The Canon 50mm f/1.8 II is a light and relatively inexpensive lens, weighing 130g. Unfortunately, the Canon 50MM f/1.8II has an unpleasant plasticky feel in the hand, and doesn’t feature a metal lens mount. The manual focus ring is slim, making it quite a delicate operation to focus manually, but despite all this the lens does offer splendid blurred backgrounds when the maximum f/1.8 aperture is deployed.
Without a built-in AF motor, though, noise is moderately loud, but it makes up for this with good AF performance, locking onto subjects with minimal fuss in bright lighting conditions, hunting only when the lighting conditions get exceptionally dim.
Edge sharpness is impressive throughout the aperture range, though be aware that there may be some vignetting when opened to its widest aperture.
If you’re looking to explore the benefits of using a prime lens and don’t want to spend a fortune, the Canon 50mm f/1.8 II makes a great starter buy for £89 and with a little care, it’ll give you fantastic results for many years.
AT A GLANCEStreet price: £89
Lens Mount: Canon
Construction: 6 Elements in 5 groups
Max aperture: f/1.8
Min aperture: f/22
Aperture blades: 5
AF motor: No
Minimum focus distance: 45cm
Filter size: 52mm
Dimensions: 68x41mm
Weight:130g
www.canon.co.uk