CANON 50MM F/1

Canon has made a habit in recent of years of not building the lenses that we all guess they are going to build while often announcing và then swiftly releasing lenses that few people expected. After Canon refreshed a number of its smaller, non-L series primes (24mm, 28mm, and 35mm) with critically acclaimed (and image stabilized) new designs, the common expectation was that Canon would next address its aging yet popular EF 50mm f/1.4 USM. So what did Canon do? The opposite of expectations, of course, and instead released a refreshed version of its “plastic fantastic” aka “nifty-fifty” aka EF 50mm f/1.8 II. That new lens is the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM, & it is a significant nâng cấp in a number of ways over its older predecessor. Here is a summary of those updates from a preview article I wrote (we will elaborate further on many of these):

Redesign of the aperture iris. It is now 7 rounded blades as compared khổng lồ the 5 straighter blades before. The previous design would cause bokeh highlights lớn be a bit ugly (I often use the term “cartoonish” if the lens was stopped down much. Expect the new lens lớn have better bokeh when stopped down & I wouldn’t be surprised if highlights stay circular until at least f/5.6 or so. This wasn’t the case even at f/2.8 with the older design.

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Shorter minimum focus và maximum magnification. The older lens had a 1.5 foot minimum focus distance & thus a maximum magnification of .15x. This is pretty much the standard for 50mm lenses, but is definitely an Achilles’s heel for them. That isn’t a very impressive magnification figure. Canon has addressed that here, however, with a new minimum focus of just 1.1 feet và a maximum magnification of .21x. This is a much more useful figure và will allow for even more diffused backgrounds & more creativity when shooting “macro” type shots. This is a big khuyến mãi to me, personally, as I really enjoy using a 50mm lens in this fashion.Better build quality, including a metal mount. The redesign of the lens includes a more robust build unique (no more “plastic fantastic”) around a metal lens mount (the MK II of the lens had only a plastic mount). The original version of this lens has long been prized for its more robust build quality, và this new lens should prove a modernized version of that.Better focus ring. The 50mm f/1.8 II might as well as not had a focus ring at all. It was terrible. Tiny, scratchy, và not at all fun to lớn manually focus. The new focus ring will be a bit wider and definitely smoother, & STM does allow for full time manual override (unlike previous versions of this lens). Just know that STM is “focus by wire”, meaning that it is an electronic connection và not a physical one, meaning that the camera must be on for manual focus & that there can be a bit of a lag between your đầu vào on the focus ring & the actually movement of the elements. Not my favorite system, but here it will be an improvement over what was there before.

So after spending some unique time with the new nifty fifty, let’s jump in & discover the reality of the new lens. The new 50STM is a very nice lens for its extremely low price point. It feels lượt thích a real lens rather than the toy-like chất lượng of the “plastic fantastic”. I let my wife & children handle the old 50mm f/1.8 II, và they were shocked at cheap & “plasticky” it felt in comparison khổng lồ the usual volume of lenses flowing across my desk. The 50mm STM is small và light, of course, but it feels lượt thích a real lens. It’s not a Zeiss, of course (or even a Takumar), but it has a much more reassuring “denseness” compared lớn its predecessor. When compared with the 40mm f/2.8 STM, the 40mm feels a bit more dense. It weighs less (130g vs. 159g) but is also only 60% as long (23mm vs. 38mm), so overall it is about 25% more dense.

The new 50STM has a finish that is more of a matte look than any Canon lens I’ve reviewed before. The look works, though, and while the design is simple (STM lenses eschew focus distance windows & any kind of hyperfocal markings) it is clean và works nicely. The focus ring is still on the smallish side, but is wider than the focus ring on either the older 50mm f/1.8 or that on the 40mm STM.

One negative carried over here from the previous generation is that the lens is NOT internally focusing. The internal lens housing does extend during focus. It is most pronounced at minimum focus & is fully retracted at infinity focus. Most annoying is the fact the lens housing does not retract when the camera is powered down, và the nature of STM giải pháp công nghệ means that you cannot manually retract it when the camera is powered off. That exposes a vulnerability, as it might be possible khổng lồ damage the lens by something hitting that front barrel when it is extended. It makes the purchase of a lens hood an important consideration. The lens hood would prevent that happening in most all situations. Yes, nearly $27 for a piece of plastic is a bit ridiculous, but considering the bargain price of the lens, just consider it part of the investment.

Some photographers were hoping that this lens would be a “pancake” like the 40mm f/2.8 STM. While it isn’t really a pancake, for all practical purposes it is almost as good. It should easily slip into a jacket pocket and be very easy khổng lồ bring along, and will địa chỉ cửa hàng next to lớn no discernible weight to lớn most photographer’s bag. I should also lưu ý that the compact kích thước of the lens & its use of STM makes it a very natural lens to use with the EOS M line of camera bodies via the EF adapter. It balances nicely there và focuses fairly close lớn native EOS M lenses in terms of speed. This lens might even replace the 40mm f/2.8 STM as my most used EF lens on the EOS M.

The reality is that Canon has given us far more lens and charged us no more for it, making this lens officially one of the best bargains (if not the best) in DSLR photography. Canon’s margin on this lens is probably initially going to be fairly small (despite recycling a fair portion of the optical formula), but I have a feeling that they will hóa trang for it in volume. This lens is cheap enough that many photographers will buy it even if they don’t intend lớn use it that often. I’ll probably bởi it myself, and that’s why Canon was very smart khổng lồ keep this lens priced so aggressively. It also deflects the attack from Chinese maker Yongnuo with their “clone” of the 50mm f/1.8.

Autofocus

The key component of this nâng cấp is found in the name: STM. STM standings for “Stepping Motor”, & it is a newer focus motor technology that began with the EF 40mm STM lens. While speed is always a factor with autofocus motors, STM công nghệ is more about the way focus is achieved. Specifically, “stepping” công nghệ is about smoothness in focus, và smooth transitions from one focus point to another. Its major application is in video clip capture when AF Servo focus can be used lớn achieve smooth đoạn clip focus without hunting. A lens with STM used with, say, a Canon 70D like mine will even vì chưng smooth, natural “focus pulls” where extreme focus changes are made from a foreground lớn a background subject. STM motors also tend khổng lồ be quieter, particularly when compared to lớn the older micro-motors used in many of Canon’s lower over (non USM) lenses. Take a look at the difference in the focus quality and sound during AF Servo video clip capture on a Canon EOS 70D body.

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This 50mm lens is only the third full frame compatible lens that Canon has released with STM technology, & it makes far more sense than the last one that I reviewed (the 24-105mm STM). The use of STM makes perfect sense in Canon’s lower end and crop-sensor specific lenses (EF-S), as most of the recent Canon crop sensor bodies can leverage that giải pháp công nghệ (the Canon 70D & 7DMKII most effectively because of the Dual px AF technology) and the fact that STM is an improvement upon the old micro-motor technology. Its use in full frame lenses is a little more puzzling, however, as khổng lồ this point no Canon full frame body toàn thân employs Dual pixel AF or supports AF Servo video clip capture. I viewed the 24-105mm STM as more of a lens designed for future bodies, because its focal length is simply not a natural one for crop sensor bodies (the 18-135 STM makes more sense if you are shooting crop). I’m not as concerned here, because the low purchase price of the “nifty-fifty” means that a lot of crop-sensor shooters are likely to lớn use it in addition to lớn full frame shooters. The 50mm focal length is equally loved by full frame & crop sensor users, where the 50mm focal length becomes an effective 80mm (full frame equivalent). This puts it into a real sweet spot for portrait work as well as general purpose.

Full frame shooters get the advantage of a better/quieter/faster focusing lens even if their camera toàn thân can’t leverage the AF Servo clip focus function. Some crop sensor shooters with the right body toàn thân will get the full functionality.

The older 50mm f/1.8 II lens was one of the most notorious examples of the downsides of micro-motor focus. Its AF was loud, buzzy, & had a scratchy sound like it was working through a bit of grit every time. Micro-motors bởi not support full time manual override, so you would have khổng lồ select manual focus on the side of the lens before attempting to manually focus with the tiny manual focus ring that seemed to be barely attached to the very front of the barrel. Not great. It felt much lượt thích its price – cheap.

The STM version is a big step up. The focus motor is noticeably quieter (though not silent nor as quiet as other STM lenses that I’ve used), and it is much smoother. Faster? Not noticeably, but definitely smoother. Check out this đoạn clip for a look at the build, motor, và focus sound.

Unsurprisingly the focus shines the brightest when used in a way that the công nghệ was designed for. I added a 70D khổng lồ my kit for just this kind of evaluation, and in đoạn phim AF Servo mode the lens smoothly transitions from one focus point to another. It also focuses very quickly when utilizing the Dual pixel AF in Live View mode. On my 6D toàn thân the focus is also nice và accurate, although the tốc độ is unimpressive when compared khổng lồ a variety of modern lenses using either USM (Canon), USD (Tamron), or HSM (Sigma) ultrasonic/hypersonic motors.

I should cảnh báo that the copy of the lens that I reviewed did require significant AFMA adjustment (focus tuning) on the bodies that I used it on (save the EOS M, obviously). This included two Canon 6D bodies và 1 Canon 70D body. On all bodies the AFMA was at least -11. That is one of the more extreme adjustments that I have had khổng lồ make on a modern lens, but on a positive cảnh báo the result was consistent across multiple bodies và was repeatable in multiple tests.

If you have a body that does not tư vấn AFMA adjustment và find that your copy of the lens is not focusing consistently (accurately), you might consider sending the combination (body + lens) lớn Canon for calibration. It might cost you a bit of money but will save you a lot of heartache.

By comparison, the older 50II needed less extreme adjustment but with less consistent results. I got a number of errors even trying lớn run the program, so I vị think that overall focus accuracy has been improved.

Probably the biggest challenge for this type of lens is going lớn be in portrait use. We portrait photographers tend to like sharp, accurately focuses results. I typically focus on eyes, & I demand the focus there lớn be accurate. You will probably find that this type of shooting (typically at wide apertures like f/2.8 or larger) will expose focus inconsistencies more than general shooting. I was initially disappointed with the focus accuracy of the copy on my primary camera body toàn thân that I was using after a series of portraits (thanks lớn my lovely wife for jumping in to mã sản phẩm for me).