject. What's supposed to be sharp is sharp, and the blur is perfect. I actually think, with the right lighting of course, taking a portrait at f/1.8 or f/2 on a crop body creates the ideal balance. On a full-frame body, you'd want to stop down a little to get a crisper, sharper portrait given the closeness of the subject to the lens.
Of course the aperture also makes it a great low-light performer, but if you're not experienced with camera equipment than know this -- opening the aperture to 1.8 (or anywhere below 3, really) will give you less depth of field than you probably want in average picture taking scenarios. For example, if you're just taking candid pictures of people at a family gathering, or if you're doing a group shot with a large number of people, you don't want to sacrifice focus for the sake of getting a low-light shot. That being said, I've been able to hand my camera to inexperienced shooters at family gatherings on full auto with this lens and they've gotten some pretty impressive shots. Focuses fast and accurately, and nails the aperture and exposure time.
All in all, as long as a) you've got some experience with lenses or b) you'll follow the advice to not shoot at super-wide aperture unless it's the right situation for it, anyone with a Canon DSLR should really enjoy this lens.
Customer Review: Let No Photon Go Undetected
Summary: 5 Stars
Outstanding piece of glass. DOF on a head-and-shoulders portrait at f/1.8 is measured in inches instead of feet, and at f/8 it outresolves the sensor on a 5D2. Color and microcontrast are solid. Pictures pop. Blue skies positively glow.
I've heard the bokeh described variously as "bad" and "nervous", but this seems to be the worst thing anyone can say about the lens. CA is well controlled at all apertures. Coma and vignetting (light falloff) are more troublesome. Personally I consider these features rather than issues, which is to say, I kinda like the effect. If you don't, you can stop it down to f/3.5 where they become harmless, or simply make corrections in post.
While I have the chance, let me say this too: I get the feeling that there is a class of photographers out there who don't actually take pictures, but carry around cameras for fun and drop them once in a while to see whether they break. Afterward they come online to write reviews for the equipment they've broken.
"The build quality is terrible."
You're terrible. You're an idiot. If you broke the lens and you weren't being an idiot, Canon will replace it under warranty. If you broke the lens because you were being an idiot, then you deserve it for being an idiot. If you didn't break the lens, then WHAT are you on about? Real photographers don't worry about things like this.
"The AF motor is noisy."
"The lens mount is made out of plastic."
"The weathersealing could be better."
"It's too light/heavy."
"The focus ring is too big/small."
"The menu is confusing."
Alright, listen. If I can't see the things you're talking about, then they're irrelevant. I don't care how cold your fingers got the night you were out taking pictures of star trails, either. Your cold fingers have no impact on the image. I care about the stars. Show me those. I can SEE sharpness. I can SEE color fringing. Tell me about those things! Don't speculate about how a piece of gear might break after it's been dropped. I don't drop my gear. That is not useful information.
Customer Review: Best Hundred Dollars I've Spent
Summary: 5 Stars
I recommend this lens hands down. I'm an aspiring amateur photographer, and after reading a bunch of great reviews on this lens I bought it to complement my sigma 28-70mm lens, which is ok as a walkaround lens, but I wanted something different. I needed something so that when my friends are over, we can be hanging out in near darkness sometimes and I can snap pictures of everything. Also, I'm into portrait photography, so this seemed to match my needs.
It has pretty much exceeded my expectations, and has taken my photography to another level. Wide open, this lens allows me to take pictures indoors, at ISO 400-800 and 1/50 second shutter speed. Which is pretty much what you need to make sure the picture's not shaking like you had too much coffee. Anyway, this little black piece of plastic pretty much has never left my 450D since I bought it. In daytime this lens shines even more. You drop the aperture down to about f5 or so, and you'll get ridiculously sharp pictures. I took a picture of my friend, and you can easily see the pores on his face. The colors are very cool too, and I think it captured the colors alot better than my sigma lens does.
I've seen a lot of people complaining about the quality of the lens. Ok, I will be the first to admit that I'm not running around chasing lions in Africa or providing photo coverage of the war in Iraq. I'm just a dude with a camera, and I tend to be in relatively safe/sand free situations. I'm sure if I drop it, it will probably shatter into seventeen pieces, which is fine because the lens never leaves my camera, and the camera never leaves my neck when I'm shooting. Besides people, this is a hundred dollar lens. You just can't expect the build quality that 200 dollars difference makes. If you want to go climb trees to take pictures of orangutans, you'll probably want something a little more solid or weatherproof. But if you're like me and keep your camera safe/dry, the build quality shouln't be too much of a problem.
Overall, I think this lens is one of the best values in all of photography, hands down. I'll post some sample pictures when I feel like it.
Customer Review: Build quality underrated; a steal at this price
Summary: 5 Stars
Don't pay much attention to the groupthink opinion that this is a cheap (build) quality lens. Is it tough as nails? Of course not. Do you want to drop kick it around whereever you go? No. But if you take care of your equipment and don't routinely drop anything, will this lens stand up to the test? Certainly.
There are two very minor issues with this lens, and both are related. There is no distance scale, and the manual focusing ring isn't very easy to work. It would be nice to, for example, set the manual focus on a particular distance you know ahead of time if shooting in very low light or for sports. For professional shooters, that can be an issue, and if you would depend on either feature for your work, you are probably better off with one of the other 50's in Canon's lineup that may have both (if they do). However, the autofocusing speed on this lens isn't exactly slow, so depending on it isn't a problem. I recently shot indoor basketball pictures and had many fewer out of focus images, as a percentage, than I routinely do with my 70-200 L lens. The latter was used in football, so, to be sure, its an apples to oranges comparison. But my point is that this lens' autofocus can keep up with basketball action with no problem.
For indoor available light pics, even sports, this lens can't be beat. For now, its my main basketball lens, though, on my 20D (1.6 factor) I might get something a little wider. It would likely be perfect on the 1.3 factor 1D series of digital cameras. And, of course, its a true 50mm on a film EOS if you shoot that. The background blur is good and the lightweight and compact lens makes shooting easy.
I'm not a full time pro, so budget considerations are very important. Will I eventually get the 50 1.4? Probably. If for no other reason, I'd get it for that extra fraction of a stop. But for those of you with Digital Rebels just getting into digital SLR shooting, and wondering why your included lens requires you to use flash indoors or in outdoor stadiums, get this lens and you won't have to worry about flash and the likely red-eye.
Customer Review: Small, Sharp, Fast, and Light
Summary: 5 Stars
I use this lens with my Rebel XSi, and it takes fantastic pictures. The first thing I noticed is the tiny size. Even compared to the small kit lens, this thing is minuscule, and I love it.
The aperture of this lens is only 1/2 stop slower than the 50mm 1.4 lens, but is 1/3 of the price. I have a feeling this is due to the plastic nature of the camera, but if you're not a pro using a 1-series camera I doubt you're throwing your gear around or being rough with it. I am not worried about the sturdiness, but if I find out otherwise I will update this review.
On the other hand this lens is over 1 full stop faster than the much more expensive f/2.8 zooms, and over 3 stops faster than the kit lens at 50mm. When you look through the viewfinder you will notice it's much brighter, and that's due to the maximum aperture.
I initially held off on getting this lens due to the crop sensor of the Rebel series. While the focal length is tight (80mm equivalent), especially indoors where the fast aperture is most useful, the quality of the pictures are worth it. Using this indoors forces me to take mostly portraits, but that's fine with me.
I was quite surprised at the quality of this lens. I initially wanted it just to play around with the fast aperture, but the sharpness of the photos it takes is really quite good. And of course playing around with the narrow depth of focus is fun also.
Recommendation:
While I love this lens, I wouldn't say buying it is a no-brainer. The focal length is fairly limiting on a crop body camera, and you may not find much use for it. And if you don't use it it's not a bargain, no matter how cheap it is. A better choice might be the 35mm f/2, which is twice the cost but has been reviewed well. It is close to a normal perspective after taking the crop into account.
If you do like the 50mm focal range though, but don't want to shell out for the 50mm f/1.4, this lens is a great choice. It is small and light, as well as sharp and fast.