Canon 50mm 1.8- sounds too good to be true?

Sharp, quick focusing, great for low light/indoor work, a perfect portrait lens on a crop sensor (like yours), light and inexpensive.

And it's £70-£80!

Cons are build quality, AF noise, crappy focus ring for MF and no measuring window.
 
As above, you can get some great DOF with the lens too, these shots were taken at an 80th birthday party with no flash (and crappy lighting! - this was my first time using the lens too!)

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HTH
Dave.
 
Get it.

Don't think about it.

Get it.

Even if it sits in your kit bag for 6 months of the year, get it.

The day you need it, it will serve it's purpose well, and for £70-ish it's a no-brainer.

Get it.

Everyone I know has one, they all love it.

Pro's and con's exactly as stated by 2Thumbs.

Get it.
 
I really need to get me one :lol:
 
And if you get the choice between the original - which isn't actually marked as MkI -they have reputation for a better build quality than the later ones, which I guess are marked as MkII.
 
I'll say it before and I'll say it again. Cracking little lens, absolutely fantastic optical quality, but it's likely you'll hardly use it. It's just too narrow on a crop body.

I rarely used mine and so sold it on.
 
Don't waste your money on it, seriously. Save a bit more and get the F1.4 version, it's a LOT better.
 
dod said:
Don't waste your money on it, seriously. Save a bit more and get the F1.4 version, it's a LOT better.
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+1. I had the 1.8 for 5 months, and whilst I loved it and it has probably taken my best shots, I became increasingly frustrated at the poor AF in low light and having to put up with the horrid manual focus ring. Got my hands on a 1.4second hand for £200 as just couldn't resist and it really is worth the extra money. Should have skipped the 1.8 and gone with the 1.4 straight off. The difference in shot quality with them both at 1.8 is really significant IMHO and once you start looking at the quality of the DOF you want, rather than just simply achieving the DOF, the extra dosh for the 1.4 seems very much worth it to me.

If you can't afford the 1.4 though, I'd still recommend the 1.8 as am fairly sure nothing comes close to the results you will acheive for the money.Despit having its bigger brother I do miss it.

A
 
Thankyou, those comments are food for thought. It's not a lens that I would have considered, however I've been asked to take a few photos of my friend whilst she's getting ready for her wedding (before the wedding tog debate starts: I've refused money, there is a pro photographer doing the wedding however he's a guy and she wants a female taking the pics of her getting ready!!).

Can't afford the 1.4 as really the next piece of kit I'm after is the 40D/50D and a nice lens to replace the kit lens I've got. The price tag of the 50mm is attractive...

And nope, won't be switching over to the dark side any time soon!!!
 
foodpoison said:
I'll say it before and I'll say it again. Cracking little lens, absolutely fantastic optical quality, but it's likely you'll hardly use it. It's just too narrow on a crop body.

I rarely used mine and so sold it on.
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That was my concern. I thought the point of the nifty fifty was that on a 35mm film camera it is a normal view, ie what you see with your eyes.

Put in on a 1.6 FOVCF and that is no longer the case.

we were looking at buying the EF 28 f2.8 to achieve the same sort of effect but then decided to upgrade the walk around lens to the EF-S 17-55 f2.8

I appreciate that at f2.8 you can't achieve the same DoF, and it isn't as fast, but I just felt that it was a decent compromise.
 
dod said:
Don't waste your money on it, seriously. Save a bit more and get the F1.4 version, it's a LOT better.
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I agree with that, i had the 1.8 and hardly use it. I have the 1.4 now and use it a lot more.
 
trapper501 said:
That was my concern. I thought the point of the nifty fifty was that on a 35mm film camera it is a normal view, ie what you see with your eyes.

Put in on a 1.6 FOVCF and that is no longer the case.

we were looking at buying the EF 28 f2.8 to achieve the same sort of effect but then decided to upgrade the walk around lens to the EF-S 17-55 f2.8

I appreciate that at f2.8 you can't achieve the same DoF, and it isn't as fast, but I just felt that it was a decent compromise.
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I bought the nifty fifty and a few months after I bought the Tamron 17-50 f2.8, since buying the Tamron I've not used the nifty fifty at all so I dont think you will be disappointed.
 
amb3rsil said:
Should have skipped the 1.8 and gone with the 1.4 straight off. The difference in shot quality with them both at 1.8 is really significant IMHO and once you start looking at the quality of the DOF you want, rather than just simply achieving the DOF, the extra dosh for the 1.4 seems very much worth it to me.


A
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Glad you're pleased with the lens. :thumbs:

Any of the 50mm's has to be worth sticking in your bag. It's true you lose a lot of FOV on a crop sensor, but for those occasions when you need to work hand held in low light, they're just indispensable.
 
I agree with the majority here, it's worth every penny. The up side is if you buy one and don't get along with it you'll be able to sell it quickly and for almost what you paid for it.
 
I skipped the 1.8 and got the 1.4. brilliant little lens and gets well used when situation calls for it. ie low light or studio work
 
IQ is good. AF is noisey, slow, imprecise, fidgety. MF is very hard to do accurately. If your shooting style allows you time to get the focus right then it is superb value for money. If you need to shoot quickly and accurately (think wedding), especially wide open with shallow DOF in poor light (think wedding), then it is the wrong lens to choose.

Build is ropey and the lens may well disassemble itself if dropped/knocked. You really don't need your lens to be falling apart while shooting a wedding! It's not like you can go back the following week and try again with a replacement lens. If you have the funds then the 50/1.4 is the better bet but if you get the 50/1.8 and want to trade up you probably won't lose much on the sale of the 50/1.8.

FWIW I have had the 50/1.8 for over two years and I only have two pictures that were taken with this lens (neither one very good) from my library of ~6,000 keepers. I rarely need faster than f/2.8 but when I do, the AF on the 50/1.8 does not inspire me with confidence that it will deliver reliably sharp images, especially for moving subjects (think B&G walking down the aisle) where focus tracking is necessary. I now have the 50/1.4 and 85/1.8 for those more demanding low light situations.

I think that for shooting the wedding preps, for free, and with the cooperation of your friend, the 50/1.8 will do you just fine. For professional wedding work, or under higher pressure for speed/reliability, I'd pass on the 1.8 and go straight to the 1.4.
 
nifty fifty = amazing lens!!
 
Here's an example of the crap focus in the very conditions where you need that fast aperture. This was shot at 800 ISO, 1/30, f/1.8. The flash did fire, which was the main illumination for the subject, with the background being picked up by the slower shutter speed. You can see from the highlighted focus point that I used the correct focus point to focus on the eye and did not recompose. Even reduced in size this much you can see that the necklace is sharper than the face.

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Looking closer, with 100% crops, we see that this photo is actually junk and it's all down to the lens. You could not risk shooting a wedding with such a wayward lens. At the very least, fire off several refocused shots just to improve the odds of a sharp one where it counts.

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Due to the random nature of AF performance with the nifty it might be that had I focused and fired a second time I may have ended up with a perfectly sharp image, just where it counts, but sadly it's all a bit of a lottery with this lens.

It's also worth noting that when stopped down the bokeh from the nifty is pretty ugly because the five blade aperture creates rather unpleasant pentagonal shapes in outof focus highlights.
 
Seems a bit pot luck then. As I said earlier I'm not shooting a wedding, I am no wedding photographer (and wouldn't even dream of having the responsibility of getting pics of someone's big day). I just thought this lens may be a useful addition to my bag, and get a few nice shots of my friend getting ready.
 
Twizzel said:
Seems a bit pot luck then. As I said earlier I'm not shooting a wedding, I am no wedding photographer (and wouldn't even dream of having the responsibility of getting pics of someone's big day). I just thought this lens may be a useful addition to my bag, and get a few nice shots of my friend getting ready.
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So long as you understand the limitations of the AF and take extra shots for safety then you'll probably be fine. I doubt very much that you will be able to confirm that the focus is bang on simply by looking through the viewfinder or even checking the images on the back of the camera. The real proof will be on the computer. By then if there turns out to be a problem, it's too late.

I suggest you shoot raw rather than JPEG, which will help you out if you have any difficulties with exposure or white balance, and will give you more options for sharpening as necessary without degrading image quality further.

EDIT : BTW, there is a very recent review of the lens here - http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/canon_50_1p8_ii_c16/ - where they sum up by saying....

Conclusion - Pros
- Excellent image quality when stopped down
- Essentially no lateral chromatic aberration
- Extremely cheap

Conclusion - Cons
- Extremely cheaply built
- Harsh and distracting bokeh due to pentagonal aperture
- Vignetting at wide apertures on full frame (which only disappears at F3.5)
- Inconsistent autofocus in low light (most problematic when using large apertures)
 
It's worth the money IMO, as you'll learn a lot with it, I did.
 
I bought one last night, awaiting it's arrival :thumbs: If it's a waste then so be it, if not then it will be the best 70 quid I ever spent. I can always pass it on for 50 so it cost me 20 to test it..
 
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