Steve'sDigicams

Striderxl · Apr 28, 2005, 11:38 AM

Looking for a low light lens,since I miss my F2.8 Olympus 3040 for taking close up and indoor/low light pics.Seemstobeagood lenstoobuy.Also money is a factor right now.Will look to buy a more expensive lens next year.

Thanks

Charlie

redundo · Apr 29, 2005, 3:19 PM

I have this lens and it does a fantastic job.

It is the cheapest lens that you can buy and optically speaking it will beat just about all competitor zoom lenses covering 50mm (Some of which cost €400+).

It's advantages are simple. Small. Light. Fast. Superb optics. Cheap.

It doesn't have any real disadvantages - more like limitations.......
A lot of people complain of cheap quality, plastic materials. I swear reading some of the comments from people would make you think it would fall apart if you looked at it wrong. That has not been my experience. It's small, it's plastic, but it's solid. It's not going to fall apart unless it gets a fair old whack off of something!
Even more people complain about it's lack of a focusing distance display. But do you really need one? To be honest I personally never use them anyway. Perhaps it's poor technique on my part but I prefer, even when in manual focus, to adjust focus until I believe the subject is at it's sharpest.

On to it's more serious limitations.
The Canon 50mm F1.8 II doesn't have a USM motor. What does that mean? It's marginally slower and marginally noisier at focusing and you mustn't hold or turn the focusing ring while in AF mode. The focusing isn't so slow that you are likely to miss a shot and all you have to do is remember to keep your fingers away from the focusing ring when the lens is set to AF (and more importantly tell others to do the same if you let anyone borrow it!)

Just remember that it acts as an 80mm prime on 1.6 factor DSLR cameras. This can be both an advantage and disadvantage in equal measure depending on the situations you use it in. For example;
Head and shoulders protrait

Group photo in confined room

My thoughts on it? Great lens, Great price, highly recommended.

nikBoy · May 11, 2005, 3:41 PM

can u guys put some pics for this lens plsssss

peripatetic · May 11, 2005, 4:19 PM

I have a few over at http://vanderwooks.blogspot.com

Scroll down a bit for some using the EF 50mm f1.8 II.

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Apr 28, 2005, 11:38 AM	#1
Striderxl Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 300	Looking for a low light lens,since I miss my F2.8 Olympus 3040 for taking close up and indoor/low light pics.Seemstobeagood lenstoobuy.Also money is a factor right now.Will look to buy a more expensive lens next year. Thanks Charlie

Apr 29, 2005, 3:19 PM	#2
redundo Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 157	I have this lens and it does a fantastic job. It is the cheapest lens that you can buy and optically speaking it will beat just about all competitor zoom lenses covering 50mm (Some of which cost €400+). It's advantages are simple. Small. Light. Fast. Superb optics. Cheap. It doesn't have any real disadvantages - more like limitations....... A lot of people complain of cheap quality, plastic materials. I swear reading some of the comments from people would make you think it would fall apart if you looked at it wrong. That has not been my experience. It's small, it's plastic, but it's solid. It's not going to fall apart unless it gets a fair old whack off of something! Even more people complain about it's lack of a focusing distance display. But do you really need one? To be honest I personally never use them anyway. Perhaps it's poor technique on my part but I prefer, even when in manual focus, to adjust focus until I believe the subject is at it's sharpest. On to it's more serious limitations. The Canon 50mm F1.8 II doesn't have a USM motor. What does that mean? It's marginally slower and marginally noisier at focusing and you mustn't hold or turn the focusing ring while in AF mode. The focusing isn't so slow that you are likely to miss a shot and all you have to do is remember to keep your fingers away from the focusing ring when the lens is set to AF (and more importantly tell others to do the same if you let anyone borrow it!) Just remember that it acts as an 80mm prime on 1.6 factor DSLR cameras. This can be both an advantage and disadvantage in equal measure depending on the situations you use it in. For example; Head and shoulders protrait Group photo in confined room My thoughts on it? Great lens, Great price, highly recommended.

May 11, 2005, 3:41 PM	#3
nikBoy Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 27	can u guys put some pics for this lens plsssss

May 11, 2005, 4:19 PM	#4
peripatetic Super Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 3,599	I have a few over at http://vanderwooks.blogspot.com Scroll down a bit for some using the EF 50mm f1.8 II.