2010/06/12

A cheap 50mm f/1.8 lens for good photos and superb low light videos

The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II is a $99 lens that's great for shooting photos and videos with. It gives you a very shallow depth of field and also makes it possible to shoot under low light conditions. It has a focal lenght of 50mm which equals 80mm on the 550D (crop factor 1.6).



Yes, most of the lens is made of plastic - but I don't care because the price is really good. One advantage is that it's very lightweight, but on the other hand you will hear some ugly noises (same as on the 18-55 kit lens) in your videos when you focus manually. But with an external microphone this problem should be solved. Autofocus is very fast and works great under low light conditions. But be aware that this lens has no image stabilization. So running around and shooting videos will not give you the best results (to avoid shaky images say Hi to a Steadicam).

What's really poor is that the lens hood for this lens (ES-62) costs $30. 1.8 lens - $99. Some plastic with Canon written on it - $30. This is a price I really didn't want to pay. So I ordered a $5 lens hood from China. And I think it's basically the same as the Canon lens hood. So here you can save $25.

The lens is really fast and it's much fun to shoot videos with it since you can turn down the ISO values when shooting under low light conditions which will avoid ugly noise. This lens + hood combination is definitely a great deal if you're on a budget. If you have more money you should take a look at the 1.4 lens which is even better but much more expensive ($350).


Cheers,
jonni

9 comments:

  1. I ordered the lens hood via ebay-seller "jiakgong". Shipping to Germany took less than 2 weeks. Shipping was for free.

    Cheers,
    jonni

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  2. Wish you rather explain more in your vids than just unpacking plus don't use those kind of music its rather annoying.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for your comment. I'll do my best.

    Cheers,
    jonni

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  4. ich hab auch ein 1.8er für meine nikon. macht echt spaß damit. hab 30€ bezahlt :-)

    schönes video!

    wie kann man deinem blog folgen? ich find kein button...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Laney,

    eine 1.8er Linse macht schon mächtig Spaß, vor allem wenn es etwas dunkler wird. :)

    Habe jetzt einen Verfolgen-Button hinzugefügt - dachte eigentlich nicht dass das jemand nutzen wird ;)

    Gruß,
    jonni

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  6. Hello
    can u post the link to where u bought the lenshood and the 50mm lens?

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  7. Hi Oscar,
    I ordered the lens hood from ebay - this should be the same: http://cgi.ebay.de/Lens-Hood-ES-62-For-Canon-EF-50mm-f-1-8-50-F1-8-II-/260597438295?cmd=ViewItem&pt=DE_Elektronik_Computer_Foto_Camcorder_Foto_Camcorderzubeh%C3%B6r_PM&hash=item3cacd15757

    I got my 50mm lens from a local store, but if you want to order it check amazon.

    Hope this helps

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  8. The 18-55mm lens sounds "like plastic on plastic with sand on it" too, I was very worried about it, and as soon as I saw the same happened with this lens I got really unstressed.

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  9. Yes, these lenses are really cheap so it's "normal".

    Cheers,
    jonni

    ReplyDelete