Canon AF/EF 50mm f/1.8 lens... ???

[chrismccorkle]

I'm an intermediate photographer (in skill, not equipment) and I'm on the search for a 50mm f/1.8 lens for my Canon EOS 350D (aka Digital Rebel XT) and I can't find any for the life of me... Every search I make, be it on amazon.com, bhphotovideo.com, or even google, I can not find an AF 50mm f/1.8 lens. All I find are EF ones... now as far as I know, these have a different mount setup. Am I right? I have an AF->EF mount for my 350D, but it's weird and the corrective lens isn't very good.

I saw a poster here where they used a 50mm EF lens on a 30D. It confused me.

Am I missing something? Can I easily put the EF lens on my digital camera? What do I need?

 

[Music_Producer]

I'm an intermediate photographer (in skill, not equipment) and I'm on the search for a 50mm f/1.8 lens for my Canon EOS 350D (aka Digital Rebel XT) and I can't find any for the life of me... Every search I make, be it on amazon.com, bhphotovideo.com, or even google, I can not find an AF 50mm f/1.8 lens. All I find are EF ones... now as far as I know, these have a different mount setup. Am I right? I have an AF->EF mount for my 350D, but it's weird and the corrective lens isn't very good.

I saw a poster here where they used a 50mm EF lens on a 30D. It confused me.

Am I missing something? Can I easily put the EF lens on my digital camera? What do I need?

You're kidding right? I mean, I'm not even a photographer, but I just went to the Canon website, and it clearly mentions that the Canon 350D is compatible with Canon EF lenses. So.. I kinda can't figure out what you're doing with an AF-EF mount in the first place, or looking for an AF lens..

 

[seenew]

Yeah I have 3 EF lenses for my 350D

 

[Pistol Pete]

on a side note i have the nikkor version of that lens and I love it.

 

[Silentwave]

I'm an intermediate photographer (in skill, not equipment) and I'm on the search for a 50mm f/1.8 lens for my Canon EOS 350D (aka Digital Rebel XT) and I can't find any for the life of me... Every search I make, be it on amazon.com, bhphotovideo.com, or even google, I can not find an AF 50mm f/1.8 lens. All I find are EF ones... now as far as I know, these have a different mount setup. Am I right? I have an AF->EF mount for my 350D, but it's weird and the corrective lens isn't very good.

I saw a poster here where they used a 50mm EF lens on a 30D. It confused me.

Am I missing something? Can I easily put the EF lens on my digital camera? What do I need?

You're thinking FD. That was the ancient manual focus canon mount. They abandoned their users for EF but thats a story for another day .

EF is the autofocus mount for canon cameras. All current Canon cameras use the EF mount, though the more recent 1.6x crop cameras (350D, 20D, 30D, and I think the 300D) are also compatible with EF-S lenses which are 1.6x crop only.

 

[jared_kipe]

I'm an intermediate photographer (in skill, not equipment) and I'm on the search for a 50mm f/1.8 lens for my Canon EOS 350D (aka Digital Rebel XT) and I can't find any for the life of me... Every search I make, be it on amazon.com, bhphotovideo.com, or even google, I can not find an AF 50mm f/1.8 lens. All I find are EF ones... now as far as I know, these have a different mount setup. Am I right? I have an AF->EF mount for my 350D, but it's weird and the corrective lens isn't very good.

I saw a poster here where they used a 50mm EF lens on a 30D. It confused me.

Am I missing something? Can I easily put the EF lens on my digital camera? What do I need?

Ya, no such thing as a Canon AF mount. There are EF lenses that are manual focus however.

 

[chrismccorkle]

Thank you very much Silentwave for helping clear that up for me.

And it was an FD-AF mount I have, not EF.

 

[Biker21098]

I just ordered my camera from amazon, and I'm getting that same lens. I can't wait. Great deal for 75 bucks I think. It'll be good to have a fast lens, cause I don't have nearly enough for an L series lens, so I'm stuck on my budget f3.5-4.5 lenses. I can't wait for it all to come. I also go the Sigma AFO 70-300mm DG as well as Canon's EF 28-105mm. ya I think AF just stands for Auto Focus. and to reiterate. and new Canon camera will take EF lenses, but only the more prosumer new Digital SLR's (the 1.6x crop chip) can use the EF-@ lenses. Enjoy the new lens when you get it.

 

[chrismccorkle]

i just settled with

Items shipping soon:
Delivery estimate: July 11, 2006

* 1 of: SanDisk SDCFH-2048-901 2GB ULTRA II CF Card
* 1 of: Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
* 1 of: Canon 430EX Speedlite Flash for EOS and PowerShot Cameras

Here is the link to the item:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009XVCZ/ref=sr_11_1/002-3570481-0939217?ie=UTF8

and to quote a smart user from macnn.com:

AF - AutoFocus
EF - Electro-Focus

-Demonhood

 

[cookie1105]

You will be very happy with the f/1.4, amazing for low light shots and portraits on a 350d. Due to 1.6x crop you end up with an effective 80mm f/1.4.

I love mine.

 

[benpatient]

i also have the 50/1.4 and it is top-notch. if only they could make a zoom lens like this for this price....

the 1.8 is made of plastic (the mark III is, anyway, the older 1.8 was identical, except made of metal and much sturdier).

The 1.4 is a USM-enabled 1.8 with half a stop of additional light and a rugged metal enclosure.

In fact, it and the 50/1.0 (over $2000, but can take photos in near darkness!) are defacto L-series lenses without the label or the distinctive ring/grey color. They perform as well optically as the L-series lenses typically do.

 

[Mike Teezie]

i also have the 50/1.4 and it is top-notch. if only they could make a zoom lens like this for this price....

the 1.8 is made of plastic (the mark III is, anyway, the older 1.8 was identical, except made of metal and much sturdier).

The 1.4 is a USM-enabled 1.8 with half a stop of additional light and a rugged metal enclosure.

In fact, it and the 50/1.0 (over $2000, but can take photos in near darkness!) are defacto L-series lenses without the label or the distinctive ring/grey color. They perform as well optically as the L-series lenses typically do.

That ain't no joke. It's weird - I'll be shooting location portraits with my Tamron 28-75 f/2.8, and be getting great results. Then, I'll switch to either my 70-200 2.8L IS or 50 1.8. When I get back home and pull the images up, the ones shot on the 50 and 70-200 just have a little something extra, some magic I can't quite describe.

The Canon 50mm lenses shoot like an L, but aren't we lucky they don't have L pricing?

 

[BigMäc]

50 mm 1.8 vs. 1.4

This is a section of an image taken at f1.8 with the EF 50 mm f1.8 II Lens.
Is the green fringe a lens problem, and if so would the f1.4 version get a better result?

 

[timnosenzo]

You're thinking FD. That was the ancient manual focus canon mount. They abandoned their users for EF but thats a story for another day .

Haha! I love how Nikon guys always seem more pissed about that then Canon users. As a Mac user, you think you would be able to appreciate a company abandoning an old technology for something new and better (SCSI, anyone?)

 

[timnosenzo]

In fact, it and the 50/1.0 (over $2000, but can take photos in near darkness!) are defacto L-series lenses without the label or the distinctive ring/grey color. They perform as well optically as the L-series lenses typically do.

The 50 f/1.0 was an L, here's a pic (looks a lot like the 85mm f/1.2L)

 

[Mike Teezie]

The 50 f/1.0 was an L, here's a pic (looks a lot like the 85mm f/1.2L)

Doesn't that lens go for the like $3k on ebay?

 

[timnosenzo]

Doesn't that lens go for the like $3k on ebay?

yeah, between $3000 & $4000 depending on the condition!

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

* 1 of: Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

-Demonhood

LOL at the "Medium Telephoto Lens" reference. Just shows my age, this was a "normal" lens back in my day.

 

[mlrproducts]

What you were looking for was the EF lens, "EF" is a lens mount.

"AF" just means autofocus.

As for the lens, the 50mm 1.8 runs about $75-80 brand new from a good dealer such as BH. While I'm sure you'll love the 1.4, since you're intermediate you could have gotten away with the 1.8 for sure here:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=12142&is=USA&addedTroughType=search

I can't believe no one pointed this out before you dropped way too much.

I personally use this lens. While I am not a pro photographer, I do shoot many senior portrait shots, and other occasional paid shoots. And by this I mean I shoot decent photos, not just a GWC.

You don't need the 1.4 unless you are specifically shooting low-light conditions on a regular basis. My two cents.

 

[sjl]

LOL at the "Medium Telephoto Lens" reference. Just shows my age, this was a "normal" lens back in my day.

Depends on the body you're shooting with. 35mm film SLR? It's a normal (standard) lens. 5D? 1Ds series? All would consider the 50mm to be a standard lens.

On the 1D, it's a slight telephoto. (65mm equivalent FOV). On the 1.6 crop bodies, it is indeed a medium telephoto, at 80mm equivalent FOV.

Standard on the likes of the 20D, 30D, 350D, etc. would be 50 / 1.6 = around 30mm. I'd say a 28mm would be as close as you'd get.

A small bit of trivia: 50mm is actually a slight telephoto even on a 35mm body: "standard" means that the focal length is the same as the diagonal length on the image sensor, which, on a 35mm negative, is actually around about the 43mm mark, if I haven't stuffed up my maths. But because it was easier to make good telephoto lenses than good wide angle lenses, they decided to make the 50mm the "standard" length. It's close enough for most purposes in any case.

 

[jared_kipe]

Sigma makes a 30mm f1.4 prime.

 

[form]

Which, IF you can get a good copy, supposedly deserves a lot of praise for sharpness, overall quality, and especially price relative to Canon's EF 35mm f/1.4L USM.

I wish I could play with these lenses, but the local camera store's employees sneer and throw dirty looks around when someone doesn't want to pay full retail for their stuff.

 

[Cybix]

i have the thrifty-fifty f/1.8 and love just walking around, man focus, just fiddling with things.. it's not hard to fill a decent CF card with random stuff... in almost any location.

I bought the lens before I even really got to use my new camera, because it was damn cheap.