Product Description

This is considered the standard lens for use with Canon SLR cameras

Product Details

• Brand: Canon
• Model: 2514A002
• Dimensions: 1.60" h x 2.70" w x 2.70" l, .50 pounds

Features

• 50mm standard lens with f/1.8 maximum aperture
• Traditional Gauss-type optical design is extremely sharp
• Focuses as close as 18 inches for extreme close-ups
• Ideal for natural-looking shots; excellent color balance
• Measures 2.7 inches in diameter; 1-year warranty

Amazon.com Product Description
Lightweight and affordable, the Canon EF 50mm lens--which offers a fast f/1.8 aperture--is an excellent lens for people who prefer a fixed focal length. Canon's lightest EF lens at a mere 4.6 ounces, the lens boasts a traditional Gauss-type optical design that delivers a sharp performance even when wide open. As a result, the lens provides an image that's extremely close to how your eye perceives a subject, making it excellent for portraits and images that require a natural depth of field. In addition, the lens focuses as close as 18 inches, helping you take extreme close-ups. Finally, the lens offers an excellent color balance. As with all Canon lenses, the lens carries a one-year warranty.

• Focal length: 50mm
• Maximum aperture: 1:1.8
• Lens construction: 6 elements in 5 groups
• Diagonal angle of view: 46 degrees
• Focus adjustment: Overall linear extension system with Micromotor
• Closest focusing distance: 1.5 feet
• Filter size: 52mm
• Dimensions: 2.7 inches in diameter, 1.6 inches long
• Weight: 4.6 ounces

From the Manufacturer
Lightweight and affordable, this sharp lens with a fast f/1.8 aperture is an excellent first lens for those who prefer a fixed focal length, and makes an excellent addition to any photographer’s system for available-light shooting. A traditional Gauss-type optical design ensures sharp performance even wide open, and it focuses as close as 18 inches/0.45m.

A medium telephoto lens with a large aperture brings the subject closer, creates excellent background blur, gives a longer flash range, and affords a faster shutter speed to freeze the action. A standard zoom lens, with its natural angle of view and perspective, captures the subject plainly, with no special effects. However, you can use standard lenses in creative ways by varying the subject distance, aperture, and angle.

Customer Reviews

a GREAT lens for the price!
This is a REALLY fun lens to use! I got it for my Canon Rebel XTi, and have used it constantly since. The lens casing does, of course, feel cheap and when focusing is slightly louder than a normal lens, but the pictures come out crisp and have good color saturation. I recently used this lens to shoot a preschool graduation in a darkened auditorium, and the pictures came out fantastic. I'd definitely reccommend this lens.

A+ lens for the price
Pro's:

-Great DoF (f/1.8)
-Great bokeh
-Inexpensive

Cons:
-Plastic, unlike the mk1... I've heard it's very easy to break... If you drop it it's a goner
-AF is noisy
-Focusing ring is annoying

Overall:
Overall, I love this lens... It's great, especially for the price. If you can't take perfect care of your lens, save up for the mk1, which is about $300 more, made of metal, and is f/1.4. But if you want a great lens for a cheap price and are willing to take care and just be a bit extra careful, I'd recommend this beauty.

Surprisingly Sharp Piece of Plastic
When you feel this lens, it feels like a joke. The construction quality isn't stellar (i.e. come on, it's plastic) but I have been generally impressed with the quality of images it produces. I shoot w/ this on a 5D and it produces fantasticly shallow depth of field, great colors, and surprisingly sharp images. I would recommend getting this lens, if for no other reason than as a backup.