Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
This is considered the standard lens for use with Canon SLR cameras
Amazon.com Product Description
Lightweight and affordable, the Canon EF 50mm lens--which offers a fast f/1.8 aperture--is an excellent lens for people who prefer a fixed focal length. Canon's lightest EF lens at a mere 4.6 ounces, the lens boasts a traditional Gauss-type optical design that delivers a sharp performance even when wide open. As a result, the lens provides an image that's extremely close to how your eye perceives a subject, making it excellent for portraits and images that require a natural depth of field. In addition, the lens focuses as close as 18 inches, helping you take extreme close-ups. Finally, the lens offers an excellent color balance. As with all Canon lenses, the lens carries a one-year warranty. - Focal length: 50mm
- Maximum aperture: 1:1.8
- Lens construction: 6 elements in 5 groups
- Diagonal angle of view: 46 degrees
- Focus adjustment: Overall linear extension system with Micromotor
- Closest focusing distance: 1.5 feet
- Filter size: 52mm
- Dimensions: 2.7 inches in diameter, 1.6 inches long
- Weight: 4.6 ounces
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Customer Reviews: Read 725 more reviews...
 The best lens to learn with January 6, 2009
When I first got into photography, all I had was a Pentax K1000; a 100% manual film SLR with a Sears 50mm f2.8 lens. I loved it. I messed up a lot of shots, and learned from every one.
Times have changed a lot, but the thing I love is that a fast 50mm lens will still help you learn so much about photography. From framing your shots well to shutter and aperture settings, you will learn a LOT using this lens. You will learn about depth of field very quickly. You will learn about how much light you need at what aperture settings to properly expose the image...
Yes, the lens feels so cheaply built it seems like it must have come out of a Happy Meal.
Yes, it's slow and loud to focus.
However, it takes a darn good picture.
If you have recently bought a digital Rebel, buy this lens and leave it on your camera in lieu of the kit lens for a month of shooting. You will learn so much about photography in that time!
If you get serious about photography then you will end up buying lenses that cost much more than your camera did. Stick this cheap lens on your new camera and you will learn so much that you can make better decisions on what expensive lenses to buy.
For the price of this lens you have nothing to loose.
Enjoy!
KO
Wonderful Optical Quality, Iffy Build Quality January 5, 2009
I use this lens with my Canon EOS Rebel XS (or 1000D, if you are in Europe), and I could not have been more satisfied buying it. It's almost questionably cheap, but it has excellent optical quality. I think Canon did an excellent job with this lens, because they managed to put great lenses and a pretty decent AF mechanism in it without bringing the price too far up. Unfortunately, this means that they had to lower the production cost by doing something, and they chose to make it out of plastic. This makes it vulnerable to physical abuse, while its big brother, the Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Standard & Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras is made out of metal and is able to withstand this physical abuse.
Overall, this lens is great for those who are, like me, on a budget and are willing to take the chance of breaking the lens. Everyone else should try and go for 50mm f/1.4.
 I just wanted to note the purple fringing January 4, 2009
I just wanted to make a quick post to point out that while this is a great lens, it is susceptible to purple fringing around high contrast areas. I bought this lens almost specifically for wide field astrophotography and am quite disappointed by the fringing.
Despite all that, I still think this a lens all dslr owners should have in their kit (unless they pony up for the 1.4).
Great lens for the price January 3, 2009
I've had this lens for about a week now and it pretty much is going to stay on my Rebel XSi with the exception of my 70-200mm "L" lens. The bokeh is smooth which you can see by some of the pictures I've uploaded.
It also works well for Astrophotography. I've used it to shoot the Horsehead Nebula and once we get a non-moonlit night I'm going to use it to shoot the Milky Way. I've gotten the Milky Way with the kit lens but I have a feeling this lens is going to be way better.
The one and only thing I've noticed is that sometimes it hunts for Autofocus but I'm certain that's more me just getting used to the limitations of the lens pertaining to distance (too close to the subject).
In any case, just order it, it's easily one of Canon's better lenses. I would suggest that you get the hood with it, I did and found out that it really helps with glare when the light source is too the side
Great little lens for the price! January 3, 2009
I bought this lens because of the price and because of the overall positive reviews. Sure, the construction is a little cheesy and the AF is pretty noisy, but it's a great little lens for portraits and the like for a beginning photographer on a budget. It's my first prime lens and I'm having a lot of fun with it. It's sharp, fast, and very lightweight. It's also great in low-light.
To take sharper pictures, I usually have an aperture of about f/4 to f/8. Subjects tend to have a soft, creamy look if the aperture is wide open, which is good or bad depending on what you are going for and how you focus. I had trouble getting sharp shots because it was wide open, so I went to about f/4 for sharper shots following some advice from folks online. It really depends on what you're going for, however. I'm still playing with it and learning.
Since it's not USM, the AF is very noisy, but it doesn't bother me that much at all.
I definitely recommend this lens. The price is right and the shots it takes are amazing!
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