Canon 50mm f/1.8 II EF Review Round-Up

canon-ef-50mm-f18-iiGet information and user reviews for this lens from Amazon: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens

Photo Zone:

At the beginning of this review I stated that the 50mm f/1.8 II is the cheapest lens in the Canon line. Cheap really refers to the price tag only because for a price below 100 EUR you get a light-weight, high performing lens. So most affordable may be a better wording here. Naturally you can’t expect wonders regarding build quality for this price but the compromises work out better here than with the cheapo kit zooms. The 50mm f/1.4 USM may be a tad better at large aperture settings and surely regarding build quality but at quite hefty extra costs. If you’re on a budget the 50mm f/1.8 II is a good alternative here. It may also be interesting to check out the used market for a EF 50mm f/1.8 (I) which features the same good optical formula but combined with a better construction. It’s not really surprising that the old lens tends to sell at higher prices on the used market than the “new” mk II though. READ FULL REVIEW

Other Canon 50mm f/1.8 II EF Reviews

SLRGear

This lens has received a lot of attention as one of the true bargains in the Canon lens offerings. Its f/1.8 maximum aperture is great for available-light shooting; and when you stop it down, it really delivers excellent optical performance. Wide open, this lens is sharp enough in the center, but very soft in the corners. On a subframe body, its other characteristics are surprisingly good wide open, with very low chromatic aberration, modest (about 1/3 stop) vignetting, and very low distortion (0.15%, barrel). When you stop it down, the f/1.8 does nothing but improve, and at apertures from f/2.8 through f/11 (best at f/5.6-f/8), it’s flat-out excellent, very sharp from corner to corner, with very low CA, and practically no light falloff in the corners. There’s no getting around it, this is an inexpensive lens, which is immediately evident the moment you pick it up and feel its feather-light largely plastic construction. That said, it delivers surprising performance at a very reasonable price. READ FULL REVIEW

Photo.net

So why do I own this lens? It only costs about $80. It is incredibly lightweight. It takes vastly better pictures than a mid-range mid-priced zoom. It can take a photo without flash in light that is one quarter as bright as the light required by a consumer zoom (usually these have max apertures of around f/4). READ FULL REVIEW

Leave a Reply

Close Menu