Purchased my first lens - Canon 50mm 1.8 II

[Mecal]

Well, its my birthday and so I bought a new lens!

Granted, I don't have it yet - I purchased it online, since the Camera Store wanted £100 for it! (Amazon sold it for £77).

I'm excited for it to arrive -- then I can see the build quality on it, lol.

Does anyone know what aperture it's sharpest at? I've read a few things, but nothing too consistent.

 

[KenC]

Congratulations! It's a wonderful lens. I bought it with my XTi a couple of years ago and used it exclusively for about a year. Now I have the 100/2.8 macro (non-L) and the 70-300 IS and I can't see any noticeable difference in quality most of the time. The zoom wide open occasionally looks a little less sharp than the other lenses, but the 50 keeps up with the macro and the zoom stopped down. I hardly use the 50 below about f 2.8 or so, and can't attest first-hand to how it does wide open, but I've seen tests where it beat much more expensive lenses starting at about 2-2.8 and wasn't bad at 1.8. Every review I see of fast lenses always says they are not as good wide open, so I guess it is no worse than most.

 

[KmH]

Buying lenses is always fun!

Sharp focusing lens, but cheaply made. Focus is done with a micro motor, so focus is a bit slow.

Poor build quality, poor durability, poor and harsh bokeh (image quality of out of focus areas, because it only has 5 - square edged aperture blades).

Often breaks in half if dropped, or internal parts go awry and out of alignment. The cheap build quality making it more expensive to repair than just replace. Handle it with care.

 

[Dao]

I used to own that lens. It is very plastic feel and light weight and not as strong build like the older mk1 version. (which I also own until couple weeks ago) But it is not as bad as some other people describe. It just feel like a regular Canon kit lens. I really do not think it will fall apart that easy. (I dropped mine once on a grass field)

Someone post an youtube video here before and showed how the lens survive in some lens abuse test.

 

[nahtanoj]

my 18 month old broke mine int 2 days. i liked the lens so much, i upgraded to the 1.4. good lens, as long as you aren't planning on dropping it face first while on the camera, i think you'll be ok.

 

[canonguy12]

Yep, I can attest to it being cheaply built :er:. Dropped mine about a week ago- broke in half. I was able to put it back together somehow and it still works fine :cheer:. Sadly, I can't shoot at a small aperture anymore due to dust, but anything below 5.6 is fine

 

[Mecal]

hah, so many horror stories.

I'm not too worried, I take good care not to bag the camera around, so I should have no problem.

 

[Ken Rockwell Fan]

Just baby it and you'll be okay. It's hard to beat for the price. Shooting in available light without flash makes for some of the best pictures imo.

 

[Josh66]

Is it really that bad? I've never used it (I have the f/1.4 version), but you guys make it sound like a total piece of crap, lol.

 

[KmH]

It's hard for any lens that inexpensive to be total crap.

It focuses sharply in it's sweet spot range like most primes.

But, the build quality definately has a negative effect on it's durability.

Build quality is also why the bokeh is so jarring.

 

[altitude604]

I love mine. Other than my 70-200 f/4L which lives on my XSi, the 50mm 1.8 II is on it the rest of the time.

The colours and image quality is amazing. I can always tell which shots were taken with it instantly compared to my other lenses.

 

[Mecal]

thanks,

I'll be sure to post pictures once I get it

 

[Mecal]

hurrah, it came in the mail today

unfortunately it's snowing out, so no pictures right now.

 

[Ken Rockwell Fan]

I love snow pictures.

 

[Mecal]

Ooooeeeei.

Look at that shallow depth of field