Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens: Customer Reviews & Product Details

Cheap. Sharp. Fast. Awesome pictures. Go buy this lens and your friends will love you for it.

I bought this 50mm f/1.8 lens last year to get pictures of our newborn in low light. This was my first digital SLR (XSi) and first lens purchase. I saw all of the reviews and thought it was a no-brainer for the price. Initially I thought the pictures looked great, but then I really started getting into taking pictures and editing them. I notice that the images were inconsistently sharp. Being new I thought maybe the inconstancies were due to camera shake, but after several tests I realized that it was not. I sent the lens back to Canon just to make sure that there was nothing wrong with it. They said that everything was working according to the specs.

After getting frustrated with the soft images I decided to buy the 50mm f/1.4 lens. After receiving the 50mm f/1.4 lens all of my pictures are consistently sharp. I did several tests with the same settings using both lenses and about 60% of the f/1.8 images were not sharp, but 98% of the f/1.4 were tack sharp. If you have the money I would definitely recommend the 50mm 1.4 lens. I still think that this f/1.8 is a bargain for the money.

I bought this lens for my canon rebel xsi after reading hundreds of reviews praising it. Well, the masses were correct! This is an excellent lens. The image quality is outstanding and far better than I can get from the 18-55mm IS kit lens that came with the camera. It's great in low light and creates pretty good bokeh. The only downsides are the slow auto-focus and cheap plastic feel, but at this price point you can't beat it. It's a little long on my crop sensor camera, so I find myself using it mostly for taking portraits or head shots of people. I'll probably add a 24mm f/2.8 prime in the near future as my walk around lens. If you have the extra money, then buy it. Highly recommended.

This is the best little, inexpensive addition to my camera bag. My brother hounded me to get it and I could not understand why until I got it. GREAT shots! I was at a function and saw another girl using the same camera and lens and she too said it was one of her favorites! I have used it already for friends and family shots and have had great luck with it. SCORE! :)

excellent basic lens

vary useful when it is dark

the 1.8f works better than it's money worth

the angle width is a bit narrow but it is worth buying one