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: Best value for any Canon lens
Summary: 5 Stars
With this lens, you get what you pay for. While for some people think that's a bad thing (mostly folks who think you should be able to get superb quality for dirt cheap), for me it's working out great.
No, this lens isn't true USM, so it's noisy and the autofocus can be a bit unreliable, particularly in low light. And it only has five aperture blades, so the bokeh isn't as creamy and smooth as it could be. And yes, it's mostly plastic. But here's the thing: it's under $90. No other lens in Canon's line-up comes anywhere near that cheap. The f/1.4 lens is hovering around $250, last I checked, and that's not even a full stop faster.
If, like me, you're new to photography and are trying to learn as much as you can about creating beautiful pictures WITHOUT dropping $300 every time you find yourself in situation where your current lens collection won't do what you want, this lens is an absolute must-have. With a focal length of 50mm, it's the equivalent of an 80mm lens on a film SLR or one of the large sensor DSLR bodies, which is just about the perfect focal length for portraits. The f/1.8 maximum aperture means the subject is super-sharp and all the other distracting background stuff is blur, as it's supposed to be. And best of all, you can now do quality indoor photography without spending a couple hundred bucks on an external flash that washes everything out anyway.
Do I wish it focused better, faster, and quieter? Sure. Do I wish the aperture was 2/3 of a stop faster? Of course. Do I wish the body, or at least the mount, was made of metal? Heck yes. Would I like a shorter focal angle for wider indoor shots? Definitely. Am I willing, as a new photographer, to spend $350 on a lens that does some of those things? Not yet, I'm not.
If you're a professional wedding photographer and need a portrait lens for your Canon 5D, this is not the lens for you. But if you just bought your first DSLR and the kit lens just doesn't do what you want in low-light or portrait situations, get this lens.
Customer Review: Ridiculously good deal for the non-professional
Summary: 5 Stars
After reading several of the excellent user reviews here on Amazon.com, I decided to take the plunge and get this lens. Speaking of which, a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who wrote a review, both favorably and not of the item. I figured for $100 it can't be that big of a let down if it's not too great, right?
All I can say is WOW. I have a Canon Rebel T2i/550D with the 18-55mm IS kit lens. I then purchased this lens and the 55-250 mm IS telephoto zoom lens (it arrives today). This 50 mm f/1.8 II has met and exceeded all of my expectations for the lens.
Yes, the AF motor is a little noisy. Yes, the switch between AF/MF is a little stiff, which might be considered a good thing for some photographers. The manual focus ring is somewhat oddly placed at first, but after a few days of use I've quickly gotten used to it.
This really is an excellent camera for bokeh. Need a shallow depth of field but on a budget? LOOK NO FURTHER.
Trust me, you won't feel bad about getting this lens over the f/1.4 USM lens that's over 3 times the price. I would only recommend skipping this lens and getting the more expensive f/1.4 if you think that's a lens you will want one day. In other words, just save your money and get the more expensive one if you're a professional photographer, not on a budget, or must have the best and most expensive.
If you're like me and you're an avid novice photographer that just wants people to say, "wow, those are great pics" and not trying to make money off it, seriously, just BUY THIS LENS. Skip the "add to wishlist" part, just buy it.
At $100, this might be one of the best regular price (i.e. non sale price) deals I've ever gotten. EVER. I haven't snapped any pics with my 18-55mm IS kit lens since I got this 50 mm. And by non-sale price I mean Canon has this lens listed at $99 and it's sold for about that price usually. Many of the Canon EF lenses on Amazon are discounted compared to the MSRP, but this lens sells right about MSRP most of the time.
Customer Review: Performs beyond expectations.
Summary: 5 Stars
I just started using this wonderful little lens with my new 500D and I'm blown away! I have the 18-55mm kit len and the EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS lens and this one blows both of those away. All of my shots with this was hand held, many taking shots of moving subjects and many being shot from a moving vehicle. Now one thing about he vehicle I was shooting from should explain even further how wonderful this lens is.... it's an armored Suburban with bulletproof tinted glass over 1" thick!
People have lowered the star rating for this lens due to it's plastic build. Now c'mon, this lens costs less than $100 and performs better than lens' costing 10X as much. There are many people who have reviewed this lens who say they've owned it for several years with no signs of wear. If you handle this the same way you would handle an "L" lens, then it will last you nearly as long.
At full zoom on my 55-250mm compared to the 50mm shot of the same landscape, the pictures from the 50mm f/1.8 is much sharper and that is under close scrutiny of every aspect of the two photos zoomed in to maximum magnification in Photoshop CS4 Bridge.
As already mentioned, I took several shots from a moving vehicle with safety glass that as over 1" thick with heavy tint. I shot close up portrait type photos, medium distance landscape, and very far off landscape, all from a moving vehicle. Every shot made when I had my camera settings correct were keepers. I've never had a lens that could do this, not even close.
Long story short; you can't go wrong with this purchase. Buy one, play with it, and fall in love with it. If you must have the big brother to this lens and are willing to fork out the extra $$ then go for it. But, for the rest of us who are happy with a lens that will PERFORM at nearly the same level, but feel like a toy, I'll stick with the f/1.8 II and be grinning from ear to ear because I can use that money for much better things.
Customer Review: Great for my 2 year old
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this 50mm Canon lens to supplement the 18-55mm kit lens that came with my T2i. I really bought the dSLR mainly for trying to capture good photos of my toddler indoors without a flash and I thought that the wider aperture of this lens might come in handy. My only regret at this stage is not saving $100 bucks on the kit by buying the body only camera.
Initially, I was trying too hard to use the manual settings to get good shots. I spent a lot of time in AE mode playing with the aperture settings but I still seemed to be getting low shutter speeds and blurry shots indoors. I had reached the point where I could get better shots with the kit lens on the same settings thanks to the IS on the lens. And my wife was mad because I spent so much on a camera and it still took blurry shots like the old P&S.
Then I decided to give the Sports mode on the camera a try with the 50mm. What a difference! Suddenly I could get bursts of quick shutter high aperture shots with good focus tracking. Granted the ISOs were frequently 3200 but the shots look good enough for album prints, which will be my primary use for most of them. And the kit lens can no longer compete because it is f/5.6 at the same 50mm focal length.
I should mention that focus accuracy could seem like a problem with the lens but I think that would be unfair. Indoors in the sports mode, the lens frequently sets at f/1.8 or f/2.0. At those aperture settings the depth of field is very shallow and sometimes the images seem out of focus when in fact the focal point has simply locked on a point other than the desired target. I think that is the price to pay being able to leave the flash off all the time.
My advice to anyone new to dSLRs and looking to get indoor action shots of the kids is to buy the body, get this lens and go straight to sports mode. You can learn how to really use the camera when the shots don't matter as much.
Customer Review: Better shots than most L-series zoom lenses
Summary: 5 Stars
I understand I am comparing Fuji Apples to Gala Apples, but when I compare the image quality from this cheap, plastic-bodied prime lens to those from my several L-series Canon zooms, there is no contest: this lens outperforms. Now to those who say one cannot compare a prime to a zoom, I say: why not? Aren't we discussing image quality or are we discussing something else?
Given the very large images produced by modern DSLRs, I can crop the image from this 50mm and get the zoom effect I need given the minimum zoom of 50mm (times crop factor). I can also place this lens on my Elan 7 film camera and get spectacular results. I use this lens more and more and zoom using my physical zoom (feet) and digital zoom (Photoshop or Aperture or any image editing software). The results are always great. No, I cannot print to 40x60 inches if I crop from this lens, but I am not planning to do that anyway.
When I shoot a wedding (not bridal portraits, I use the 85mm prime for that) the photos made using this lens are always the best and always the favorites. I know it does not have the little red ring around it but that is just to show other photographers that you are hip and with it, not necessarily to get better images and certainly not based on the money-to-image-quality ratio. Nope, buying a more expensive camera or a more expensive lens will NOT make you a better photographer. Using a prime lens, however, like this very affordable option, will certainly improve your images.
The cons are obvious: low build quality. This means that the lens is likely to last for only ten years or so, judging by the fact that other Canon primes (and all Canon lenses in general) are notoriously and incredibly reliable (the more expensive f/1.4 version of this lens a notable exception, but still very, very, very reliable).
The sum of all my comments is but this: for the money, there is no finer nor more useful lens for your Canon EOS Camera.