At around $70, the Canon 50mm/f1.8 Camera Lens is a steal for the budding SLR photographer. While the plastic construction isn’t great, the lens has surprisingly good optics for its price. With such a low aperture, it’s a great lens for low-light situations, and creates a nicely-blurred background behind the subject. While it probably shouldn’t be any photographer’s only lens, the Canon 50mm/f1.8 is a great addition to any Canon kit.
The first noticeable thing about the Canon 50mm/f1.8 is its size and weight. The lens measures just less than two inches when attached to the camera and weighs just 4.6 ounces, making it the lightest lens Canon sells. This has its good and bad points – its small size makes the camera that much lighter, but the Canon 50mm/f1.8 feels fragile and libel to break. The autofocus is a little slow for a Canon lens and it’s noisy as well.
Fortunately, the image quality makes up for these issues. The Canon 50mm/f1.8 returns images that could be from a lens several times its price. Colors are sharp, and the focus remains sharp even with the aperture as wide as possible. The large maximum aperture allows the photographer to create a very shallow depth-of-field, creating a nice bokeh in the background. There are a few problems with chromatic abrasion – the purple fringing in bright areas that plagues other Canon lenses – but these aren’t debilitating.
Who should look at the Canon 50mm/f1.8? It’s a great lens for anyone who owns one of Canon’s popular Digital Rebels, the company’s entry-level SLR. The kit lens that comes with that camera is quite dark, and the Canon 50mm/f1.8′s bright-light capabilities compliment this lens well. The color quality and sharpness also make this lens particularly well-suited for portrait photographers or the amateur who enjoys taking photographs of his kids.
People interested in a zoom lens should avoid the Canon 50mm/f1.8. It is a prime lens, meaning it has a set focal-length. Fifty millimeters is a good midrange lens, meaning the photographer is mostly responsible for getting close to the action. The Canon 50mm/f1.8 is not really well-suited to cramped corners indoors or architecture photos either, as it is not an effective wide-angle focal length.
Professional or advanced amateurs may want to take a look at Canon’sEF 50mm f1.4 USM lens. The next level up in quality, this lens is even better in low-light situations and is better constructed. However, these additions come at a cost as the lens costs nearly four times more that the Canon 50mm/f1.8. For all but the most discerning photographer, this money isn’t worth it. The Canon 50mm/f1.8 is a great lens.
By: Fletcher Smith