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charliebrown34
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Registered: Mar 7, 2008
Location: Germany
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Mar 8, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $100.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Sharp, light weight, small, f/1.8, cheap
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Cons:
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Built quality, soft at f/1.8
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 Mar 8, 2008
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Rob Scriva
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Registered: Nov 1, 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 106
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Review Date: Mar 6, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Great value for money, sharp.
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Cons:
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None if you know exactly what you're buying.
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Also known as the plastic fantastic or the nifty fifty this lens is great value for money and a worthy addition to anyone's kit bag.
It's completely made of plastic, including the mount, but hey, there's a reason why it's cheap. It doesn't have USM and AF is a little dodgy in low light but it is incredibly sharp for something this cheap.
Works well at short focal lengths, the bokeh is fine but not nearly as good as it's older brothers.
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Mar 6, 2008
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MGSteve
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Registered: Feb 17, 2008
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Feb 28, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $30.00
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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Cheap
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Cons:
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Noisy AF, Bad AF in low light, Very slightly soft. Feels like a toy lens.
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Well, first off - value wise, this is up there with the best. Image quality wise - its not brilliant.
Which is odd given then reviews on here, I know. However, that said, for the money its not bad at all.
It is *very* slightly soft, compared to the 100mm 2.8 USM Macro I've got. Its probably comparable to the Sigma 18-50 DC EX Macro lens I had. Maybe very slightly sharper.
Example...
50mm: http://mgsteve.smugmug.com/gallery/4353064_MjPfN#255473934_MMiDH-O-LB
100mm: http://mgsteve.smugmug.com/gallery/4353064_MjPfN#255471328
However, the 1.8 aperture does give you remarkable freedom to shoot in low light, handheld! eg: http://mgsteve.smugmug.com/gallery/4352250_zVmZc#255529527
However, using an aperture of 1.8 does tend to test the autofocus on your camera, if they appear slightly out of focus, get the mechanism checked as it may well be the camera, not the lens. Its usually visible on subjects that are at 45degrees to the lens, the focal point appears either just before or just after the AF point the camera used. Its just because the focal plane on 1.8 is soooo thin, it shows up any miscalibration in the camera.
Oh the whole, I'll probably keep it anyway, perhaps replace it with the 1.4 version which apparently gives better Image Quality. However, its considerably more money.
It comes down to one thing really, if you find yourself shooting at 50mm a lot with a zoom, get this lens, it'll be at least as sharp as the zoom and allows you to shoot in very low light!
Gallery: http://mgsteve.smugmug.com
I've tagged all my images taken with the 50mm lens - http://mgsteve.smugmug.com/keyword/canonef50mmf18ii and they're all available at 100% for you pixel peepers out there!
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Feb 28, 2008
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sendjo
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Registered: Feb 23, 2008
Location: Croatia
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Feb 23, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $50.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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price, large aperture, IQ, sharpness
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Cons:
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plastic-fantastic build, bokeh
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It`s a sin not to have this cheap lens. Excellent sharpness and large aperture for money it cost. Must have for everyone.
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Feb 23, 2008
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Joel Kern
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Registered: Nov 14, 2007
Location: Canada
Posts: 21
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Review Date: Feb 14, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Sharpness that blows away my L zooms. Complete lack of CA up to f5.6 - minimal CA from f8 and beyond. Inexpensive - no worries if it dies on me.
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Cons:
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Weird bokeh - very, very different from my L zooms... but different can be a good thing. Inexpensive - poor AF and completely uninspiring build quality.
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An interesting lens at a bargain price... should have picked one of these up sooner. A nice companion lens for the 24-70 f2.8L.
Points of interest:
- No chromatic aberration from f1.8 to f5.6 - None! CA starts to creep in from f8 on up, but remains lower than both my 70-200 f2.8L and my 24-70 f2.8L zooms. A very, very good characteristic.
- Sharp from f2 on up - sharper than my L zooms at least, although I haven't tried the 135 f2L yet. Vignettes heavily wide open and up until about f2.8... but this can be seen as an advantage in some situations.
- Weird bokeh - I like the bokeh of this lens for certain situations; hate it for others... it's sort-of old school (like the lenses I used to use when I was in college 10 years ago) but with a weird twist. I'll get the hang of it eventually.
Definitely keeping this lens in my bag for the times that a photo would benefit from a complete lack of CA, killer sharpness, (what I'll call) "edgy" bokeh and/or vignetting. Don't think I'll be using it much for my landscape photography, but I've had some success using this lens for both portraits and product shots.
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Feb 14, 2008
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Can Tanguner
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Registered: Aug 22, 2007
Location: Turkey
Posts: 3
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Review Date: Feb 12, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $160.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Best bang for your buck, image quality
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Cons:
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Build quality, noisy AF
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This is the first lens I've bought after the horrible kit lens came with my XTi.
First of all build quality really disappointed me, but it clearly explains why this lense is so cheap. So I shouldn't be complaining about it but whatever. Also AF is a bit noisier than the kit lense and it seems a bit slow too, but I don't have any experience with the lense on daylight. Maybe AF won't get confused when the lighting is OK 
Image-wise, it is totally unrivalled for the price. Images are sharp and it creates beautifully blurred backgrounds. Sometimes f/1.8 becomes a little tricky to handle but generally it's the best feature of the lense.
Two test shots. I had the polarizer attached to my kit lense and was too tired to remove it
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23040438@N05/2260277721/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23040438@N05/2261071342/
I totally recommend it, it is definitely a must have. Don't even hesitate to buy one.
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Feb 12, 2008
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G.M.S.
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Registered: Jan 6, 2007
Location: Canada
Posts: 34
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Review Date: Jan 30, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $99.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Very Sharp, Fast. Excellent colours
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Cons:
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None at this price level
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This lens is excellent right out of the box, I seem to have gotten a hold of a copy that was built solid and properly, there is no loose parts or rattling. The glass used in this lens is way above par...dare I say...some of the quality of "L" series glass.
Tack Sharp.
For this price and picture quality everyone should have this lens.
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Jan 30, 2008
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Scott Berens
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Registered: Dec 28, 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 4
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Review Date: Jan 16, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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lightweight, large aperture, simple, low price.
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Cons:
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well, none really.
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A lot of people complain that this lens is poorly made or doesn't contain metal. While that may be the case I think it's best to rate based on the glass. And that's exactly what this little lens delivers.
High bang for the buck. My sister has absconded this lens to take pictures of her kids in low light while they're sleeping!
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Jan 16, 2008
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Aaron Fuchs
Offline
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Registered: Jan 12, 2008
Location: N/A
Posts: 2
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Review Date: Jan 12, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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IQ, size, f1.8
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Cons:
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it feels like a cheap replica from china
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IQ is very nice when you look at the low price. But you better not expect it to be built like a normal lens (actually, there is no metal at all).
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Jan 12, 2008
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Giorgos
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Registered: Jan 9, 2008
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Jan 9, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Price, sharpness, weight
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Cons:
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none for this price
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Nothing more to say actually. Buy this lens, you'll be amazed what an aperture of 1.8 can give you, and check out that price. It's amazing.
Probably one of the sharpest lenses I have ever used!
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Jan 9, 2008
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Zander Alberts
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Registered: Dec 24, 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 1731
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Review Date: Jan 8, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $70.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Cheap! Very sharp, even wide open, portable, small, decently fast focus
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Cons:
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Build quality, MF ring tiny
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For the price, this lens should be in every shooter's bag. The sharpness and overall image quality is excellent, and still good wide open. On a crop body, (I have a Rebel XT) this lens is great for portraits (80mm) as well as sports and general shooting. I have used mine mostly for shooting high school basketball, and it works like a dream. The f/1.8 coupled with 800 or 1600 ISO produces perfectly usable images. Portraits are sharp, every hair and detail stands out wonderfully.
Stop reading reviews and buy this now!
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Jan 8, 2008
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spargo
Offline
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Registered: Nov 28, 2005
Location: Australia
Posts: 19
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Review Date: Jan 6, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Value for money, lightweight, versatility
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Cons:
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Build-quality (though this is relative to price), focus speed is a tad slow and unreliable in very low light
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This is my first prime and I wish I'd got it the day I got my 350D. It makes you work for the composition of your photography rather than simply twist the zoom ring.
Every Canon DSLR owner should be made to buy this; or better still, make it the kit lens on the low/mid-level bodies rather than junky zoom kit lenses.
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Jan 6, 2008
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smjenkins
Offline
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Registered: Oct 21, 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 24
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Review Date: Jan 2, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $75.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Cheap, light, small, great sharpness stopped past 2.8. Useable sharpness wide open when you nail focus.
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Cons:
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Plastic construction.
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It's so hard to say anything bad about this lens at the price. Ever since I picked this up for my used rebel xt a few months back it's taught me so much about photography. I couldn't agree more with the folks who say you should get a cheap prime lens before using a zoom. Figuring out how to isolate things and people with focus is just so cool. This lens has produced way more shots I'm proud of than the other 4 I've got.
Yes its plastic and feels like a toy, but you only need to shoot with it a few time before you realize it's not a fisher price lens. Also, the price allows me to take it with my used XT anywhere and not worry too much about the camera.
My favorite 50mm pic so far:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=2146358182&context=set-72157602977892525&size=l
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Jan 2, 2008
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Denis Savard
Offline
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Registered: Dec 25, 2007
Location: Canada
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Dec 25, 2007
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Price, weight, size.
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Cons:
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None so far.
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I am amazed by the sharpness and the quality of light of this lens. Also, I rediscovered the subtleness of a lightweight and relatively small camera that you can bring almost anywhere. It is not the same with the 24-105 mm USM Canon lens I used to always have on my camera. Not having a zoom forces you to move and find better places for your compositions. I love this lens!
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Dec 25, 2007
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aladyforty
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Feb 3, 2006
Location: Australia
Posts: 1351
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Review Date: Dec 21, 2007
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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very sharp images and best bang for bucks, A great little lens to have in your kit
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Cons:
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hunts a little in low light
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Dec 21, 2007
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Percy C
Offline
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Registered: Dec 19, 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 3
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Review Date: Dec 19, 2007
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $74.95
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Tack sharp, Light
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Cons:
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None so far
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Despite all the criticism about this lens being soft at f 1.8-2.8, being a toy, being to flimsy or too noisy, I bought this lens anyway because there were more people satisfied with this lens than not..
All I can say is WOW !! I think I got lucky because mine is TACK !! sharp at 1.8 :D
Everyone talks about how noisy it is but it’s not bad at all, Yes it’s louder than the USM lenses but no one can hear the lens but you or if some one is within 2-3 feet of you.
The copy I have is very fast to focus and has no issues with low light focus at all, I don’t know if it’s because of my copy or if it’s because of my 40D.
I also wanted to ad that this lens is not flimsy, that was my main concern but when I tried one out and seen that it was solid and sharp I ended up buying it.
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Dec 19, 2007
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Reviews
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Views
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Date of last review
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344
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517957
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Apr 17, 2013
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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94% of reviewers
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$128.35
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Build Quality Rating
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Price Rating
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Overall Rating
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5.89
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9.55
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8.6
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