Digital Photography Reviews

Review by Richard Aubin:

Once upon a time the 50 mm lens was THE standard camera lens and was THE optical benchmark by which manufacturers were judged and compared. Although the basic lens focus has now shifted (at least at the low to mid amateur level) to zooms – you can still benefit from years of research and development that went into designing the 50 mm lens and this here lens may be the best lens, dollar for dollar, that you can ever buy. The question is can you afford not to own this lens?

Years of development have brought us a lens that has a fast aperture of 1.8 – far faster than any consumer zoom lens – and that is sharp as a filed tack. Be forewarned about the sharpness . . . if you are taking pictures of people, this lens is unyielding in its sharpness and may well surprise you and your subjects whose every blemish is captured. The lens has a fabulously shallow depth of field if you want to use the 1.8 aperture to blow out a background. This lens is also ridiculously inexpensive. It is not USM – so it is a little loud. It does not have a moving focus scale. For the money though – this is heaven.

As to the build quality – yes, it is plastic. No, it’s not built like the Rock of Gibraltar. If you are going to give this lens extensive use as your everyday lens and you shoot a lot, it may not hold up all that well as one reviewer suggests. However, I’ve now had this lens and used it fairly regularly (although not as the primary lens) for about 8 years and it is still in great condition. In my mind, spend the $$ on this first before you go and drop 0 on the 50mm 1.4 USM lens and I think you’ll find it gets the job done nicely and that the extra 0 on the 1.4 may not be worth the difference in build (major difference), speed (minor difference) and image quality (minor difference).

Review by P. Lehmann:

Wow! My theory now is that Canon doesn’t put this baby as their kit lens because many people would decide that they DONT NEED ANOTHER ONE! And many of them would be right!

Like others, I bought the Rebel XT and the 28-135 IS lens. The 28-135 is heavy and priced like a gold brick. I guess it does OK, and I do keep it mounted most of the time.

And like others, I stumbled on this lens somehow, read the raving reviews, and for the price figured, “What the heck?”

This lens in tack sharp. It shows the fire in the colors you photograph. The wide aperture means candles can be excellent lights for portraits. Its narrow field is great.

There are pitfalls though. I snapped a pic of my face at arm’s length using autofocus a while back and (1) the focus locked on the tip of my nose and my face was already blurring (2) the lens was so sharp that I saw blackheads clearly on my nose tip I can’t really see in the mirror (doh!). I’ve read that dSLR images are slightly soft to aid in later editing. I can only imagine what it would do on a film camera.

Yesterday while camping I slapped this lens on. Unlike the 28-135, this one is light enough that I didnt notice I was carrying a camera everywhere. At night I put the lens on the top of the car pointed at the sky, set the shutter for 15 secs, and hit the button. Much to my amazement, the lens not only showed hundreds of stars that were invisible to my eyes, but it also found a galaxy. That pic is on the customer image section of this page. You can see what I saw, but the smaller size doesnt do the lens justice.

One quirk of Amazon is that this page keeps alternating pictures of lenses. This lens does not have the distance focus scales on the outside of it.

Zoom is nice for many things. But where zoom isnt necessary, performance is very, very nice. Performance at is almost too good to be true.

Let me close by repeating what has been said elsewhere and will continue to be said here….IF YOU OWN A SLR, STOP NOW AND GET THIS LENS!

UPDATE 12/06 I have owned this lens for about a year now. Over that time I have immersed myself in photography, workshops, books, tests, etc. I have since upgraded to the 30D and a couple of L lenses, and now have a portfolio strong enough that I am now getting dollar signs thrown at me that I didnt even see coming. I say all this to give you some perspective on what I will write afterward.

Now that Ive really learned the difference, I can agree with others that it is a tad soft wide open, but that is to be expected. I read a lens test recently that put the 1.8 against Canons heavweight L glass, and, not surprisingly, the L beat out the plastic wonder in most categories. What might surprise you, however, is that when the lens was tested at F 8 it BEAT THE L GLASS in sharpness! As one that has felt the pain of trading large sums of money for L glass, that still amazes me.

My 28-135 has since joined my kit lens in the garage. The 1.8 is still in my case with my newer 30D.

With some experience under my belt I now would make the following recommendation. Right now, as you read this, you may have an idea if you’ve been bitten by the photog bug. You may know that this beast is going to morph into something more than a simple pasttime. If you look inside the depths of your aspirations and you know that you are going to be a serious amateur, bite the bullet and get the 50mm 1.4. Trust me on this one. Eventually you’ll end up getting it anyway, so just apply the to the 1.4 now.

If you’re just exploring different areas of SLR photography, you cant go wrong with this lens. Case in point- as of this writing the baby in pink in the customer images section of this lens is one of the top-ten rated images of all pics uploaded on Amazon! This lens will allow you to dazzle friends and relatives used to snapshots from point & shoots. It will be the start of what you upgraded to a DSLR for in the first place. For you, the 1.8 is still, by far, the best value in photography!

Review by Dave Davis:

I read the reviews on the Canon ES-2 lens hood for the Canon EF 50mm lens. Some reviewers commented on it being a 2 part hood and having difficulty with the clips. So I ordered the Fotodiox instead and am glad I did. It simply screws on to the lens like screwing on a filter, easy on and easy off. I use a 52mm UV protective filter over my 50mm lens and the hood screws on to it perfectly. The Canon lens cap also fits over the lens with the hood on, so I can store my lens with the hood attached. The lens cap actually expands to the sides of the hood instead of going over the lens, but it works and stays in place. The Fotodiox hood is plastic but seems to be well made and serves the purpose of blocking light from the sides. Overall, an excellent product.

Review by DJ Esquivel:

I purchased this hood thinking it was an identical-functioning replica of Canon’s official 50mm hood. While it functions well and is a great deal for a much lower price (than Canon’s), please be aware that you cannot easily “unsnap” it from your lens/filter; it needs to be screwed on or off. That being the case, you also cannot apply your lens cap without unscrewing this hood and removing completely (kind of a pain). Nor can you fit this hood on backwards; like you can with Canon’s hood, in order to fit your camera into a tight case or compartment.

But again, for 1/3 the price of Canon’s, it’s still a great deal.

Review by B. Landrum:

This lens is so cheap but it’s a great introductory prime lens. I bought this with my Canon XTi and haven’t taken it off! I love how beautiful the images are that come from this lens. When I have used my zoom (which was only maybe once when I first got the camera) I have been disappointed with the images in comparison to the prime lens. I just bought the Canon 28mm 1.4 and can’t wait to get it. Go Prime!!!

Review by N. Manka:

this lens is INCREDIBLE! best value for the money! the photos it captures are so BEAUTIFUL! definately get this lens if you can’t get the 1.4. It’s my absolute favorite lens right now!

Review by King:

I own this hood and Canon Digital Rebel XT.

I like the hood. It works well limiting stray light as well as protecting the lens.

As you will hear from many experienced photographers (I’m an amateur), they would never shoot pictures without the hood on the lens so why would you?

All hoods are expensive for what they are, a piece of plastic, but they serve a necessary function.

Get the hood if you want the best from your lenses, including this lens the 50mm f1.8 II.

I would give it 5 stars but it is pricey.

Review by William Caraballo:

I needed a lens hood for my 50mm lens and paying for a hood on a lens might seem ridiculous. However, that might be because the lens is so inexpensive. If the lens was 0 then paying an extra 10% might not seem too bad. I just saw the total cost of the lens and hood for 0 and that’s good for a terrific prime lens and its hood.

However, please note: the lens hood is rather shallow (1 star reduction) and it is a screw-on two piece kit (1 star reduction). One piece is the adaptor that screws-on where the filters normally go (UV Filter) in front of the lens and is intended to be a permanent integral part of the lens and the second piece is the hood that snaps on and off this adaptor. The adaptor ring retains the same 52mm rim size so your protective filter can go before or after the adaptor.

(1 Bonus Star) Because 0 is still a bargain for a 50mm, f1.8, super fast, super sharp, super clear, light weight beginner lens and hood kit!

I hope this helps rather than confuse.

Review by P. Winters:

This lens has its pros…great portrait lens, sharp. On the con side…or just the trade offs…it doesn’t zoom, but you can move yourself , small point of focus. Overall, I love this lens for close up/head shots of people.

Review by onestyle:

The reviews of the 50mm f/1.2L are useless. All you hear is “Spend your money on the 35L or 85L instead” or “the focusing issues make this lens unuseable”. But something makes me think that people are just writing reviews based on what other people have said without actually ever using the product.

If you ever want to shoot snapshots of downtown without a flash at midnight WHILE walking, this is the lens to have. I’m so in love with this lens.

Pros:

* It’s completely silent. Quieter than the f/1.4

* It has no problems focusing in the dark

* It’s highly useable at f1.2

* It’s sharper than the f/1.4

* Colors are more saturated than the f/1.4

* Images taken with this lens have higher contrast than the f/1.4

* It makes the f/1.4 feel like a hunk of plastic

* It comes with a hood

Cons:

* It costs 4 times more than the f/1.4

* It costs 18 times more than the f/1.8

Pros:

* You can comfortably shoot under conditions that would make the f/1.4 nervous.

* Produces a much higher yield of useable photos

* Aesthetically, it’s the coolest looking lens I own!

For those who are concerned about the “back focusing” issue, I will let you know that I haven’t experienced any backfocusing at all. I’ve let others shoot with it, wide open, within low-light environments and even the non-photographers were able to focus/shoot accurately.

This is my review from my non-scientific, real-world, situational testing.

Review by Dong W. Kim:

I am not a professional photographer, or make living with taking pictures. I am just a person who loves to take pictures & enjoys good pictures. And, I know how expensive this lens is, and YES, I am very aware of “Back Focusing” issue with this lens that others worry. I have been using this lens for 3 weeks now, and have been experiencing good & bad about this lens. (I believe “back focusing” issue was way too much inflated.) I have EOS 5D, and wanted to take full advantage of FF factor, and this was why I took a plunge instead of getting acclaimed 35MM or 85MM.

Good:

Picture quality – from f1.2 thru f2.8, the lens works superbly. AF is fast & faster compared to 50mm 1.4. Above f2.8, the pictures become a touch soft, but it exceeded my expectation. In low light condition, this lens is virtually unbeatable.

Weight & Feel – Anoth factor that sold me to this lens is its overall feel. Very balanced & well weighted. And, its build quality is good.

Bad:

Back Focus – Yes, it does back focus in very (very) close distance. Within 20 inches, you may experience back focusing more than half of the time. (Others say within 30 inches or so, but I never experienced more than 20 inches far.) I asked myself how many times (in reality), I would try taking pictures within such distance.

Cost – Yes, this is expensive lens. 4 times more than very good 50mm 1.4.

I love to take portraits (especially for my new born baby) , and this was my main reason that I upgraded from 50mm 1.4 to 50mm 1.2. I would recommend this lens if you are into portraits. If you want more than what I am into, you may be disappointed. Did I make a good investment? Yes, I believe I did.