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CyranoB
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Registered: Nov 8, 2009
Location: France
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Nov 8, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $150.00
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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Price.
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Cons:
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Build quality. AF.
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Let's face it for this price you won't get a better portrait lens. It's a must have for any photography starters on a budget. It'll allow you to take pictures you just cannot take with your standard kit or even most zoom lenses.
Got it for a year, once I got more serious about my new hobby I updated it for the 1.4 model, sold it for the price I bought it.
It's very cheaply built, doesn't always focus correctly, and manual focus is more or less useless, so anybody who's got some extra hundreds in his pocket is better of going directly for the 1.4 version directly. But still a nice starter lens to fall in love for prime lenses.
Some examples:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eddie_pick/3578779708/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eddie_pick/2778382587/
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 Nov 8, 2009
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jprs
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Registered: Aug 7, 2009
Location: Thailand
Posts: 5
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Review Date: Sep 20, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Stunning image quality, brightness, portability
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Cons:
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cheap build, noisy aufo-focus
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I recently purchased a DSLR: Canon 1D Mark 3 which put me into the 'poor-house'... could only afford a cheap beginner lens to get started as I was broke.
Anyhow, buying this lens I wasn't really expecting much but when married to my Canon body I was absolutely amazed with the stunning picture quality.... the sharpness. Bold colors.
Bokeh isn't too bad either but when taking pictures in high contrast areas you'll see that the background appears to be a bit 'choppy'.
I haven't noticed any chromatic aberration in my many thousands of snapshots even in high contrast environments. The Auto-Focus is not always spot on and my keeper rate i'd say is about 85%.
Of course the build quality isn't great. It rattles and feels very cheap. Makes you wonder if this was manufacturerd on a "Toys-R-Us'' assembly line but what does one expect for this price ?
If i accidentally dropped this lens and was to become unusable, i would certainly go out and buy another one.
All in all, for the price I'm very satisfied with the quality of the pictures. Sharpness is most important to me, brightiness and portability. This lens rewards in all those categories.
I'm very pleased with this lens.
Phil
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Sep 20, 2009
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nickjohnson
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Registered: Sep 15, 2009
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Sep 19, 2009
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Recommend? no |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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price / performance fantastic, cheep
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Cons:
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a little too cheap – needs better build.
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Common to all reports
This is my attempt to give something back to the forum members who have provided this wonderful resource. I found much here that helped with my lens selection. So over the last 1 to 2 years here is what I used – all on a pair of 5D bodies. (My comments will be subjective and personal. I will try to avoid saying anything that cannot be read in the spec sheets).
17-40 L
24-105 L IS
70-200 f4 L IS
180 L Macro
400 f5.6 L
50 f1.8 mkII
Sigma 50 f2.8 Macro EX
50 f1.8 mkII
Comment
I got this because I wanted a light, fixed FL walk around lens. The lens delivered IQ higher than all reasonable expectation. But …. I stupidly put a lens hood on it. DO NOT make the same mistake. When the inevitable knock happened the hood exerted more leverage than the flimsy plastic construction could stand. I tore the front off the lens.
I bought cheep and I had to buy twice to replace. The replacement is a Sigma 50 f2.8 Macro EX
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Sep 19, 2009
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ersatz
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Registered: Aug 24, 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 12
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Review Date: Aug 24, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Cheap, lightweight, wide aperture, did I mention cheap?
Acceptable sharpness, bokeh, contrast.
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Cons:
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Cheap build quality, poor AF speed and accuracy
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Many tout this as the nifty fifty or the fantastic plastic. I've been able to purchase this lens new several times for $75 and for the price I am willing to forgive some of its flaws.
It's an inexpensive and good introduction into primes and wide aperture lenses. And the 50mm focal length is fairly versatile too.
Wide open the lens is quite soft. Center sharpness is acceptable at 2.8 and quite useable at f/4. I don't find corner sharpness acceptable until at f/8 even on a crop, but especially on a FF body.
Now, let's talk AF, it's terrible. It's slow and hunts in low light. And I find its accuracy to be horrible as well, maybe only one quarter of the shots are in focus. Sometimes it will slightly back focus or sometimes front focus but half the time it just gives up entirely and what the AF was trying to focus on or if it just decided to give up completely. Unfortunately, the manual focus ring is not FTM focus and is small an located at the very front of the lens. It's quite difficult to use reliably, unlike it's mkI predecessor.
The build quality leaves much ot be desired. It's cheap thin plastic nad if you drop the lens it will likely break. On the plus side I've found the AF motor to be more durable than its 50mm 1.4 counterpart. But that's due to the inherent flaw in design of the USM AF on the 1.4 lens.
Bokeh is acceptable, especially wide open. But closed down and you'll notice the aperture blades as they produce a pentagon effect.
Contrast and color reproduction seem muted or washed out. Colors aren't nearly as vivid as the 1.4, again likely due to cheaper elements.
So, why did I rate this lens so high given all it's flaws. Well, cost is a considerable reason and the pictures can still be quite useable, well the keepers that happen to be in focus, anyways.
But I feel that it's flaws can also discourage some and turn them off to low aperture or prime lenses, which would be a shame. And should you really like low aperture primes you'll certainly want to upgrade from this lens. Like I said, a cheap foray but also a frustrating one at times.
I think in the long run you are better off going with the Canon 50mm 1.4 right off the bat. It's a better lens in many regards though again not without its flaws. I've routinely found them used or refurb for $250USD, and while it's certainly a vast price difference at least in terms of percentages, I think it's quite worth it.
In retrospect I really should reconsider my ratings as it probably should be much lower. But again it was cheap and let me get my feet wet in primes and low apertures. And the keepers were good enough and furthered my interest hence the purchase of better lenses. That, and I'm not really sure what to expect from a $75, or now $100 lens. For the price it probably is a great value, though I place a greater importance on metrics such as IQ, AF speed and accuracy, etc. Price being only a secondary factor, not that I'm fabulously wealthy and can afford nothing but L-glass.
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Aug 24, 2009
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electrolyte
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Registered: Jul 18, 2009
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Jul 18, 2009
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Recommend? no |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 5
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Pros:
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Cheap, sharp at f/2.2 but f/1.8 is still usable, great in low light, lightweight
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Cons:
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Very poor build quality, lens takes from 5-18 months to fail
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I have owned 5 of these lenses in the last 3.5 years. The lenses are cheap, the IQ can be excellent but the build quality is awful and they don't last long.
The 1st one was second hand and lasted 18 months before the focus mechanism stopped working. But the lens was 10 years old so I wasn't so upset especially as the image quality was so good and it hadn't cost me any money to buy as I had inherited it from my brother. The 2nd one I bought from new also had excellent image quality and this one lasted just over 12 months before the focus mechanism stopped working.
I then bought a new one and this one front-focussed badly so I sent it back and got a new one which focussed as it should. This one lasted 5 months before the inner section of the lens came part from the outer casing while I was changing the lens. My on-line retailer blamed me for this and refused to repair or replace lens so I cut my losses and bought a Canon 50mm f/1.4.
So my message is buyer beware. If you buy one, yes, the lens is cheap and it could take excellent images but expect it to break pretty soon due to the poor build quality.
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Jul 18, 2009
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Mr.Konstantin
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Registered: May 14, 2009
Location: Canada
Posts: 70
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Review Date: Jun 18, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $130.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Cheap, Light, Fairly Fast Focus, Good results @ f1.8
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Cons:
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None really
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If you just bought dSLR and looking for your first lens GO and BUY this lens right now you wont regret it. I have learned so much about photography by using this lens over my kit (Canon 18-55mm IS) lens. Don't be disappointed by this lens until you know how to use it and first rule is 1/focal length is what your shutter speed should be or else you will get blurry pictures due to hand shake but you already knew this right.
Anyways the IQ is great and tack sharp at f5.6. I hope you will enjoy this lens as much as I do.
Cheers and happy nifty-fiftying!
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Jun 18, 2009
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Fr3d
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Registered: Nov 28, 2008
Location: Germany
Posts: 13
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Review Date: Apr 30, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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cheap, sharp, lightweight, needs no hood, quick focus
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Cons:
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for the price none
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Lacking a 50mm prime I initialy wanted to buy the new Sigma 50mm/1.4 EX HSM which has been discussed here in the forums. But after checking out the Canon 50mm/1.8 II I quickly changed my mind. Side by side the Sigma wasn't worth the 300 EUR premium. It was better build but not sharper. The Canon performs very good on the 5D II from f1.8 (ok) to f2 (already sharp) onward to f5.6 (razor sharp). A colleague of mine has the lens too but it is noticeably softer than mine. I would recommend this lens to anyone who wants a light/cheap/chap fifty for fullframe ... if you can test before you buy.
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Apr 30, 2009
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artsnoob
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Registered: Apr 25, 2009
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Apr 25, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $100.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Cheap, produces really nice pictures, nice bokeh.
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Cons:
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Build quality (plastic)
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I've bought this lens about 2 years ago, and i've taken thousands of pictures with it. This lens is so cheap, if you're just starting taking pictures and you want to check if primes are for you, you just have to buy this lens.
I have enjoyed this lens a lot untill it just fell apart a couple of days ago.
It's a plastic lens so you know that you can't use this lens forever so I've decided not to buy another one but instead go for the sigma 50mm 1.4.
So if you want a good, cheap prime, check it out, but if you want something durable and well built, DON'T buy this lens.
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Apr 25, 2009
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hfasninvsn
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Registered: Jan 5, 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Mar 18, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $85.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Good price, sharp, pretty fast AutoFocus, lightweight, compact.
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Cons:
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Plastic
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This was the first lens that I bought for my camera (300D, a used body, so it didn't come with a kit lens) and was very satisfied with it. The second lens I got, a Tamron 17-35mm f/2.8-4, though good, really made me appreciate some of the positive aspects of the 50mm f/1.8 II. The AF on the 50 is considerably faster and quieter than the Tamron (I know, it's comparing apples to oranges, but they're the only two lenses I own).
I did, however, get a chance to use a 50m f/1.4, and I noticed it focused faster, smoother, and the overall build quality just felt better. However, I don't currently feel that the improvements of the f/1.4 justify the price increase over the f/1.8, given what I'm doing with it.
As far as I'm concerned, you can't really beat the price of this lens, considering what you get for it.
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Mar 18, 2009
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Gary Lee 44
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Registered: Jan 1, 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 45
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Review Date: Jan 30, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $74.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Sharp and cheap
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Cons:
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Nothin g for the price I paid!
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I know all the arguments about this lens. It is plastic, it's focus is to slow, or the auto focus hunts, it has a plastic mount ond so on. But so what. The lens is SHARP and has and f 1.8 so how can anyone complain about this lens. I know if you drop it , it is going to break. But shouldn't you be careful not to drop any of your equipment. The best thing is, if you do drop it you can buy another for $74. It is a great lens for the price. BUY ONE!
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Jan 30, 2009
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gberger
Online
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Registered: Apr 29, 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 203
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Review Date: Jan 27, 2009
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Recommend? no |
Price paid: $50.00
| Rating: 6
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Pros:
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Cheap, light
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Cons:
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Inconsistent focus accuracy, a little soft on the far right (mine at least)
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I bought this lens used from local Craigslist, planning to pass it on to a friend who is trying to put together a kit on the cheap. I've read over and over again what a bargain it is for the money and thought it would be a good starting point for him.
Pro:
- When this lens focuses properly, it is very sharp indeed. Just a little softness on the far right of the image, but not too bad and inconsequential if taking shots of your kids.
- Super light
Cons:
- Flimsy build (see 'super light')
- Major inconsistent focus problem. Using center spot, the camera will confirm focus while the lens is front or back focused. This happens on about 1/2 the shots. Not an issue with my other lenses.
Bottom line: Maybe it's just this example, but I would recommend staying away from this lens. $90 may seem like a bargain, but missing shots because of poor focusing is not worth it.
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Jan 27, 2009
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siberslug
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Registered: Jan 24, 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 2
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Review Date: Jan 25, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $89.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Cheap, Light, very sharp starting at ƒ2.2, does not have USM but it's has a very fast and accurate Af on a 50D body, IQ
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Cons:
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Focus ring is to small
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Very fast and accurate focusing on my 50D, it hunts sometimes on my 40D but the AF is still fast most of the time.
AF is not as Noisy as some people are claiming, yeah sure we can hear it but some of the people act as if you would be disturbing an entire wedding if you were to use it and that defiantly not the case. In a small quiet room yeah someone else that's near by will hear it but not at any small event or gathering.
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Jan 25, 2009
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