Fast, Light, Sharp and Cheap - The Canon 50mm f/1.8 EF II Lens

http://www.robnunnphoto.com The EF 50mm f/1.8 belongs in the camera bag of every Canon photographer - it's Canon's cheapest lens, yet this great little prime offers sharp images, great low-light capability and fantastic selective focus options.

The 50mm is more like the 35mm equivalent of an 80mm on a crop sensor camera, it's slightly telephoto, so you'll find yourself moving back a little if you're into landscapes - but it's a great portrait focal length.

Build quality isn't the best - but what do you expect for £100? Get one, stick it on your camera and have some fun.

Cheers, Rob.

Oh, and did I mention it's cheap? ;-)

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• canon
• ef
• 50mm
• f1.8
• lens
• review
• photography
• photographer
• digital
• dslr
• lenses

[ninokiboomcg]

i love when he says " You got NO zoom at all" and then he zooms his camcorder in lol

[insanitystudio]

@Dannysubliminal

Unless you plan on dropping your camera, this lens will do just fine, and the price is right

[Bertziethegreat]

@Dannysubliminal Not everyone has an extra $250 laying around to make the jump to the 1.4, especially if you don't plan on shooting wide open all the time.

[benofkent]

Sharp enough for video that is for sure, my 18-55 kit lens uses up so much light!

[lsi624]

Canon 50mm 1.8f....Cheapest lens on the market and its an absolute pile of SHIT !...pick one of these up and you'll know exactly what im taking about

[timberswiss3]

i dont understand why people love this lens i hate it with a passion. loud, shitty AF, soft across all the f stops. blegh.

[johnnytheman888]

How else would you move forwards and backwards?

[oldschoolman33]

Fast, light, cheap but not sharp...

[BrandonKingVloggin]

@Dannysubliminal 1.2L the way to go. Haha too bad I can't afford it. And I agree the 1.4>1.8 ANY DAY. I used the 1.8 and it was actually the worst lens I've ever used. I would have preferred to stick to my kit lens 18-55 over it (not that I use that, of course) haha

[Dannysubliminal]

@insanitystudio Can't argue with the price, I did test out the 1.8 but I much prefer the 1.4, I'm not a big fan of the pentagonal effect that the 1.8 gives with bokeh. 1.4 offers I believe 9 aperture blades, so its gives a much smoother effect when using a wide aperture.

[Dannysubliminal]

Don't be a fool, this lens is rubbish, pay the extra couple of hundred and get the 50mm 1.4 USM, its much better, quality is better, build quality is better. and soooo much fun!!!

[Aumunique30]

fantastic selective focus options.

what does this mean, everytime I take pictures with this lens and all my subjects are so close in the lens....

[arcticmonkeysdream]

Im sorry but i have this Lens, I'm shooting on a 5D and the Lens was Cheap very cheap infact it's only £70-£100 but hey listen, you hear that? yes the sound of horrible plastic rubbing together as you press the shutter, as for the image quality i think it's quite a nice and the Bokeh from F1.8 is nice, but if you want a better all round lens id fork out the extra £170 and get the F1.4 50mm lens.

[michaelhearit]

That looks tiny! Like the lens AND the camera!

[felipealvarez1982]

hole in the front of it .... lol!!

[SuperMangn]

Or get a 35mm f 2 which is almost identical as putting a 50mm on a full size sensor camera. Also the cannon 35mm f 2 is better made than the 50mm f 1.8 and is just better lol.

[Hadgfeet]

@neekface Use the kit lens for video, this lens has no IS

[yamiladdi]

I have a T1i and I am really new at this.... I thought this lens goes toegether with the lens my camera has.

[neekface]

@OhnoitsWiII Cheers dude! Makes such a difference it's awesome

[OhnoitsWiII]

@neekface Hi! um if you don't already know how to change aperture on your 550D all you need to do is..

(hopefully on manual mode)

Hold down the "Av button" while using the main dial (the wheel thingy)

OR!

You can always use the "Q" button and select your settings from there :)

[neekface]

Just got this today. Can anyone tell me how to select aperture when on video mode? (I have a canon 550d). Is it automatically 1.8?? Please someone help lol :(

[spacerconrad]

@Lifterstriker

The FD lens system was dropped in favor of the EF standard, but you can still get adaptors to fix that.

Good, because you can get some really nice FD glass these days pretty cheap.

[spacerconrad]

@Lifterstriker

The focal length of a lens is measured the same as it always was. The crop factor basically causes an "effective" difference in FL, but the EOS lens will work just fine on a film *or* digital camera. What you have to look out for are the EF-S lenses, which protrude into the body of the camera, and would interfere with the operation of the mirror on a 35mm film camera. The 1.6 dSLRs take both types just fine. See if your local camera shop will let you try the lens b4 you buy.

[Smalskin]

Is the sound something you really notice when out with it?

[MrPlaystationboy]

the focal lenght on the human eye is about 22mm in 35mm film

and the reselution is between 5mpx and 15mpx on a avrege person :)

[conewells]

Excuse my ignorance, but do you need an ADAPTOR for these lens?