Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens Review (by PhotographyBlog)

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The Photography Blog has published the Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens review (tested on the 45MP Canon EOS R5): “This is a very lightweight, very compact standard prime lens for Canon full-frame mirrorless owners that delivers good image quality, at a price that certainly won’t break the bank”.

Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens:

  • RF-Mount Lens/Full-Frame Format
  • Aperture Range: f/1.8 to f/22
  • One Aspherical Element
  • Super Spectra Coating
  • STM Stepping AF Motor
  • Customizable Control Ring
  • Rounded 7-Blade Diaphragm

Conclusion from PhotographyBlog:

If you’ve already got the F1.2 L lens, we’d still suggest taking a look at this new F1.8 version as a much cheaper, much lighter lens that’s perfect for travel and everyday photography, keeping your pro 50mm for those crucial jobs.

Despite its very affordable price, the build quality of the Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM is reassuringly good, certainly matching the other affordable prime RF lenses that we’ve previously reviewed.

Image quality is generally good. Chromatic aberrations are present but generally well controlled, distortion is impressively low, the Super Spectra coatings successfully prevent contrast loss attributable to flare, and you can achieve some nice bokeh effects at f/1.8.

The only real optical issues are some obvious corner shading at the maximum aperture and a lack of critical edge sharpness between f/1.8-f4 and f/16-f/22. Still, not bad going for a £$200 lens!

We would like to have seen Canon include a lens hood, though – instead you have to pay an extra £$35 for the optional Canon ES-65B, which seems a bit steep given the overall cost of the lens.

Focusing is perhaps this lens’ Achilles heel, albeit a fairly minor one. Auto-focusing is quiet, especially during video recording, but not especially quick, although it does focus reliably even in low-light conditions.

Manual focusing is a rather unintuitive affair, though, with the lack of an AF/MF button forcing you into the camera’s menu system, unless you take the time to setup the rather convoluted full-time manual focusing.

Rather weirdly, the lens also emits a distinctly audible whine when manually focusing that gets louder the faster that you move the focusing ring, but thankfully we didn’t really notice or mind that the focusing ring is electronically-driven.

For everyone who can’t stretch to the £2349 / $2299 RF 50mm F1.2, and we suspect that’s most people, then the RF 50mm F1.8 STM is certainly a worthy alternative, at least until Canon release a middle-ground RF 50mm F1.4 lens (come on Canon!).

This is a very lightweight, very compact standard prime lens for Canon full-frame mirrorless owners that delivers good image quality, at a price that certainly won’t break the bank.

You can read the full review at Photography Blog.

Canon EOS R5: $3,899 at Amazon, B&H, Adorama.

Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens: $199 at Amazon, B&H, Adorama.

Read more: Best Lenses for Canon EOS R5 & Best Canon EOS R5 Accessories.