Customer Ratings & Reviews

A little slow to focus, but pictures are tack sharp. Great lens for the money.

I love this lens. The 1.8 aperture allows for great low light shots. This was my first prime lens, so it took some getting used to because of the lack of zoom. I had to move much more to keep a moving subject (1 year old niece) in the frame. I had been having trouble with shooting indoors with the 18-55 lens without a flash, and using this lens with a wide enough aperture I was able to take low light shots indoors without any problems.

I was super happy to get this lens for such a great price. Its a very fast lens being an f/1.8 which is great for low light and it has fantastic bokeh! I have a crop sensor camera but still I really don't mind it. I just have to back up a few steps more than if I had a full frame camera. The auto focus is a little noisy but still decently quick. If you don't have this lens then BUY IT! You won't regret it.

A lot of people figure just because this lens does not cost a lot its not going to be a very good lens. Well it is the complete opposite. I have found that this 50mm lens puts out a great picture, and although its not a 1.2, that 1.8 aperture is fantastic and very useful to have. A 50mm is a necessary to any cameraman's bag, weather it be a 1.8,1.4,or even a 1.2.

Though build quality leaves a lot to be desired, this is probably the best value Canon lens out there. The color, sharpness & bokeh can't be beat dollar for dollar. As I have only had this lens for a short while, the fit is nice & tight, very little play anywhere. Not a professional lens by any means, but it really gives my L lenses a run for their money as far as color & sharpness. If you're looking for a very affordable, almost disposable lens that takes high quality photos, this lens is for you. You will not be disappointed.

I'm a novice. I've had my first DSLR camera for less than 6 months. At this point, I don't want to invest a whole lot in glass. That said, I'm thrilled with this lens. I finally understand why someone would name a lens and the "Nifty Fifty" lives up to the moniker. The 55mm prime lens is great for street shooting because everything appears just as it would to your eye. That means you find yourself moving around, thinking more about your shots and it makes the images seem a lot more immersive. It's also fantastic for close up shots. The f1.8 allows for a nice contrast between the sharpness of the subject and the gentle blur of the background The lens is mainly constructed of plastic. Personally, I enjoy it because it's very light. Coupled with the short length, it makes for a setup that's very maneuverable. The one downside of the lightness, is that it makes the lens feel cheap. I wouldn't want to knock it around too much, but in the event that it does bust apart, its affordable enough where its no big deal to pick up another.

I bought this lens back in March, while a friend talked about getting a 50mm, I thought I would check out what she was talking about. While she wanted a very high quality expensive lens, I opted for something VERY inexpensive! I did some research on these lenses, read the reviews from this very spot and decided I wanted this lens. This lens is AMAZING and does everything I need it to do along with what the reviews stated! I didn't want to write a review right off the bat as I wanted to give myself time to use it, and while I do switch back and forth from this to me 18-55mm I use this one a good 90% of the time. I am very gentle when it comes to this kind of stuff and after reading the reviews of it being made of plastic and such I wanted to make sure I was even more careful. I have very little wear marks since it doesn't come on and off to much, and while I do like adjusting the focus from time to time, I always find myself using this lens for soooooo many types of shoots! It is amazing for baby sessions and gets the image I look for! I rarely crop for any reason when I use this lens!

I'v owned the 1.8 50mm and it was amazing for the price. I shoot both stills and video with the 5D & 7D. The 1.8 might be alright for stills, but the focus ring isn't really acceptable for pulling on video. I bought this lens to replace the 1.8 mainly for the bigger rubber focus ring. It also has superior construction and opens up two more stops. I wanted the L, but can't justify the extra $1,000 or $1,200 yet...

I purchased my Canon T5i with the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM kit lens a year ago. About a month and a half later, I added this nifty fifty to my camera bag, and WOW. If you are just getting into lens upgrades and cost is a factor, you simply cannot go wrong with this purchase.

I own a Canon Rebel T3i. This lens was a suggested (by professional) first purchase to try something other than my kit lens. I LOVE the quality image I get with it. I chose it for the lower aperture (1.8) because I loved the 'blur' it adds to images. I rarely use my kit lens anymore because it just doesn't seem to compare to the images I'm getting with this lens. I'm not qualified to really give reviews, but if you're like me and just searching for an inexpensive, quality lens that could give that extra pop to your picture...give this one a try!

Purchased this as a gift for my wife a while back and she absolutely loves it! It provides amazing pictures, while also challenging photographers to frame their picture at the same perspective of human vision.

This is a great starter lens for anyone looking to get into the "take great close up pictures of your kids" business. Great blurred backgrounds and excellent ability to manage aperture and other camera features. Some reviews complained about durability; as long as you're not taking your shots in Kandahar it's an otherwise durable lens.

Needed a fixed length lens for passport photos and quick art reproduction work. Found some good reviews on this lens - and it is GREAT! Yes it does have some barrel distortion, but PhotoShop fixes that right up. What is great is that there is almost no chromatic aberration. And I mean none for images reproduced up to 36"x48". Awesome. The lens is also pretty neutral in color for our studio lighting. The best is the cost! Paying around $100 versus our $2,500 Fluorite F2.8/70-200L is huge. But remember you only get what you are paying for. The lens focus motor is noisy and sounds cheap. The lens mount is plastic, so remember to apply a very, VERY thin film of vaseline to the flange area to prevent lockup. And the color of the plastic looks flat. But for what excellent photos it takes, the cheap price, light weight, and small size - IT IS GREAT!

Great starter lens for the amateur photographer. Makes quality pictures focusing on the subject while blurring the background.

This is my first portraint lens and it makes my photos looks great! Nice blurred backgrounds on portraits. Much nicer than the standard lens than came with my Canon DSLR camera. I highly recommend this lens as a good starting point for portraits.

Works great with my Canon T1i. Takes great pictures for my blog but I should have gotten a full frame lens instead. I'm going to keep this lens and just look for something else to use when taking landscape photos.

This lens is very light weight and the picture quality is excellent. The lens housing is plastic, but it seems sturdy enough. You can't beat this lens performance for the price paid.

This is an essential part of any DSLR camera set! Great pictures and quality once again by Canon...do not hesitate

Fantastic lens for the price. Every Canon DSLR owner should have this lens in their bag, unless they want to spring 3-4x more for the L series version of the 50mm prime lens. Great for portraits, low light, all sorts of conditions. Performs excellent. The AF is a little slow and noisy compared to Canon's USM lenses, and the construction is mainly plastic, but for me both are easy tradeoffs for the ultra low price compared to any of the other Canon EF or EF-S lenses.

You will hear the same thing over and over again about this lens... and it's very true. Pros Wicked sharp. This lens has NO business being this inexpensive and this sharp. But, it is. The image quality is spectacular. f1.8 is perfect for many uses. But, it has limitations. Cons The focusing drive is squishy and just this side of useless in low light environments. It's not that great for action photography either. On an APS-C camera, it's going to have a 35mm equivalent of 80mm. This, along with the wicked sharpness of the optics make this lens a spectacular portrait lens. I've not used this lens on a full frame camera. But, if you want to use this on a full frame camera, enable Peripheral Illumination Correction and stop it down at f4. But, if you are using an APS-C sensor... you have a chance to have a lens for $125 that has better optical performance than the $2000 L Series equivalent. Oh... don't try manual focusing while the AF mode is on. You will eventually ruin the gearing. Canon... if you are reading this... you've had this lens unchanged since 1990. How about you update to an STM drive while keeping the same spectacular optics? I would wait in line to buy that lens.