If you are looking for a lens that will produce high quality results at a lower cost than most Canon lenses, the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 standard lens is an excellent choice. Many photographers consider this the best value of any lens in the Canon lineup. For the price, it is very difficult to find a lens that delivers better image sharpness.
The 50mmf/1.8 is also the smallest and lightest lens in Canon’s lineup making it very portable and travel friendly. It is a great lens to have around as a backup or as an extra carry along camera bag lens that you can turn to easily for predictable high quality images. For a standard lens in the price range of the 50mm f/1.8, you get ideal color balance and contrast. Additionally, vignetting (light fall off) is very minimal with this lens.
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| Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens |
Vignetting is only noticeable through f/2.8 on full frame digital SLR bodies, and only slightly visible (and invisible to most untrained observers) when the aperture is at a wide open f/1.8 on a 1.6x field of view crop factor body. In general, this lens is an excellent choice if you seek professional looking sharpness, contrast and image quality at a very low price. It is also a great lens to learn photographic skills with, as a prime lens forces you to adapt to a single focal length—unleashing your creative potential.
In the rest of this review we will discuss the reasons to buy a 50mm lens, the specifications, the contents of the box, the autofocus and the optical performance. At the end of the article some sample photos will be provided so that you can judge the optical quality of this lens yourself. These are processed RAW files of a 450D using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.6.
Why do you need a 50mm lens?
Price
Firstly, they are cheap, the reviewed Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II can be bought for around $100. This is due to their simple optical formula. The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II features 6 elements in 5 groups, a very simple lens construction. Lenses with longer or shorter focal lengths are more complex to design. If we take the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM as an example, its optical formula consists of 9 elements in 7 groups. Lenses with shorter focal lengths, like the Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM, are also more complex, this lens has 10 elements in 9 groups. We can conclude that 50mm lenses are easy to design and need fewer elements then its shorter or longer siblings.
Field of view
The field of view of a 50mm is similar to what the human eye sees, it features a diagonal angle of view of 46°. Therefore, they are called `normal lenses’. On a 1.6x crop body, all bodies from Canon except the 5D and the 1D(s) series, the lens has an angle of view comparable with an 80mm lens on a full-frame or film body. This is a very practical focal length for portraits and candid shots.
Lowlight capability
There is no other lens at this price point that is capable of shooting in lowlight like the 50mm f1.8 II can. If you compare it to your standard kit lens, the Canon EF-S 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 IS, at the same focal length, the f/1.8 aperture allows 31/3 stops more light to fall onto the sensor in comparison with the f/5.6 aperture of the kit lens. This allows you to freeze action without having to crank up your ISO.
If for example you are shooting at a concert with your kit lens and the right exposure is iso 1600, f/5.6, 1/30s. The f/1.8 aperture allows you to shoot at iso 1600, f/1.8 and 1/320s. This is a huge improvement and you will be able to freeze action. You can also drop your iso and get iso 400 f/1.8 and 1/80s. This still allows you to reduce movement and you can drop your iso to acceptable noise levels.
Blurring the Background
A 50mm f/1.8 is capable of blurring the background a lot better than a standard kit lens like the Canon EF-S 18-55IS which is usually sold as a kit with most entry level bodies. You can get beautiful portraits with blurry backgrounds so that the focus is on the subject and the background isn’t disturbing.
Source : http://www.digitalphotographygear.com
