Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens

************LISTEN UP*********************
I don't care what other reviews say about the durability of this lens. I read several reviews of people ranting about dropping this lens from their table and watching it shatter.
If you're going to be careless with any lens (i don't care if it's made of plastic or if it's an L series) and let it roll of the table, then you should probably NOT have an SLR camera.

These things are delicate instruments.

So...
for 80 dollars, you get:
- f/1.8 aperture
Excellent for low light conditions as well as getting that appealing effect of a focused subject and a blurred background.

yes, one positive point. This is a HUGE positive point however.

Several negatives however...
- Yes, it is made out of plastic...so be careful
- manual focus ring is a bit annoying
- No lens hood (not that you need one)
- Lens Filters require additional toys


But please! keep in mind that this is an 80 dollar lens. This lens delivers beautiful clarity and color. This is a lens every canon owner should have. However, keep in mind that this is the best of the bottom. Just try not to expect too much from an 80 dollar lens and the results will amaze you.

crisp, clean and beautiful. i love shooting on this and it was cheap. every photographer needs this lens.

Let me start by echoing just about any review you'll ever read, in fact my whole review does this, and say "For the money, this lens is worth it." It's pretty sharp, fast and produces a nice picture.

Now for why I hate it...
I feel like it was built out of Legos or plastic parts out of the bottom of many cracker jack boxes. It produces errors that require me to remove it from the camera and reset it frequently, usually when the shot is most important. Be wary that this lens does know the difference between an "important shot" and a picture of your cat and will act up accordingly as revenge on you.

The mechanics are clunky and noisy, because it's made out of garbage plastic. It has hard clicks when it locks all the way to one side of the focus ring and when moving sounds like a little kid on a big wheel coming after you.

There's a lot of people who don't like to spend a lot of money on photography equipment and even the thought of an $80 lens seems a bit absurd to them. For those people I will always recommend this lens. In this case you definitely get what you pay for, but you get a little more. It's made like crap, it's not pretty, but the results are usually good and hard to beat for the price. I'd go out on a limb and say no lens in the same price range could produce the same quality pictures.

However, if you're wavering back and forth between this and the F/1.4, for a few hundred more, do yourself a big favor and spend the extra money if you have it.

This lens is fantastic! I've been shooting with it for about a month now and my photos are definitely looking good. It's a great starter prime lens with good focus and clear pictures. I've been doing show/concert photography with it and works wonderfully in low light. You get a lot of bang for your buck here. With most other lenses costing $300-$1200, the 50mm f1.8 is quite a steal at under $100. Buy it and you won't regret it.

Amazing! Even though I am still a novice and learning more and more in the photog world everyday, I really love this lens. That being said, beyond the real technical comments, seeing the results from this lens vs. the stock lens that came with my XTi, have made me a true believer in the 50-fixed with wider aperture. I have been looking for a great starter lens as I start up my own in-home photography business, but haven't wanted to spend a lot of money. I would recommend this to anyone in the "start-up" world of professional photography. Not only that, but I don't believe you can really focus on all the other aspects of taking pictures (i.e. lighting, posing, composing the shot, etc.) until you have a lens that really enables you get good exposure even in lower light situations. No real complaints here, just looking forward to purchasing an L series next!