Yes, there is a fast, sharp Canon prime lens that costs only $125. It’s a great lens for portrait photographers who don’t want to break the bank, but it’s not one that we nature photographers use often — hence on both counts, the attraction of the small price tag. I can totally understand why it’s earned the moniker The Plastic Fantastic. In the following review, I take you through some of the features, pros and cons, and possible uses of the Canon EF 50 mm f1.8 II lens. I also offer a number of sample images with full shooting and processing information so that you can see some of the results of working with this lens.
As always, if you enjoy this review and the Deep Green site in general, please consider making your next gear purchase through the affiliate links at the bottom of this page. You pay exactly the same, and I make a little commission to keep things running. To learn more, click the “support the site” link above.
Please note that though I do earn a commission if you buy a product at B&H through this review, I do not slant my reviews in favor of a particular piece of gear. If I don’t like something, you can be sure I’ll note that in the review. And really, what kind of businessman would I be if I spent this much time only in an underhanded effort to earn the miniscule commission that would result from the sale of Canon’s cheapest lens?! 
Here is the equipment that I used to take the pictures featured in this review.
Canon 5D Mark I camera body
Canon 25 mm extension tube, but I recommend the set of Kenko extension tubes for Canon, a better value
Canon TTL off-camera flash cord
Canon ST-E2 wireless flash transmitter
Let’s start with a bit about what this lens is not, in the form of a little Q and A session.
Is it sharp wide open at f1.8? Despite reports to the contrary, which focus on poor corner sharpness, I do find it to be quite sharp where it counts, even wide open and on a full-frame sensor body. But, once you stop down a bit, say to f2.5 or so, it’s just fantastic.
Is it well-built? Heck no. It’s plastic, and I’m guessing that if you dropped it on a hard floor, you could roll up the remains and smoke them.
Is the AF fast? Not really, but it does the job if you’re not in a huge hurry. I’ve had no trouble with autofocus, even for nature subjects such as the red-eyed tree frog below, which was shot at night in very low light.
Is the AF quiet? Well, it’s quieter than a blender.
Is it as sharp as the Canon 50 mm f1.4 or the f1.2? I’ve not tried those lenses but according to reviews that I’ve read, there actually is not that big a difference, especially considering the differences in price.
Is the bokeh (out of focus quality) as nice as the Canon 50 mm f1.4 or the f1.2? No, from sample shots I’ve seen, the f1.4 lens is a bit smoother, and the f1.2 is a dream. But the bokeh of the f1.8 is quite nice for sure — see the picture of my dog Toby below.
Does it focus really closely? No, the minimum focusing distance is 1.5 feet, actually not all that great but the same as the f1.4 and f1.2 versions of the 50 mm.
Does it vignette? Yes, on a full-frame body there is some vignetting at the widest apertures but this is easily corrected in Lightroom with the automatic lens correction profile applied. And to be honest, it’s really not very noticeable in everyday shooting in my experience.
Does it have IS (image stabilization)? No, but it’s so light that I don’t know how much IS would help. I often shoot with one hand when doing macro with this lens, holding an off-camera flash in my other hand (see the orchid portrait below).
By now, you might be thinking, so why does this guy like this lens anyway? Well, let’s ask our questions in a different way.
Is the Canon f1.8 cheap? As far as lenses go, it doesn’t get any cheaper.
Is it light and small? Indeed, it’s twice as light as the f1.4 and four times or so lighter than the f1.2.
Is it really sharp at f2.8 and beyond? Certainly, and it’s actually sharp enough at the widest apertures, particularly on cameras with a smaller sensor where corner sharpness does not suffer as much. In fact, I find it to be quite sharp even at f1.8 if you nail the focus, even on my full-frame 5D. Again, check out the portrait of my dog Toby below. I reviewed the image zoomed to full-size in Lightroom, and the sharpness is quite good, especially for a handheld shot of a nervous dog. By the way, according to reviews I’ve seen, the f1.4 and f1.2 lenses do not come into their own either until they are stopped down a bit. Once you’re at f2.8 on the 50 mm f1.8 lens, sharpness is fantastic (see the portrait of my dog Molly below). And when stopped down for macro work with an extension tube, sharpness is great (see the orchid portrait below).
So, there you have it — a small, light, fast, sharp lens that won’t break the bank. But why would a nature photographer want one? Good question.
The first answer is that even nature photographers will sometimes take pictures of people or general snapshot type subjects. I’ve used it for food/fruit photography and product photography for a couple of different assignments over the years, and with what I made on those jobs, the lens has paid for itself many times over. It’s a great lens for an indoor or nighttime party or if you’re photographing a church or other building that doesn’t allow tripods inside. And if you just want to go light and be inconspicuous, the 50 mm f1.8 is a fine choice. If doing a portrait and using a camera like the Canon 7D, with its 1.6x sensor factor, you have a lens that effectively behaves like a fast 80 mm lens on a 35 mm film camera, quite similar to the fast 85 mm lenses that portrait photographers using full-frame 5D Mark II or 1Ds III bodies still love today.
But the second answer is that a 50 mm lens can be quite nice for semi-macro nature subjects and for rendering a subject with very shallow depth of field. A lens of this type is also useful for working in low light. And I particularly enjoy putting a 25 mm extension tube on my 50 mm f1.8 for closeups. With the shallow aperture, you can go for an abstract image or you can stop down for a more typical macro look.
Following are a few images of the lens itself. FYI, these were taken using my sons’ Canon Powershot G12 camera, which has really great image quality. My boys helped me set up a quick little studio with a big sheet of white construction paper in my home office. We took turns taking the pictures and used the Canon wireless flash transmitter (the G12 has a regular hotshoe, so you can put on any Canon flash or transmitter, a great feature for an advanced point and shoot) to wirelessly trigger an off-camera Canon 430 EX Speedlite with a softbox. We used a silver reflector for some fill. No natural light entered the images; they were total flash exposures. Since you can see standard pics of the lens on B and H or various other websites, we did the lighting a little differently, and then I jazzed them up with a couple of Lightroom presets created by Matt Kloskowski at Lightroom Killer Tips.
The Canon 50 mm f1.8 II lens in all its glory.
The lens showing off the small 52 mm filter thread front element.
The 50 mm f1.8 showing how small it is compared to the Canon 100 mm f2.8 macro and 17-40 mm f4 lenses.
The 50 mm peeking out from in between its companions.
The lens mounted on the Canon 5D.
The 50 mm on the 5D with the Canon 25 mm extension tube.
As this quick shot of our dog Toby shows, the sharpness at f1.8 is quite acceptable. I was focused on Toby’s eyes and you can see that they are very sharp indeed. And the bokeh, with the out of focus flowers in our front yard, is quite pleasing.
Tech: Canon 5D, Canon 50 mm f1.8, Canon ST-E2 flash transmitter, Canon 430 EX Speedlite off-camera in E-TTL slave mode for a bit of fill, handheld, f1.8, 1/800, ISO 50
Post: This is straight from the RAW file, no cropping, no change of any settings at all so that you can see the look of the files this lens produces. I used a Lightroom preset to export the file as a web-sized jpeg and set the screen sharpening option in the export dialog box to medium.
Just so you can see, this is a screen shot of the above image zoomed in at 1:1 in Lightroom, with only the default sharpening values that Lightroom applies upon import. Note the very shallow depth of field. The autofocus point was on the dog’s right eye.
And here’s a similar shot of one of our other dogs (my wife is like a one-woman Humane Society in our town!), Molly, this time taken at f2.8. Again, sharpness is great, and bokeh is still quite nice.
Tech: Canon 5D, Canon 50 mm f1.8, Canon ST-E2 flash transmitter, Canon 430 EX Speedlite off-camera in E-TTL slave mode for a bit of fill, handheld, f2.8, 1/125 (a cloud passed overhead, thus the much slower shutter speed here compared to the previous shot), ISO 50
Post: This is straight from the RAW file, no cropping, no change of any settings at all so that you can see the look of the files this lens produces. I used a Lightroom preset to export the file as a web-sized jpeg and set the screen sharpening option in the export dialog box to medium.
Here’s the image of Toby but stylized in Lightroom with some desaturation of the green and yellow channels. This isn’t my thing for nature photography but for portraits, whether canine or human, it’s kind of a cool look, and the Canon 50 mm does a great job with it.
And again here, I’ve stylized this portrait of Molly by applying some vignetting and desaturation.
Here’s a shot of an Epidendrum orchid flower that grows in our front yard. I picked one and stuck it in this pot on our back porch for some test photos. Note the really shallow depth of field here; this is at f1.8. This is the full-frame image.
Same thing at f2.8 — I just love this shallow depth of field kind of look for nature and portraits.
At f4, the background quality really starts to change, and this is where I think the cheap little 50 mm lens has a place in your camera bag even if you have one of the consumer grade zoom lenses that covers 50 mm or a lens like the very nice Canon 24-105 mm f4.
Again, at f5.6 the background is really starting to come into focus.
The images prior to this one were all shot at the 50 mm lens’ minimum focusing distance. So, they represent what you can expect in terms of magnification. But now check out the image here, which is full-frame too. That’s the tip of my pinky finger next to the orchid flower. This was shot at the 50 mm lens’ minimum focusing distance but with the use of a Canon 25 mm extension tube placed between the lens and the body. Extension tubes are a great way to make your lens focus more closely without losing autofocus or compromising image quality. You can see that the 50 mm with a 25 mm extension tube gets you into real macro territory. This is the magnification on my full-frame sensor 5D. On a 1.6x sensor factor body such as the 7D, the magnification would be even greater, 1.6 times greater in fact.
Here’s a quick example of the kind of macro work one can do easily with the Canon 50 mm f1.8 II lens and an extension tube. This is the full-frame shot using an off-camera flash with a mini-softbox as the only light.
Tech: Canon 5D, Canon 50 mm f1.8, Canon off-camera TTL flash cord, Canon 430 EX Speedlite with Westcott Apollo mini-softbox held off camera with my left hand, handheld, f16, 1/160, ISO 50
Post: This is straight from the RAW file, no cropping, no change of any settings at all so that you can see the look of the files this lens produces. I used a Lightroom preset to export the file as a web-sized jpeg and set the screen sharpening option in the export dialog box to medium.
Here’s a real world image that shows the utility of this little gem of a lens. While working at night with this red-eyed tree frog, I had my friend Jose (the driver and assistant photo guide for my photo tour company) hold two flashlights off-camera for a different type of lighting than one would get by using flash. Our flashlights weren’t that strong so I was dealing with low light. The fast aperture of the 50 mm saved the day, allowing me to gain a decent shutter speed and to be able to handhold without shaking too much. I considered using a tripod but the frog moved around quite a bit, meaning I needed to be able to compose very quickly. I printed this image at 30 x 45 inches for my exhibit at the Missouri Botanical Garden in the US a couple of years ago, and it looked great.
Tech: Canon 20D, Canon 50 mm f1.8, handheld, f2.5, 1/250, ISO 400
Post: This is the full-frame image, and the only post-processing was a bit of saturation in Lightroom and then of course conversion and sharpening for the web.
Here’s another image that was printed large at my Missouri Botanical Garden exhibit. I loved the shallow depth-of-field look the 50 mm gave to this this Cattleya orchid flower.
Tech: Canon 20D, Canon 50 mm f1.8, Canon 25 mm extension tube, Canon off-camera TTL flash cord, Canon 430 EX Speedlite with Westcott Apollo mini-softbox held off camera with my left hand, handheld, f2.2, 1/100, ISO 100
Post: This is the full-frame image, and the only post-processing was a bit of saturation in Lightroom and then of course conversion and sharpening for the web.
Definitely something different for me but one of my favorite non-nature pictures, this is a reflection in a window case at the Los Angeles Basilica in Cartago, the old colonial capital of Costa Rica. The Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to an indigenous girl here in the 1600s. Today, many Costa Ricans make a pilgrimage to the Basilica each August to ask for the Virgin Mary’s intercession. Leaving little charms representing the area of the body suffering from an affliction is a common practice. I liked this photo because it looks like some sort of New York street fashion scene but with religious overtones. The fast aperture of the little Canon 50 mm allowed me to get a manageable shutter speed without having to take my ISO up too much, which was important because noise definitely would have crept into the abundant shadow areas.
Tech: Canon 20D, Canon 50 mm f1.8, handheld, f2.0, 1/60, ISO 200
Post: This is the full-frame image, and the only post-processing was a bit of saturation in Lightroom and then of course conversion and sharpening for the web.
To see more images taken with this lens, along with full tech specs, caption info, and post-processing notes, check out the image gallery here. The gallery was created in Lightroom. Unless otherwise noted, all images are full-frame and have only the standard Lightroom tweaks applied.
The Canon Ef 50 mm f1.8 II lens is cheap, fast, light, and sharp. If you find yourself looking for a cheap little portrait lens or if you need to stay light and don’t want to take a macro lens out in the field, then I think it’s a fine option that’s worth the price. There are a number of consumer range zoom lenses that cover the 50 mm range, but they normally are not very sharp at wider apertures. In addition, the widest aperture tends to be around f4 at the 50 mm zoom setting so if you’re shooting in low light and/or like shallow depth of field your zoom won’t produce. The little 50 mm f1.8 is a great way to move to that professional portait look of sharp images with shallow depth of field but without taxing your wallet. And while it’s certainly not a necessity for the nature photographer, if you pick one up, I’ll bet you’ll find yourself using it more than you would have thought.
What about the other 50 mm options from Canon? Well, both the Canon 50 mm f1.4 and the Canon 50 mm f1.2 are supposed to be great lenses. The latter, in particular, is reported to be a fantastic performer. Nonetheless, at a price of over $1,500, only professional documentary or street photographers are likely to want to spend this much money on a 50 mm lens. And the 50 mm f1.4 lens, while a bit faster and with quieter and likely faster autofocus performance, is still $400. That’s a difference of $275, and since 50 mm is a focal length you’re not going to use that often, I can think of better ways to spend the extra money. For instance, $275 will buy you a 430 EX Speedlite flash, a series II 1.4x teleconverter, half a pro level tripod, a full copy of Adobe Lightroom, or a myriad assortment of photo gadgets. In my opinion, $125 will get you a 50 mm lens as good as most nature photographers will ever need.
But of course, this all depends on your own interests and priorities. The interesting thing about gear choices is that every photographer’s needs are different; there’s no one-size fits all when it comes to choosing the components of your photographic system.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this lens review. Please drop me a line as a comment below and tell me what you think. And if you buy one of these little beauties, stay in touch and let me know how you put it to use!
Cheers,
Greg
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Greg, hello from Denmark! What a great review of this lens! Actually, putting an extension tube on it for macro never occurred to me before I read your posting. Thanks so much for this great idea. I have orchids starting to bloom at my place and it would be a great chance to test this combination. In general, love your site and your images are truly fantastic. Hope to be your student one day at one of your wildlife photography workshops…
Hi, Eugene. Thanks very much for your kind words on the review and my images and the site in general. I’m glad you enjoyed it. Just curious, how did you come across the site?
Sounds like you already have this lens and, yes, I think you definitely would enjoy using an extension tube with it for your orchids. If you don’t already have an extension tube, I actually recommend the Kenko set of 12, 24, and 36 mm tubes over buying just the one Canon 25 mm. The Kenko set is a better value for the money. I bought mine years ago when there was quite a bit of uncertainty in terms of the compatibility of third party lenses, extension tubes, and teleconverters with future major brand camera bodies, and that’s why I went for the Canon tube. If I were buying today, I would get the Kenko set.
I would love to work with you in Costa Rica someday. For now, enjoy your orchid photography in Denmark (a beautiful country I’ve heard).
Cheers,
Greg
Hi, Greg! It is no secret – I was browsing the web one day in search of wildlife photography instruction in Florida or Central America and came across your gem of a website. Your insights on photo gear for the rainforest were particularly useful for me. Am already ordering the 300 2.8 IS. You have noooo idea what you have started
And you workflow videos are on my iPhone already (do not hit me hard, just for my personal enjoyment)…
I wrote to an e-mail through your “contact” engine but am not sure you received it. Basically, was asking if any workshop dates for late 2011/early 2012 are in the works already since none that are mentioned on your site already are compatible with my schedule.
Thanks for the Kenko advice. I looked them up but saw strings of communication that some of Kenko´s will autofocus only with EF and not EF-S lenses. I think I will play safe and just purchase the 25mm from Canon…
Warm regards from frigid but beautiful Copenhagen!
Eugene
Thanks for the tips. I have a very amateur question. How do you get the black background in the shot of your finger and the orchid? Were you using a flash or another light source? Is the dark background partly a result of the shallow depth of field?
Question 2: Can you recommend a good online photography school? I was considering the New York Institute of Photography or BetterPhotos.com.
Eugene, yes, sorry about that — your wallet will keep getting lighter as there’s no turning back now
I do not recall having received your contact message. I am doing a trip in November 2011 with well-known nature photographer David Hemmings. You can see more about it here:
http://www.davidhemmingsbirdphotography.com/3/miscellaneous6.htm
I also am considering leading a trip by myself in early December that would be a more general nature photography tour with birds, hummingbirds, macro, and landscapes. I’ll be sure to keep you up to date.
Thanks very for the info on the Kenko tubes. I was not aware of the autofocus issues with EF-S lenses. Do you happen to have a link to that info?
Cheers,
Greg
Hi, Terry. I’m glad you enjoyed the review. The orchid pic with my finger was done the same way as the final orchid pic just below it (the vertical, also with black background). The black background is not a result of shallow depth of field but rather a combination of stopping down the lens, setting a low ISO, and choosing a fast shutter speed. I do this in manual mode. With these settings, if I took a picture with no flash, the image would be totally dark. Why? Because the small aperture (f16 in this case), the low ISO (50 in this case), and the relatively fast shutter speed (1/160 in this case) combine to let in no natural light. Try it out at home, and you will get a black picture. Now add in flash and, as long as there is no background right behind your subject, the flash will light up only your subject, leaving the background black. BTW, you have to do this in manual mode. If you are working in P, AV, or TV, the camera will adjust one or more of the settings to let in a proper amount of ambient light, which is normally great but not what you want in this situation.
This actually gives me a good idea for a future post where I will explain this much more in depth, so thanks very much for your question!
I believe my friend Rob Sheppard does stuff with http://www.betterphoto.com. He’s a great instructor. Check out http://www.robsheppardphoto.com to learn more. I don’t know much about NYIP. I seem to recall a photo tour client mentioning having done something with them but, to be honest, I just can’t remember. Where are you located? I may have a photographer friend in your area who does workshops.
Finally, I did get your e-mail message the other day, and I’m sorry I’ve not yet replied. I swear it’s in the stack of messages I still need to answer. But, I’ll take the opportunity to do so here.
You asked about how I take frog images. Well, there are lots of different ways, and I think that would make a great topic for another post. (I’m going to have to start paying for generating new content ideas!)
And you asked about how I designed this site and blog. The image archive is powered by PhotoShelter, the blog is through WordPress, customized using a Graph Paper Press theme. Check out the support the site link in the main menu at the top of this page for more info.
All the best,
Greg
Your early Dec 2011 trip sounds like a possibility, Greg. I will be in Florida Nov 22-Dec 8 and if your workshop falls within these date, I could make a quick hop over to CR.
One of the link on Kenko´s tubes is from the venerable “Digital picture” site:
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/reviews/kenko-extension-tube-set-review.aspx
It mentions that it is possible that newer tubes can AF with EF-S lenses but since I will do a remote order, there will be no way to make sure, so Canon tube is a safer bet for me.
While I bother you, may I ask you a question? I have a dislike towards Gimbal heads. If I do jump for 300 2.8 IS – would Manfrotto´s 701HDV be a workable solution?
Cheers,
Eugene
Hi, Eugene. Good deal — I will keep you posted. Would you want to do it during the date range you mentioned or just after?
Thanks very much for the link on the Kenko tubes. I agree that Canon will be the safest bet for you. You definitely won’t have any regrets going that route.
I don’t know the head you mention so I really can’t say. I use the Wimberley Sidekick with a Really Right Stuff ballhead and am quite happy with that. I am interested in the Jobu Jr. and may get my hands on one soon for a review.
Cheers,
Greg
Thanks Greg! I look forward to the detailed future article on your frog photography and more on lighting. I had played around the other day with manual settings, shooting with a fast shutter speed and flash, but now see that my aperture was too wide open. Can’t wait to get home an try again.
Will definitely look up Rob Sheppard at BetterPhoto.
My site is also through Photoshelter, but I haven’t tried Graph Paper Press yet. I have 2 other Blogs for personal and graphic design stuff, but need to develop one for Photography only.
Thanks again for your help.
Greg, regarding the dates, it will depend on the duration. I will have a non-photographer in tow who may frown upon getting soaked in the rainforest vs. Florida beaches )). So, I am thinking either 4-5 days with you in a private workshop in early Dec 2011 or I join alone in 2012 for a group course?
Hi, Terry. Sounds good. Thanks again for the article ideas! I’ve been very happy with Graph Paper Press. To really customize things, you’ll need to know some CSS and be agile with the use of Firebug to inspect code, but I’m no expert by any means, and I was able to build a nice site with it. I believe that you get a discount if you sign on with Graph Paper Press through the links on this site (of course, I get a little something too for the referral).
Cheers,
Greg
ok… Greg… you have convinced me… I need this lens! but do I?
Now, I have a proposition for you, since I’m really vagabunda and I have a lot going on for my Univ stuff… how about I let you play with my 28mm 1.8 and you let me know if this one is as nice as the 50mm (with the obvious differences!)… I just wonder if I need them both!
Talk to you soon!
Mó.
”there’s no one-size fits all when it comes to choosing the components of your photographic system.”
That is a wise phrase! I entirely enjoyed your review Greg. As you know I own the 50mm f/1.4 and that’s joy! You are also right about nature photographers not using that focal lenth that much, but as you also state, for portraits or family photography is great.
Take care.
Hi, Monica and Juan Carlos. Thanks very much for stopping by, and I’m glad you enjoyed the review. This is a template for many more to come. In fact, I have the new 70-300 ready for B and H to send me for review but I am waiting on the tripod collar, which has not yet been released. I really don’t understand how they can release a lens and then take months to release something that should have been included anyway. After that, I’m hoping to get my hands on the Canon 200-400 f4 L IS zoom with the integrated TC for a review; that could be very interesting for wildlife here.
Monica, do you need this lens? Good question. Actually, for someone who shoots the things you do (lots of press and street), I would consider the f1.4 lens that Juan Carlos has. In terms of sharpness, I’m guessing it’s not that much better if at all but it certainly is at least as sharp as the f1.8, which is quite good. And I’ve read that f1.4 has faster and quieter autofocus. Juan Carlos, how do you find the autofocus of this lens (I actually forgot that you had it)? In addition, the f1.4 is much better built; it looks to me to be on the same order as the 100 f2.8 non-IS macro that we both have.
So, for you Monica, that extra $275 just might be worth it. Juan Carlos, that was exactly the right phrase to quote. When I talk with other photographer friends about gear they’re always telling me I need this or that, and I tell them, well, maybe, but what I shoot and the light levels here in Costa Rica are much different than up in the US. So, there’s definitely no right or wrong; you choose what works for you and then you get out there and take pictures!
Monica, I’d be happy to trade with you for a while so you can try out the 50 mm f1.8. I’ve always been interested in the 28 mm f1.8 for night photography; maybe I’ll work up a review of it. And I’m sure if you happen to run into Juan Carlos, he’d be happy to let you check out his 50 mm f1.4 too.
Cheers,
Greg
Hi, Eugene. That’s up to you. The advantages of the group course are that with more people, the price per person will be lower. And I also think that the group setting is quite conducive to learning and improving because you’ll have other people’s ideas as well. By the way, for the groups I lead alone I keep the max participant number to 5 to ensure plenty of individual attention throughout the trip.
Cheers,
Greg
Thank you, Greg. This is my analysis also. So, group is my preference. Besides, with lower group rate my money will allow me to stay in the rainforest longer, thus increasing a chance of encountering a cute coati mundi or a photogenic toucan!
Sounds great, Eugene. I think you’re exactly right.
Cheers,
Greg
Hi Greg, just a note to see if the New Comment email will show the name of the article, or better yet, a link to the New Comment page. What are other people seeing?
Terry
Hi, Terry. Thanks, I just tweaked the setting again. Hopefully the notification will be as it should now.
Cheers,
Greg
[...] very talented photographer from Costa Rica, Greg Basco recently published a review of this lens. What impressed me the most is the macro capability of this lens. I am yet to try it [...]