Canon 50mm Lens: The Essential Must-Have for Every Canon Owner?
I have been using the Canon EOS 90D for some time and was looking for a more light sensitive lens in addition to my 18-135mm kit lens. After some searching I ended up with the EF 50mm, because the price is extremely low I gave it a try. I had the lens with me on holiday and was then able to test it for a few days, so I also have a rough impression in comparison to the kit lens.
The biggest advantage of the EF 50mm 1.8 is its extreme light sensitivity. This is usually only found in much more expensive lenses than this 130€ lens from Canon. The background is beautifully blurred without having to turn up the ISO too fast. This makes it possible to take beautiful pictures indoors without immediate image noise. Especially in comparison to the 18-135mm kit lens, which has a light sensitivity of 3.5-5.6, I noticed the massive difference in depth of field with close objects and much more clear pictures indoors.
The picture on the right was taken at F2.5 1/80 ISO 200 in a well-lit interior. By the way, this is a “1960 Buick Guerra LeSabre Cabriolet” in the Motorworld Munich.
Since the EOS 90D has an APSC sensor, you don’t shoot with a real 50mm but with a crop factor of 1.6, which results in an actual focal length of 80mm. Compared to the kit lens, you really have to move quite a bit further away and need a lot of space. It can take a minute or two to find a time when no one is walking through the picture when you are in a museum or similar.
You also have to be aware that you have to use a prime focal length and have no possibility of zooming. You either have to get closer to the subject or digitally zoom in later using software, which then has a negative effect on the quality. However, I have to say that once you have found the ideal angle, the pictures become pretty cool with little effort, in my opinion.
STM Motor / Image Stabilization
The STM motor works very well and focuses very fast. I honestly couldn’t notice any difference compared to the USM motor on my kit lens. I also did some videos with the 50mm and really noticed almost no noise from the STM motor. So if you don’t just want to make videos with the lens, the motor should be fine. Another thing is that the lens doesn’t have image stabilisation, so videos can only be stabilised digitally by the camera itself or later in the editing program. I’ve already noticed that with my videos, the videos quickly become very shaky, especially when you’re walking, which doesn’t make watching them very pleasant. So the lens is only of limited use for videos. For me, this is the biggest negative point of the lens.
What’s new with the updated version?
Compared to the previous version of the 50mm 1.8, Canon now uses an STM motor instead of the old USM motor, which many owners found too noisy. The old version was also criticised for not feeling very high quality because of the plastic used. The new version of the 50mm lens now has a metal bayonet instead of a plastic bayonet and higher quality plastic on the rest of the materials. I have to say that the lens feels very high quality and doesn’t look cheap at all, which is a really positive surprise for the price.
Overall, I think the lens is great, especially in relation to the price. The only thing you should be aware of is that you don’t have an image stabiliser and that at 50mm you have to be quite a distance away from the subject you are photographing. If you can accept these compromises, you have a light-sensitive, affordable and lightweight lens with which you can take cool and interesting photos in many situations.
