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Canon 50mm F/1.8 MKII
This lens, one of Canons cheapest and most easily available prime lenses, has a reputation across the internet for being a necessity to every photographers kit bag. The nifty fifty, which is the nickname for this lens used across the internet, can be had from the UK for as little as £68 including all postage costs and if youre willing to think about importing the lens it can be had for as little as £60 but remember to beware of import taxes which might catch you out.
I personally ordered this lens from Kerso, who has an eBay store under the name of Flash Camera. If you get in contact with Kerso and mention that youve been refered to him by a previous customer of his over at Talk Photography then you can be pretty sure that hell nock some of the price off the lens for you. The lens arrived with me the day after Kerso had sent it out, and my first impressions were quite certain. The box was tiny, which I guess could be expected with a lens as small as this one. Its really small and dinky, but one of the first things that you realise is how iffy the build quality is. In comparison to my other Canon lenses, this lens has a definite lack of quality compared to the others but saying that, its not a totally awful build, just in comparison to the others. The build quality is what you get for such a cheap price though, you get what you pay for. The lens is also very light at just 130g, which adds to the very small and compact feel of the lens. The filter size for the 50mm F/1.8 MKII is 52mm, so if like me you want to protect the front element you can pick up a 52mm skylight filter to protect the element from possible hazards. This will still be hard to do, as the front element of the lens is set into the body of the lens and will be hard to accidentally knock.
The 50mm F/1.8 MKII has an effective focal length of 80mm on my Canon 20D, which means that it can be quite easily used for portrait photography as well as using it in low light circumstances with its large maximum aperture of F/1.8. The auto focus motor on the 50mm F/1.8 MKII is a non-USM motor which means that there is no full time manual focusing with this lens. There is a traditional AF/MF switch at the base of the lens which can toggle between auto focus or manual focus. To focus manually, you turn the textured ring at the tip of the lens. The actual auto focus motor in this lens is quite noisy compared to some of Canons other non-USM lenses. Also, despite the large maximum aperture of F/1.8, you will find that the 50mm F/1.8 MKII can hunt a lot in low light and can be very inaccurate. If you use the lens in good lit areas, there are no problems with the focus system and its snappy and quick to focus on your target.
Tests
F/1.8
F/2.8
F/4
F/5.6
F/8
As can be seen in the images, the sharpness of the 50mm F/1.8 MKII peaks at around F/4 before starting to get softer again towards F/8. Despite what it may seem from the image of the 50mm wide open at F/1.8, this lens is VERY usable wide open and I have produced some very sharp images. The only problem is that with such a small depth of field due to the large aperture, the focus has to be exactly spot on otherwise the image will be soft and out of focus.
In conclusion, for the price of this lens you really cannot complain. It is very sharp and in good light quick to focus. Once you get past the small nit-picks like the plastic mount and the build quality you will really see what a good lens this is. I will finish this review saying what everyone else has. EVERY photographer needs this lens in their kit bag!
This lens, one of Canons cheapest and most easily available prime lenses, has a reputation across the internet for being a necessity to every photographers kit bag. The nifty fifty, which is the nickname for this lens used across the internet, can be had from the UK for as little as £68 including all postage costs and if youre willing to think about importing the lens it can be had for as little as £60 but remember to beware of import taxes which might catch you out.
I personally ordered this lens from Kerso, who has an eBay store under the name of Flash Camera. If you get in contact with Kerso and mention that youve been refered to him by a previous customer of his over at Talk Photography then you can be pretty sure that hell nock some of the price off the lens for you. The lens arrived with me the day after Kerso had sent it out, and my first impressions were quite certain. The box was tiny, which I guess could be expected with a lens as small as this one. Its really small and dinky, but one of the first things that you realise is how iffy the build quality is. In comparison to my other Canon lenses, this lens has a definite lack of quality compared to the others but saying that, its not a totally awful build, just in comparison to the others. The build quality is what you get for such a cheap price though, you get what you pay for. The lens is also very light at just 130g, which adds to the very small and compact feel of the lens. The filter size for the 50mm F/1.8 MKII is 52mm, so if like me you want to protect the front element you can pick up a 52mm skylight filter to protect the element from possible hazards. This will still be hard to do, as the front element of the lens is set into the body of the lens and will be hard to accidentally knock.
The 50mm F/1.8 MKII has an effective focal length of 80mm on my Canon 20D, which means that it can be quite easily used for portrait photography as well as using it in low light circumstances with its large maximum aperture of F/1.8. The auto focus motor on the 50mm F/1.8 MKII is a non-USM motor which means that there is no full time manual focusing with this lens. There is a traditional AF/MF switch at the base of the lens which can toggle between auto focus or manual focus. To focus manually, you turn the textured ring at the tip of the lens. The actual auto focus motor in this lens is quite noisy compared to some of Canons other non-USM lenses. Also, despite the large maximum aperture of F/1.8, you will find that the 50mm F/1.8 MKII can hunt a lot in low light and can be very inaccurate. If you use the lens in good lit areas, there are no problems with the focus system and its snappy and quick to focus on your target.
Tests
F/1.8
F/2.8
F/4
F/5.6
F/8
As can be seen in the images, the sharpness of the 50mm F/1.8 MKII peaks at around F/4 before starting to get softer again towards F/8. Despite what it may seem from the image of the 50mm wide open at F/1.8, this lens is VERY usable wide open and I have produced some very sharp images. The only problem is that with such a small depth of field due to the large aperture, the focus has to be exactly spot on otherwise the image will be soft and out of focus.
In conclusion, for the price of this lens you really cannot complain. It is very sharp and in good light quick to focus. Once you get past the small nit-picks like the plastic mount and the build quality you will really see what a good lens this is. I will finish this review saying what everyone else has. EVERY photographer needs this lens in their kit bag!