Super lightweight. Sharp as a tack. Wide open aperature. It focusses fast despite the lack of USM.

Kind of wimpy on the macro side...but no worse than the much more expensive Canon 50mm primes. Cheezy feeling focus ring is inconveniently small. Focus ring doesn't disengage reliably from manual to autofocus and back.

Everyone should keep one of these in their pocket for a spare fast lens. Its nice insurance. I'm never without it.

The F1.4 is constructed much better but I couldn't see any improvement in picture quality or macro ability...just construction and aperature. Of course the F1.4 is many, many times the cost.

The overall rating is tough to call. Its a 5 in image quality but only a 3 in construction so how about a 4.

Customer Service

My first one broke. It wouldn't reliably reengage the autofocus motor. I exchanged it.

Similar Products Used:

Canon's 50mm F1.4
Mamiya 50mm F1.4 (whole lota years ago.)

as below

as below

well, I brought the lense back to the shop, while I believed there is a spot between the elements, they tried a couple of minutes and take the lense back, the spot is .. gone.

after that, I had the pictures which was taken with the 50mm F1.8 II, I should say, at it's price range, I have nothing to complain.

Customer Service

havn't tried

Similar Products Used:

none

Light, cheap, sharp, contrasty, small.

susceptible to damage???

Great Lens. In a direct comparison to 28-90mm EF USM canon lens this lens had noticeably more contrast, brighter colours, and higher sharpness in 1hour Walmart prints. Its light, cheap, performs great and form my photography style I like not having the choice of zoom. I should have bought this lens with the camera. However, in overall rating, I bet that the 50mm 1.4 will be that much better in performance, so 4 stars overall.

Customer Service

Lens bought used, lens had been repaired for mf-af switch.

Similar Products Used:

Zeiss 1.7 50mm, 50mm Rokkor-x 1.7, 28mm-135mm EF canon, 28mm-105mm EF canon, 28-90mm EF Canon,

Sharp, compact, light, fast and cheap.

Not well sealed.

This lens is much better than most consumer zoom lens including 28-80, 28-105, and 28-135. This lens has been so sharp that I could not go back to the zoom lenses. Those who have used only the consumer zoom lenses should try this one. For the price, you cannot make a mistake.

Similar Products Used:

None

light weight
price/performance

none

Fantastic!
Its superiority over other Canon consumer zoom lenses such as the EF28-80USM is clearly aparent on even 4x6 prints or slide projection.
The highest price/performance ratio of any lens I ever used. Zeiss 45mm/f2 is superior at f2, however, but only by a small margin, which is not clearly visible on prints smaller than 5x7.

Similar Products Used:

Zeiss/Contax 45mm/f2 for G2
Minolta Rokkor 50mm/f1.7
75mm/f3.5 for M645 medium format

Lightweight and compact. Optics very sharp - great quality for the price. A very fat lens.

No Dept of field guide lines and no display of f/stops.

I use this lens regularly when shooting night time parties for "grip and grin" shots. Fast speed picks up flash light with great precision.

Customer Service

Tried to purchase this lens at 3 stores. Ritz was the only one to go out of their way to find this lens. Wolf Camera tried to sell my the 1.4 at $488. Had no interest in trying to find one.

Similar Products Used:

None

Excellent optical quality.
Very cheap.

Very cheap.
Terrible build quality.
No focus distance or depth of field info.

The only reason for any EOS owner not to have one of these is ownership of the f1.4 (or f1.0!) lens.
Optical quality is quite remarkable for the price.
Build quality is something different, though.
My first one of these fell apart whilst trying to take a shot of a Timber Rattler in the White Mountains - an unnerving experience. However, BUY ONE.

Similar Products Used:

More 50mm f1.8s than I care to remember.

Sharp, Fast (1.8), Inexpensive

Cheap build, but I've had mine for ten years, and it still works fine.

This lens may be cheap, but it's always in my bag because of it's speed. It actually saved my bacon while shooting a Wedding, because I needed a fast lens during the ceremony (the minister didn't allow flash during the ceremony), so there I was, hiding behind a pulpit, camera on a tripod with a cable release, with my el cheapo 50mm 1.8, banging away, and got some of the best shots with this lens. I'm giving a five star rating for value recieved from a very inexpensive lens, in fact, I'm amazed that it's not broken yet.

Customer Service

I never needed it, and if I did, it would probably be cheaper to throw it away and buy a new one.

Similar Products Used:

Manual focus Minolta, Canon, & Pentax.

Lightweight
Sharp
Cheap
Non-rotating front element

Poor built quanlity
A bit slow AF
Focus ring can rotate even set to AF mode (but not FTM)

Best lens for my EOS. Super best buy with the money I spend on it. I am sure F1.4 perform better but it is much expensive. The only complaint is the focus ring can be turn even in AF mode, that may damage the motor if you use it as FTM.

F1.8 helps when you need to take indoor photo with no flash, or when you wanna capture more background light in the photo. I try take some portrait with wide open and the result is good. I will say it is a must have for every EOS user.

Customer Service

No need

Similar Products Used:

OM 50mm F1.8
OM 40mm F2
EF28-80 USM IV
EF22-55 USM

Very light, very sharp, very cheap

Very cheap, lousy build quality, no distance or DOF markings, horrible grating motor

The worst feeling, and one of the worst built lenses I have ever owned. But also one of the sharpest, and at the price there can be no complaints. Loses 1 star because my first one fell apart whilst taking a picture of a Timber Rattler in the White Mountains - scary!

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Loads of 50 mm f1.8s!