BEST VALUE in the Canon EF Line! You should own one...

It's not often that you find a lens that is widely embraced by both beginners and advanced photographers alike. Then, you factor in the fact that this lens is so incredibly inexpensive- and you cannot afford not to own it yourself!

For the beginner, it is a great fixed focal length that provides a mild telephoto on crop sensor cameras- and great available/low light performance, far exceeding most kit lenses.

For the more advanced user, this light lens can be used as a sharp and light travel lens- providing a "normal" field of view on full frame DSLRs. With it's low light capabilities- this lens is excellent for fireworks, indoor photography, and even astral images. Due to it's low cost- it lends itself well to use in those "risky situations" where you might not want to endanger a more expensive lens.

You might think that you are getting a plastic "toy lens" for this price- but the images that are produced by this lens are very sharp, crisp and well worth the price. Autofocus is swift and accurate- however this lens does NOT FEATURE FULL TIME MANUAL, and the manual focusing ring is very small and difficult to use regularly.

Overall, with it's small size, light weight, and affordability- how can you afford to not have this nifty fifty in your bag?

good lens

very good lens and reasonable price
The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens delivers very sharp images as inexpensively as Canon lenses get.

Build quality of the 50 f/1.8 is very cheap (as you might expect). This lens feels more like a toy than a piece of optics. It utilizes plastic contruction right down to the lens mount (the lenses are glass of course). This light material combined with the small size (2.7" x 1.6"/68.2mm x 41.0mm - WxL) puts this lens in the featherweight class - 4.6 oz (130g). The 50 f/1.8 is currently Canon's lightest and shortest lens. Considering how light the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens is, I think the plastic lens mount is adequate for strength. You might get more wear than you wish if you are changing the lens frequently.

There is not much to this lens. There is no distance window or markings. There is barely even a focus ring - and the tiny ring that is there is barely usable.

Autofocus is driven by a micro motor. Focus speed is not stellar, but fine in good light with subjects that are not moving too quickly. The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens is one of Canon's louder/buzzier lenses - you know when it is focusing. But this is not a wildlife lens - and the noise probably won't bother most people. I suppose a positive aspect of the sound is that you know when it is working - and when focus is locked. FTM (Full Time Manual) focusing is not included. The 50 f/1.8 extends up to 5/16" during focusing - the very small 52mm filter does not rotate.

The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens' strongest quality is its sharpness. Sharpness performance wide open (f/1.8) is decent, but the Canon 50 f/1.8 is very sharp at f/2.8 and beyond. It is slightly sharper than even the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM Lens.

Great value from a cheap lens. A must have for every photographer

This lens is super light and a good all around lens. On crop sensor bodies, the focal length is a little bit restricting but that's just one of the sacrifices that sometimes has to be made for a fixed prime, wide open lens.
The bokeh is pretty good for a $100 lens (it's not outstanding like the L Series but what do you expect from a lens this small and cheap) and it's light weight allows for easy transportation. With its f/1.8, it's very good in low light though sometimes a flash is needed in order to fully get the image. The autofocusing is also a little bit loud and clunky and sometimes it doesn't focus correctly. However, this lens is a great value and I would recommend it to anyone.

Best Lens For The Buck!

Ok, lets start off simple and to the point...

It looks cheap, feels cheap, IS cheap! But somehow this lens can perform near the Canon L lens range without the L Price tag. This was my first prime lens and i cant honestly say it was the best choice i made lens wise.

Its pros are simple...
- Cost efficiency,
- Quality pictures,
- Good performance,
- Very Handy.
- Its very good with night shots specialy due to its fast apature of F1.8.
- It uses 52mm filters which are very cheap price wise
(i 've had to pay alot of $ for 72mm filters ie: tamron)
- Its VERY GOOD for portraits!
- Its very light...

Cons are straight forward aswell...
- A little soft at wide open (1.8)
(But if stopped down to F2.2+ it gets razor sharp)
- No zoom other than your feet(but to be expected on a prime but had to say it),
- Auto-focus can hunt in low light at times,
- Auto-focus can be a tad slow,
- Prone to flaring outside in daylight
(cured with a lens hood sold seperately *-*boo canon!*)
- AF motor is noisy but not too bad.
- It may be too light for some photographers preferences.

To each its own...

Overall i would buy this and keep this in my lens collection till i die. I can easily justify replacing it 3times if it kept breaking. Why? At $90CAN (what i payed for it) its still 10x cheaper than any lens that performs against or near quailty wise. Because of this lens, i love primes lol!

Cheap, sharp, bright, but limited

Canon's 50mm 1.8 is their cheapest prime lens, but inside is some decent glass. This is a great lens for portrature.

I've used the 50/1.8 for years because the simple design of the optics produces great pictures. Images are sharp, distortion-free, and the lens is almost immune to flare. It is in fact one of Canon's sharpest lenses when stopped down past f/2.8.

The only problem with the 50/1.8 is that it is so cheaply built, it lacks even the most basic features. The focusing ring is tiny, and flimsy. It is impossible to manual-focus this lens with any accuracy, it needs to be auto focused.

Another complaint about this lens is that the aperture mechanism has only 5 blades. This results in the out-of-focus areas looking a bit harsher than they would with a better lens (an effect called "bokeh"). This isn't an issue when the lens is stopped down enough to keep everything in focus, but for some styles, it just doesn't have that "expensive lens" look in the blurry areas.

Those limititions should not stop anyone from buying the Canon 50/1.8 because at the price there is nothing like it. If you've only used zoom lenses, try this one out, it will help you be more creative.