Featuring full time manual control and a Stepping Motor, this Canon Prime Lens should be one on the list for the video shooter. The Stepping Motor allows silent and smooth auto focusing, which is perfect for video recording and the Full Time Manual control lets you adjust your focus manually even...

This lens is situated as the next Nifty Fifty in Canon's line-up, offering the popular 50mm focal length at an affordable $125 price point. Of course, on APS-C cameras like the Canon EOS Rebel series will provide a field of view equivalent to an 80mm lens on a full frame camera.

This lens is an update to the popular and inexpensive standard 50mm f/1.8 EF lens , replacing the standard focusing motor with Canon's new stepping motor technology, which promises smoother, quieter autofocus performance, which is especially suited to recording video.

Very good sharpness in the centre at maximum aperture; Excellent sharpness when stopped down; Lightweight; Silent focusing; Good build quality

Sluggish focus speeds; Sharpness could be better towards the edges at fast apertures

Ask any Canon user what they think Canon's most popular lenses are, and I can guarantee that most will mention the classic EF 50mm f/1.8. Not only is it the most affordable lens in the EF line-up, it's also well matched to a wide variety of photographic genres.

"This is simple, lightweight and very sharp lens will bring your pictures on the next level. The same shots I was doing with standard zoom lens look amazing now. This new STM mode is also very fast in focusing. This would be extremely useful if you are making videos."

Ask any Canon user what they think Canon's most popular lenses are, and I can guarantee that most will mention the classic EF 50mm f/1.8. Not only is it the most affordable lens in the EF line-up, it's also well matched to a wide variety of photographic genres.

: The company's most affordable Rebel camera and also their smallest is a great offering for those that are just getting into photography.

Conclusions When a lens is priced this low, you're willing to forgive some of its shortcomings. The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM is plenty sharp, but its autofocus motor is on the slow side and it shows some fall-off at its widest apertures.

Sharp at f/1.8; Lightweight; Silent, smooth video focus; Very affordable

Modest barrel distortion; Slower focus; Can flare; Some fall-off at wide aperture; Omits stabilization; Narrower field of view on APS-C cameras; Hood not included

What an awesome lens! Really lives up to its "nifty-fifty" and "plastic-fantastic" sobriquets. The lens contruction is definitely plasticy but makes up in the image quality it produces. SIMPLY FANTASTIC. Images are pin sharp from f2.0 up. A little soft at 1.8 but really nothing to complain about.

The good points are that the images that come out are nice, it's compact, and it's cheap. But the build quality is terrible. You can't use it for video (the AF motor noise is extremely loud), and the manual focus makes a terrible grinding spring noise.

Compact

Build quality