Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

firsts

The firsts series represents the first lenses I owned and have kept for each (interchangeable lens) camera body I’ve had. Today is the turn of the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8.

On 12 November 2004, shortly after having my Sony DSC-F717 stolen, I purchased my first interchangeable lens camera. It was a DSLR. It was a nasty “silver” plastic colour. It had a ridiculous name (“Digital Rebel”, although thankfully the UK name was the 300D). But it was magical.

In some ways the start of this camera was a bit disappointing for me. The included kit lenses (Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 and the 55-200 f/4.5-5.6 II USM) really lacked contrast. I got some nice pictures, but I wasn’t amazed. So on 12th December 2004 I wrote down my Christmas list. Here’s the very first row:

Item	Price	Location
Canon EF Fixed Focal Length Lens – 50mm f/1.8 II	£55	http://www.7dayshop.com

It was a revelation. Fast, light, sharp. The colours! The contrast! So when I much later replaced my Canon (by then a 5D Mark II in 2019) I couldn’t bring myself to sell the 50mm, I suppose partly because I’d get very little for it, and partly because it’s the first non-kit-lens I’ve owned.

Mount	Canon EF
Weight	130g
Purchased	Gift for Christmas 2004
From	7DayShop
Price	£55

The 50mm attaches to a Sony e mount body with a mount adaptor; I’m using the Sigma MC-11. It works okay on my A7R III, and really well on my A6700. I don’t know why one is better than the other. I have quite a few examples on the A7R III where it’s just off, see also below.

But it’s still fun to come back to. It’s still quite high contrast and while it’s slow to focus it does have the benefit of being very light and therefore easy to carry. The contrast and colours add interest to even pretty dreary scenes.

But, as I said above, it comes alive on the A6700. It can still focus hunt a bit, and on continuous focus it’s a bit of a mess (this might be the mount convertor, but the slow focus motor surely isn’t helping). But when it’s sharp it’s bang on.

Because it’s bright and light it’s been easy to take a fleeting photo that otherwise would have been lost.

There’s really nothing to commend about the build quality of the lens. It wasn’t £55 in 2004 for no reason. It feels very plasticy (even the mount is plastic), the motor makes a loud noise, the focus ring is pretty unpleasant feeling and very narrow so hard to grip well and your only switch or option on the lens is the manual focus toggle, which is a odd, small, smooth toggle that’s hard to grip and thus hard to change.

At 130g it is a bit hard to complain though, and when the images are good, they’re great.

Crops hold up pretty well – obviously this is partly about the camera, but it also shows there’s a decent amount of detail in images. It’s sharp enough off-centre to mean you don’t worry about anything nearer the edge of the frame (especially when stopped down a bit; the photo below is at f/2.8)

Will I keep using it? In honesty, probably not much. Yes it’ll come out from time to time, but my Samyang 45mm f/1.8 is just as portable and better image quality (and generally works better with my cameras) so there’s not much need for me for the Canon. It does sometimes have a nice colour and look though, and has some of that character that means it won’t just stay on the shelf.

See the album of this lens’ photos on Flickr with the above ten and a few more I liked.