Canon EF 50mm lens

[2] The 50mm focal length, when used with a 35mm film or full-frame sensor, has been widely considered to match the perspective seen by the human eye.

When pairing a 50mm lens to a Canon DSLR with an APS-C sized sensor, the crop factor effectively turns the 50mm focal length into an 80mm field of view.

The 8-blade diaphragm and maximum aperture of f/1.0 give this lens the ability to create extremely shallow depth of field effects and to support low light situations.

[9] This, combined with the high production cost and low sales volume, led to it being discontinued in 2000 and eventually superseded by the f/1.2 edition.

This lens features a wide rubber focusing ring that is damped, a distance window with infrared index, and is fully weather-sealed, when a filter is added to the front.

A circular, 8-blade diaphragm and maximum aperture of f/1.2 give this lens the ability to create very shallow depth of field effects with smooth background blur.

Note that this housing and use of a 5-blade aperture were shared with the EF28mm f/2.8 and EF35mm f/2 lenses, in the case of the latter to speed date of release and keep production costs low.

Because of its low price (it is sold used only) and very sharp optical quality, this lens has earned the preference of a lot of photographers.

Obviously, when shooting at f/1.8, it offers a very shallow depth of field which is beneficial for isolating subjects against a blurred background (bokeh).

This lens utilizes Canon's STM (STepper Motor) focusing mechanism, which supports the Movie Servo autofocus mode.

It shares lens elements with the EF 50mm f/1.8 II but has 7 aperture blades instead of 5 and has a closer minimum focusing distance (45 cm/ 1.5 feet on the EF 50mm f/1.8 II to 35 cm/ 1.1 feet on the STM) [10] This lens is remarked as one of the best bang for your buck lenses because it is very sharp, very cheap, is very compact, and has a very good focusing system.

[8] Reviewers describe the lens as having "decent"/"mid-level" build quality, with very good color and contrast, "absolutely negligible" distortion, very sharp after f/4 and peak performance at f/5.6.

[11][12] The maximum 0.5x magnification means this lens is more suitable for photographing documents, products and objects at least 5 cm (2 inches) wide than small insects etc.

[13] The lens is constructed with a plastic body and metal mount, and features a distance window with infrared index and magnification markings.