Canon EF 50 mm 1.8 STM Lens
Canon EF 50 mm 1.8 STM Lens
Artistic and impactful photography
The wide f/1.8 aperture of the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM gives you the ability to bring your subject into sharp focus and blur the background. Photographers refer to this as a ‘narrow depth of field’ and makes your subject stand out which is great for portraits, as people become the clear focus of your shot.
Let more light in
The wide f/1.8 aperture lets in more than 8x the amount of light compared to the standard zoom lens that is provided with your EOS*. This results in sharper images with less motion blur and reduced need to use flash in dimly lit conditions so you can easily capture the atmosphere of a low light environment.
For portraits and everyday use
The 50mm focal length allows you to fill the frame with your subject from a comfortable distance making it a great lens for portraits. A similar perspective to the human eye and its compact size make the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM a great everyday lens to always carry with your EOS camera.
Sharp focus for photos and videos
The near-silent STM (Stepping Motor) technology focuses extremely quickly when shooting photos, so you can react suddenly to capture fleeting moments. Creating high quality movies is easier with STM as it delivers steady and quiet continuous focusing, so your movies are smooth, and soundtracks only capture the surrounding sounds and not the noise of a focusing motor.
| Weight: | 160 Grams |
| Size: | 50 mm |
| Dimensions: | 6.9 x 3.9 x 3.9 centimetres |
| Brand: | Canon |
| Model: | 0570C005AA |
| Part: | 0570C005AA |
| Colour: | Black |
| Batteries Included: | 1 Lithium Ion batteries required. |
| Dimensions: | 6.9 x 3.9 x 3.9 centimetres |
| Origin: | Malaysia |
| Size: | 50 mm |
I’ve been planning on buying this lens for months but couldn’t resist any longer. Used 15 amazon voucher (from downloading amazon photos) with the prime day deal got it gor 60 couldn’t buy it in like new from mpb second hand at that price
There is little I can add to other reviews from far senior photographers. The nifty fifty is a smashing little lens. Doesn’t have image stabalisation in the lens so video work better on a gimbal unless you have a steady hand. Is great in lowlight and superb as a portrait lens with some lovely bokeh. Just go and buy it today I am glad I did.
Amazing detail & bokeh, arrived a day early. Was worried about the reviews based on a aps crop sensor camera but I see no issues with this. Little tight mounting the lens but fits
I’ve always been a zoom lover & never thought I’d buy a prime lens, but the thought of having such a wide aperture was getting to me! It was weird getting used to it, I still am a bit but overall it’s an absolute game changer. The quality of the pictures it produces are amazing and using a wider aperture gives great results and helps in low light.
It’s better for close up portraits as it can struggle picking up a full body person with the auto focus but it is great for portraits still. The manual focus has taken some getting used to as it goes all the way round & can be hard to tell when in focus compared to my zoom lenses which stops to the left and the right. But it’s a matter of getting better at it.
*The photos I’ve shared here are edited in basic terms of shadows/highlights etc as I shoot in RAW format but unedited they are still good 🙂
Recommend this lens, now want more prime lenses! dam
I love it
I bought this lense to use on my Canon M50 camera with an adapter and it works very well . I love it .
Also the delivery was very fast . Thank you
A little gem of a lens for a big camera – for those moments when you don’t want the weight or size or perhaps want to shoot more discreetly eg in a street photography context. I pair it with my Canon 5D MKIV. It barely adds any front weight to the camera so it’s perfect for shooting from the hip. Excellent image quality and fast auto focus.
The focal length is quite rare – fortunately o already have Sigma’s (stunningly sharp) big and heavy 40mm art lens so I’m used to the frame somewhat. Which is whey I went for this over a 35mm for street/discreet photography.
Decent value too.
This is the third incarnation of this lens. Changes include the use of an STM motor and a switch to a metal mount.
For the price, this lens is an absolute bargain. If you are using a crop sensor camera, you get a focal length near that of a classic portrait lens.
Used this ‘thrifty-fifty’ with a Canon 700D and it takes great shots for portraits and can be used for other applications if you use extension tubes for macro photography. It does NOT have image stabilisation, so keep that in mind if your camera doesn’t have in-built Image Stabilisation (IS). The Canon 50mm f1.4 is much more expensive but takes even greater shots. The Yongnuo 50mm f1.8 is less than half the price of this one and takes shots that are almost comparable if you are looking for a cheaper but decent option 🙂
Always wanted to get one of these lenses for capturing the classic full focus subject with blurred background. Used it for some festival photography with great results both as the above and also for more general shots and applying a crop in the edit. This was sometimes a little tricky getting the right focus spot and had to ditch a few pictures where the focus was on something other than the subject typically microphones or guitars instead of faces.
I have been using this little lens on and off for a year as the main lens on my EOS 6D (mk II) and the image quality is superb. Super lightweight and I have been impressed by the auto focus speed. The only downside I have found is that it is not too robust, the body is scratched easily as it’s plastic, but when it gets too bad or breaks I will just buy another one. For the price, you would struggle to find anything better.
I bought his lens for my other half for her birthday. She had been borrowing my 50mm f/1.2 L for a long time and thought it was finally time to get her one. I gave this a test out when it first arrived and it was very crisp and fast focusing! I was very suprised how they had much improved this over the original fantastic plastic 50!
I’m using the lens on a cropped sensor, and it still in very sharp. It focuses fast, too. If I had to complain about something, it’d be the electronic focus ring. It doesn’t feel very tactile, and feels a bit floaty. But I don’t think you would use a lot of manual focus with 50mm STM; it doesn’t really do macro, and otherwise the AF is quite precise, even on my older firmware and hardware.
Probably the first prime you should buy. Even more, if you are shopping for higher-end gear, let’s say you are looking at an L-series lens or Sigma Art, I would probably keep this as my 50mm prime and spend the money on a different focal length. It’s not that it’s better than some Sigma Art or Zeiss, all I’m saying is that it holds its own very well.
I bought this lens specifically for Portraits and found that this lens more than delivers on the brief. Picture quality is excellent with a the wide aperture the the 50mm provides as well as allowing you to be able to take pictures in low light. Yes the STM focusing is louder than I expected but that only really matters if you are a professional photographer or want to use the lens for video, which I don’t.
My starting point with my EOS500d is nice pics of the kids and the odd arty shot but I’m not a camera buff and am certainly not an expert.
The best advice I ever got from a friend who is great with lots of it was to use AV or aperture priority mode. Such amazing advice and this lens really impresses with that. AV mode allows you to use the incredible depth of field capability for some lovely blurring shots and compared to my kit lens I have the images I’ve taken impress me compared to my
Usual fare.
Overall really impressed by the sharpness and image quality, how that f1.8 allows such shallow depth of field, and how little I miss zooming.
Really enjoying taking portraits too. So much fun when you have to jump around a bit more and play.
Seriously though. This lens is amazing the quality of the photos that you can get with this lens is ridiculous for the price. It’s comparable to the 50mm f/1.2 L USM lens which costs around 10 times the price (1339) alright the pricier one is weather sealed and has a bit smoother bokeh but besides that this lens is very comparable. Highly recommended for any Canon camera (needs the EF-EOS M adapter to be used on Canons Mirrorless Cameras like the M50)
Perfect product for this price. I’v got beter one but not for 100. I used with Hoya 49mm filter and lens hood. Good quality, metal lens mount. Extremely light weight, very small size and impressive image sharpness from F2.5 (not useful from F1.8). Quick AF, and quiet. Very good for quality at ASP-C, average at FF
Perfect fixed lens with great speed and ideal in low light conditions.
Auto focus mode works well and manual adjustment takes a little to get used to, but is excellent for creative, out of focus shots due to it’s fine tuning.
It’s made a lot of positive impacts on my photography as it is always a pleasure to work with a good lens. This is my 3rd canon lens and is certainly the best in terms of quality and reliability.
Because of it’s ability to draw in the light so well, I find that I’m often having to compensate by removing light by either tightening the aperture or increasing the shutter speed to get the right exposure.
I would highly recommend this product.
Wonderful Canon lens, so lightweight yet very well made its a pleasure to use, the stunning results belie its very reasonable price, being 82 I have had to cut down on the amount weight I can carry, so despite having a wide range of more expensive glass, its already become my favourite walkabout lens not only for portraiture but also some limited closeup and landscape work
This is a fantastic piece of kit for the price. This is my second 50mm lens, the first gave up on my after about 4 years. Very pleased to see that the fitting is now metal as opposed to plastic as my first. I use this for wedding photography and is just the job for low light close up stuff.
I’ve wanted this lens for ages as I love the smooth edges of subjects and totally blurred background.
I have already taken lots of photos close up (see attached of my celebratory beer!) but I have found that this lens is equally beautiful when used on long shots.
For the price you can’t go wrong and it’s given my old 450d a new life (having existing for 10 years on just the kit lens).
I waited a long time to buy this and I am so glad I did. Don’t wait. If you want it, get it!!
Having used other makes of lenses, said to be compatible with my Canon 760D SLR camera, I got absolutely fed up to the teeth with the grunting of the lenses’ hunting for focus … but never finding it … and did you know that some lenses will actually cause Canon cameras to ‘blink’ when videoing. I know not the cause of this, but I have such a lens.
This Canon lens was fitted and the first thing I noticed was the silence. You touch the shutter release button and within an extremely short time, instantly, in fact, razor sharp focus is achieved … no noise, no hunting, no messing around, just pin sharp unerring focus. With quite affordable lenses of this quality and performance, there is little need to go elsewhere. Its total compatibility is instantly noticed, and when you see what this lens does with bringing light to a focal point, you won’t think twice about using anything else for portraits. A truly remarkable optic giving value for money. It is indeed a blend of science and perfection.
Great fun, great price, great images.
Came a lot sooner than expected, coming form Hong Kong i had my reservations as the seller had no ratings but happy to say delivered in perfect condition and ahead of schedule. As for the lens itself, i really like it. Creates a nice effect where everything not in focus is really soft. Attached an example where I’ve focused on one flower. Let’s in a shed load of light, cant wait to use this in the woods and on portraits, really crisp image.
No wonder this is product of the year (or whatever) I open the box to see excellent packaging and usual instructions Thrown away, lens attached, into the garden taking photos after five minutes of delivery. As a plastic lens it’s amazingly light and it surprised me. Loved it immediately. Checking photos on photoshop I was really surprised at the quality and noticed NO FALLOFF at the corners or centre. Cheap enough to be useful to all camera users if you want excellent Bokah.
For the price you pay, it feels as if you’re getting a lot more than 100 of lens. From the moment I put it on to my 750d, I instantly felt as if the photos I was taking seemed more ‘professional’ (that’s probably thanks to the bokeh you can create). It’s simple to use and a tonne of fun to learn on.
Whether you’re looking to take pictures of your cat or get paid to take photos of someone else, you can have faith that this lens won’t disappoint.
I can only agree with the majority of other reviewers. It is a very sharp lens indeed. and I have had – or at least the lens has had, some amazing results during the week I have owned it.
When I first started in photography with my Pentax Spotmatic many years ago, it came with a 50 mm lens, as I think all cameras did back then. And now I am realising what a brilliant focal length lens it really is in this day and age.
Product received exactly as mentioned, in 3 days, even thought we live outside the UK. The lens is giving the desired effect we wanted for shooting videos, sharp focus on the people talking with nice blurry effect on the objects scenes in the background. The autofocus is fantastic, if you are going to have a slight movement in your videos, it detects where you are and refocuses. Also the pictures are bright and rich in colour even when shooting under very low light conditions.
If you are using a crop sensor DSLR camera for video recording, you will have to place the camera a bit far away, and you will need to use an external mic/shotgun mic in order to have a good voice quality.
Perhaps upgrading isnt worth it if you already own the previous version, however the 50mm IS STM is definitely a step up in terms of build quality with a new metal mount. In addition the new lens has Canon’s stepping motor, meaning that whilst it isnt absolutely silent it is vastly quieter then the previous 50mm lens. As for the Yongnuo, don’t go there… seen too many with focussing issues and a tendency to fall apart.
I use this lens on a crop sensor – the 7d mkii, so technically not a 50mm however I don’t care for technicalities much – compared with my other lenses it is still 50mm to me. This is now the widest aperture I own after deciding this performed as well as Canon’s 50mm f1.4 (cant afford to try the f1.2 version so can’t make this comparison).
This lens is sharp enough all the way to f8, with a slight drop off going up to f16. I’ll only really use it wide open when shooting urban scenes during low light situations as the DoF is pretty limited when used close up. My camera handles noise pretty well up to iso 6400 and I certainly don’t have any problems shooting with this lens at that iso.
Everyone should own a nifty fifty (or plastic fantastic) and I am happy to recommend this lens for those undecided – I’d also consider upgrading if I owned the previous version, so Buy it – it’s a no brainer really.
HIGHLY RECCOMENDED
Strengths:
Great prime lense to have
STM is a great addition and can help a lot with filming or on the go
Light edition to your kit
Cheap and valuable.
Great for amateurs to trial new lenses
Weaknesses:
STM makes a loud noise when adjusting focus and because of this recording audio becomes very hard.
After having the old version of this, and then the 50mm f/1.4 i was weary about getting this new lens. Ive never had good results from the more costly f/1.4 version, at least not wide open, so i hardly used it. I sol dit a few years ago and haven’t really missed it.
As this new lens was so cheap and i was bored i gave it a shot. What a surprise. This has instantly become my favourite lens on my Canon 5Dmkiii, at least for now.
STM is slower than the more normal USM focusing method, and it can’t keep up with AI Servo very well, but to my eyes its much sharper wide open than my old f/1.4 every was, and that means its usable across the full range of F stops.
On my 80D its also working well, although i prefer the 35mm f/2 IS or 24 f/2.8 on that.
I spent a lot of money in 2016 on camera gear, but this lens has to be the best thing i got.
Overall a very good quality lens for its budget price having masses of versatility.
I read the reviews, I read the articles that said everyone should have a nifty fifty, I kept looking and then I didn’t buy. What an idiot!!!!! This is a cracking little lens and I love it. My only regret is that I should have you bought it ages ago. This is the lens with the metal mount, it does feel a little bit plasticly but nothing to write home about, its solid enough once its on the camera and the image quality is great., not mention the camera is small with it on.
I also bought a little lens hood to go with it and its a great item that fits on nice a solid and also locks in reverse for going into your bag Maxsimafoto – Lens hood for Canon EF 50 mm 1.8 STM Lens as ES-68
For the price this is a must-have lens for portrait photography. I’ve been doing more and more portrait photography lately, and the kit lens that came with my 1000d just wasn’t cutting it. After some research, and a recommendation from a family member, I got this lens. I wasn’t expecting much based on the price, but I can honestly say it’s one of the best camera accessories that I’ve bought. Image quality is spot on, and the build quality can’t be faulted. I’d recommend this to casual and semi-pro photographers alike.
You can ask any photographer to list their favourite lens’ and I bet that everyone of them says the 50mm (nifty fifty). The Canon EF 50mm F1.8 II is one of the cheapest lens’ out there but also one of the best lens’s there is to buy! The overall build quality of the lens doesn’t feel too premium as it’s made from plastic but for the price you’re paying you expect that. However the lens and what it can do is overwhelming! F/1.8 means you can get such a shallow depth of field which makes for amazing portraits and also helps astonishing when shooting in dark places due to more light being able to reach the sensor. It’s a fixed/prime lens which means you can’t zoom which can sometimes be a problem however it’s an all around good lens that I tend to keep on my camera 9/10 times. Overall I’d recommend this lens to any photographer whether you be a beginner or expert.
Very happy with my purchase. Quality is great, the lens is light and compact. I also own a 17-35mm and a 70-200 “L”, but sometimes I just take this one when I cannot afford the extra weight and volume. I took this one alone to a wedding as a guest and it was great. I could take great quality photos of my friends without having to drag around a photography bag.
For indoor video the 10-18mm Canon STM might be a better starter.
Good: I have taken some beautiful photos with this lens. I love using the 1.8a to get portraits with great bokeh(blurred background).
Its small and light to carry around, one of my best lenses.
Bad: noisy. I was taking photos at a wedding and it was quiet in the hall,and all you could hear was my lens going in and out of focus.
not the sharpest photos, but this is a 80-90 lens, so for what photos you do get, its worth it.
If you haven’t got the big budget like i don’t, this is one lens you need in your bag.
buy it.
If you haven’t got a nifty fifty in your lens collection you are missing out. I shoot video and stills with mine and love the depth of field bokeh blur you can achieve with the aperture at 1.8. Great price, and will work with both full frame and crop sensor canons. On a crop sensor the 50 is more zoomed in than you’d expect because of the crop factor so I have ordered a 24mm prime for more wide-angled shots. Hands down the best lens I have bought. Stop reading this and just buy one. You won’t regret it.
Seller, very reliable.
I have been using this lens since i had it delivered on Friday 24th June.
Stunning pictures, undoubtedly.
My first prime lens, and indeed, it does take a while to get used to not zooming in and out. But that is a very positive thing.
I have also used it for movie recording. The STM is stunning. Quiet and crisp.
There have been a few reviewers commenting on how difficult it is to get focus (in MF mode). The best thing to do is follow the advice provided in the instructions.
Basically, I love this lens.
I have bought another prime lens (my unabated love for PRIMES!).
This 50mm is still ever so practical for me. Detach it from the camera body and you can easily slip it into your jacket pocket (AND PLEASE cover the contacts first).
Over all its a grest lens for portraits nice Shap images and bokah and for the price you can’t really moan and I don’t even have prime and still got it next day hope this is of some use to you all.
I needed a lens that I could do product shots with inside, particularly because the weather in this country is appalling and we rarely get enough sun to take a shot outside. I didn’t want to have to purchase an expensive lighting rig and was struggling to control other light options i’d tried. This lens makes life a whole lot easier for this purpose. I have yet to try it for general portrait photography, but i’m certain it will help with that as well. If I were a more serious photographer I would possibly purchase something more expensive, but for an amateur this is great.
I have canon 5d mii and use canon 24-70 lense, which is a very good zoom, the owners will understand me. But after purchasing Canon 50 1.8 I don’t use my zoom! I take this small fix everywhere with me! For landscapes, portraites. Gives very detailed picture and depth when it’s necessary!
Mine is very sharp from f 2.5, just sharp at 1.8 but not a problem.
Very lightweight (can’t compare with 24-70, of course!!!), bokeh is nicer than 50 mm 1.8 II.
I love it!
Not posting photos of any portraits but here are couple of the snapshots from the woods, focus on the biggest tree.
This was my first non kit lens and I am really impressed. This is a lovely lens and I have used it everyday for the last month or so. I have used it for street photography and for portraits and once I got used to having to move myself about more I found it has taken me to a new level. Lovely to get 1.8 at such a reasonable price. The motor is not loud. Nifty fifty indeed.
I have used this lens 3 or 4 times now and am very impressed with its quality. I have owned older 50mm 1.8 Canon lenses that have felt quite cheap fragile; however, this has not been the case with this lens. It is very sturdy and extremely lightweight. So far it has produced very good quality shots and I would highly recommend this product to anyone looking for a budget 50mm. I’d also recommend buying a good lens hood to go along with this.
This lens will take up next to no space in your bag. It is light, simple, and optically far better than its diminutive size might l lead you to expect.The 40mm focal length is close to the eye’s natural view of about 43mm equivalent, so your shots should have a nice “human” proportion to them.
Colour rendition and sharpness are good. Autofocus is accurate and pretty quick, although the whine of the STM motor is audible – I don’t shoot video so I have no idea whether this is picked up by built-in microphones, but I’d assume if you are doing video work you’ll have invested in a proper external mic anyway. Manual focus is smooth and easy, although until you get used to it you find yourself reaching for a focus ring well beyond the end of this little lens. Note that, like all STM lenses, manual focus only works when the camera is powered on.
I use full frame digital and 35mm film SLRs, for which this lens is a good fit. Although it will fit an APS-C sized SLR such as the 700D or 70D, I would suggest users of such cameras, assuming they aren’t also using full frame or 35mm film, ought to ask themselves if they should buy it – the EF-S 24mm is possibly a better fit. On APS-C cameras, the 35mm equivalent focal length of this 40mm lens is 64mm, whereas the EF-S 24mm will give 38mm and is the APS-C equivalent of this lens.
Background blur, the hackneyed to the point of cliche bokeh effect, is not going to be spectacular with an f/2.8 aperture, but it will nevertheless prove useful enough to minimise distracting backgrounds. If you insist on bokeh, go for the faster 50mm.
I use a Canon 750D & I got this because alot of websites said this was the most affordable Prime Lens and i wanted to take my photography more seriously so i went ahead & bought it. I very happy with it.
PROS
It has better low light performance than the kit lens – Less need to raise the ISO- so clearer images. Small,Light and easy to walk around with. Has a metal mount (which means they’ve put thought into the lens ). Its actually 80mm (when its on a apcs camera) which is good for portrait photography since photographers use 85mm or so iv heard.
CONS
really noisey in continuous auto focus. Probably not good for video.
I would recommend this if 1) you only have 100 to spend on a lens 2) want better low light photos 3) don’t mind the noise it makes in Ai Servo mode
Awesome little lens! Got this based on reviews and the fact that it’s meant to handle low lit environments well..I feel like I only just scratched the surface with it and am absolutely blown away by the amount of light it lets in.. you have to get used to working with a 50mm fixed lens, so be ready to move around and further away from the subject (which is great if like me you don’t really like being up in people’s faces). Wish I had bought this ages ago!!
Great lens for walking around. Really makes you think about composition And zooming with your feet. A must have lens for any canon owner. A great value for money. Negatives doesn’t come with lens hood although non canon hood can be found on Amazon for a few quid. Also as its stm motor the focus ring doesn’t physically move the barrel and so you need to remember bring it back into the body before putting camera unless you have a lens hood.
Every dslr owner should buy this, it really is fantastic optically (especially from f4 onwards) and provides a glimpse of the kind of optical quality/low light performance that you get from the more expensive primes.
I owned the mkii version of this lens and used it on both crop frame (450d) and full frame (5d, 5d mkii) bodies and it lasted more than 6 years before my son dropped it and it fell apart. This STM version seems to be better built (although still made from relatively cheap plastic) and is pretty much the same optically except for the smooth improvement in bokeh. Definitely not worth upgrading if you already own the previous iteration, especially as the STM focus is definitely not silent and is still sluggish. It’s also worth noting that the minimum focus distance has also been improved, not that you’d be using this for macro work!!
It is a wonderful entry into the world of primes. 50mm is a standard focal length on full frame bodies so a great walk around lens (especially as it’s so light). Slightly less versatile on a crop frame camera but excellent for portraits.
Great to see Canon doing something right! Despite falling behind in terms of camera tech they’re still bringing out fantastic glass at all price ranges!!
If you’ve never owned a prime lens before then order this now and annoy your friends with wide aperture shots of your pets/kids tomorrow!! (I’ve been doing it for years). You could also snap up one of the older mkii versions cheap as camera retailers clear their stock!!
Great price for a newly designed lens at 97. I have only had it a few days, but I tried it out on my grand children, I found it to be quiet and fast rendering the out of focus area’s beautifully. I bought this new one with the stepping motor and a metal mount, because I was put off buying the previous MK11 with its build quality been akin to a toy. The build quality of this one is really quite good. You really can’t go wrong with this new one at the price, so if your thinking about it, just click buy.
This little lens is one of the most discrete lenses you can put on your DSLR. It is tiny. When you put the lens cap and back cover on the lens it doubles in length. Focussing is silent and fast using Canon’s new stepper motor (STM) technology, this makes it particularly useful for video work (although I mainly shoot stills).
My favourite use of this lens has been for street photography. This little lens is very discrete and does not draw attention which is useful if you want to capture natural activity and expressions. The focal length works well for me whenI’m in town, although you do have to get fairly close to your subject if you want them to fill the frame. The main joy of prime lenses is the beautiful sharp images they produce, and this lens is no exception. They also force you to really think about composition, making good use of your legs to capture your subject in the frame perfectly.
In summary, this lens is a no-brainer purchase. It is well priced and gives lovely images. It is small enough to fit in anybody’s kit bag (or even your pocket!). If you don’t own any prime lenses and are still using your kit lens you should certainly consider the 50mm f/1.8 (or f/1.4 if your budget is bigger) before this lens as you can achieve much shallower depths of field with that wider aperture and lovely bokeh/background blur, but after that this is the second prime I would buy.
Really please with….
Sharp images even wide open at f2.8.
Low profile of the pancake lens.
Solid construction with metal mount.
Close focusing distance, put a 12mm tube extension on it and you have a good budget macro lens
Don’t expect perfection on a budget lens……
STM motor is quiet but not silent. I also have the 10-18 IS STM which is a lot quieter so not all STM lenses are the same in terms of noise. That said it is far far quieter than the 50mm f1.8.
Auto Focus speed is not great, especially in low light conditions (one of the reasons to buy a prime) probably about the same as the 50mm f1.8
Manual focus is software controlled so there is a very slight delay between turning the focusing ring and actual moment.
I would recommend this lens over the 50mm f1.8 II, it is worth the addition money.
I use it for indoor low light photography on two Canon SLR’s –
As a short portrait telephoto on the (cropped frame sensor) EOS 40D and
As a standard (landscape) lens on the (full frame sensor) EOS 5Dii.
Maximum aperture is F2 .8 and can produce very pleasing out of focus effects, especially as it will focus down to 30 cm. The out of focus bokeh is smooth.
For many photographers on a budget, this would be a better buy than Canon’s 50 mm F1.8 offering. Shop around – I found a good deal on Amazon marketplace, fulfilled by Amazon.
It’s fair to say it’s not exactly a looker; the front element is small and for such a small lens it has a lot of black plastic around the place. Did I say it’s small? It’s really small! Once you take the rear cap and screw it into the camera nearly half of the lens disappears. Low cost, small, light – so far so good.
So what about the optical quality? I’m pleased to say it’s excellent too, even across the sensor on my full-frame 5D3. While f2.8 isn’t that fast it does produce really sharp results wide-open; at f2.8 I would say it’s sharper than my 50mm f1.4. (at f2.8). I haven’t stopped it down past f8 so I can’t report past there but it does improve a little at f4, but I’m more than happy to use it at f2.8. I didn’t notice a benefit or disadvantage for the STM focus motor, I just found it fast and quiet.
Now the downsides, though I must say I don’t think any are worth losing a star over. The first is the focal length – 40mm is a bit of an odd one on a full frame dSLR – it distorts a bit on portraits if you frame it from the wrong angle but it’s not really that wide for landscapes either. On a crop sensor (Canon 1xxxD, xx0D, xxD & 7D) the 1.6 multiplier makes it a 64mm equivalent which is also odd – not close to a 50mm standard and not really a good length for portraits either. That said I think 40mm makes a bit more sense (to me at least) on a full-frame body like the 5D and 6D series (it would look a bit mad on a 1D series!). The next downside is really minor but it is the size – it does look a bit out of place on a large dSLR like the 5Dx cameras; but I can live with it!
Where it’s a total winner is that you can slide it in your bag with along with a kit or long zoom on your camera and if you find yourself needing a faster max aperture (than the average f4 or smaller zoom) or something close to a standard lens then it cost you almost nothing in terms of space or weight. It’s also nice if you want to take your dSLR and feel like travelling light(ish). Recommended!
It’s not an ‘L’ lens — I got to use a 50mm f/1.2 one evening on my camera and the colours were a bit richer, there was a bit more ‘micro contrast’ and of course the bokeh was lovely at f/1.2. But the 40mm isn’t too far off (the 7 curved aperture blades give a nice bokeh in my opinion, if the subject is up close at f/2.8), especially at the price. This lens definitely punches above its weight. Build quality is excellent, although there is an issue with the lens locking up under certain conditions. It’s only happened once to me in two weeks of having it and it just meant disengaging it from the body (not even taking it off) and clicking it back in place to resolve it. There’s a firmware update to fix it but it requires a 650D, a 5D MkIII or a 1D X to apply it. Otherwise, it needs to be sent to Canon to apply the firmware (although newer batches of the lens are supposed to have the firmware already applied).
So, considering the image quality, the price and the size and weight, I think this lens is excellent. I’ve actually found the 40mm focal length to be quite useful. Looking back at the EXIF data for the photos I took with my kit lens since I bought the camera, about half of them were taken at 35mm and half at 50mm, so this lens is almost a good ‘in between’ (a bit closer to 35mm), so it suits my needs.