Whether known as the "plastic fantastic," "nifty fifty," or any number of other nicknames, Canon's 50mm prime remains an extremely popular, low-cost way to get amazingly sharp images in a wide-number of situations, including low-light photography. It's also been referred to as a sort of "photographic gateway drug" - a cheap way to fall in love with prime lenses. Put simply, this 50mm is a chance to add a fast, sometimes shockingly sharp lens to your arsenal for the unthinkable price of just about $80.

Despite all of the reviews out there showing pages and pages of charts and graphs showing barrel distortion or chromatic aberration for piles of lenses, I think a lot of people really want to get a practical idea of what a lens can do. So welcome to the first Aper(cul)ture gear review: Canon's EF 50mm f/1.8 Mk II prime lens.

Build

Put simply, the Canon 50mm f/1.8 II feels like a toy. When I took it out of the box, I could barely believe I was holding a piece of high-quality optics. At 4.6oz and 2.7"x1.6", it's definitely the smallest and lightest lens I've owned. That can be a great thing - pair it with a small digital SLR like the Rebel XT and you've got a small, lightweight combination that can't be beat for the price and is well-suited for a number of diverse applications like travel or low-light photography.

However, it's clear that the build is where Canon was able to keep costs low enough to offer the "plastic fantastic" for less than $80. The housing is entirely plastic - including the lens mount. If you were to drop it from more than a few inches it's unlikely it would survive. The lightweight construction also means you have to take care to protect it from the elements. After six months, my own copy has a number of dust particles within. To be fair, though, I've taken my "nifty fifty" on a lot of punishing trips, including a lot of outdoor shooting in China and Mexico.

Operation

The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8mm Mk II operates much like any other EOS lens and, given the simplicity of the product, there isn't too much to say in the way of the operation. A prime lens has a fixed focal length, so there isn't any zoom mechanism. There is a focusing ring, which is fairly flimsy but functional - although it might be tough to operate for those with very big fingers.

The auto-focus works pretty well, but tends to hunt around a bit, especially in low-light situations. A micro-motor powers the auto-focus, and its "whir" can be a bit louder than more expensive offerings. Full-time manual focusing is not a feature of this lens, meaning that if you try to manually adjust the focus while in auto-focus mode you might do damage to the mechanism.

The extremely wide maximum aperture means your options for low-light situations (like nightclub and concert photography) are greatly expanded - you'll be able to take pictures without flash in situations in which that option would be impossible with slower lenses. Its 50mm field of view becomes 80mm on a 1.6X crop camera (such as the Rebel XT, EOS D30, D60, 10D and 20D) - the perfect length for portraits.

Image Quality

The image quality is where this lens really shines. The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8mm II produces impressively sharp photographs, even wide open. When you stop down the lens to f/2.4 and beyond though, your images will really be razor-sharp. See some of the images below for a good idea of just how unyieldingly sharp this lens really gets.

The colors are fairly strong, and your images will be nicely saturated even without any additional processing. There is almost no visible chromatic aberration and very little barrel distortion - some reports online show that Canon's much more expensive 50mm f/1.4 and f/1.2 offerings show more distortion than this lens.

With any lens bragging such a wide aperture, the discussion will at some point inevitably touch upon bokeh - the aesthetic appearance of areas which are out-of-focus on any given photo. Smooth, blurry bokeh will emphasize in-focus subject matter by blurring out background (and foreground) objects, giving that very defined look that often immediately sets apart professional portraits from everyday snapshots. While some complain that the five-bladed aperture blades can lead to sometimes poor bokeh, in my experience it's been nothing but silky smooth. The five-blades, however, can make points of light blur into subtle pentagon shapes - you'll have to decide for yourself whether you like that or prefer a more rounded look.

Overall, the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 Mk II boasts comparable image quality to lenses many times its price, even some thousand-dollar plus "L-series" lenses. It's almost insane how good it is for the price.

Check out sample photographs taken with the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II standard lens (click on the thumbnails to view large):

The Bad: Sometimes poor auto-focus, especially in low-light situations. Plasticky feel and very lightweight. If you drop this lens - you can kiss it goodbye.

The Good: Outstanding image quality and ridiculous price. This lens costs just eighty dollars. It's so cheap it's completely replaceable. If you drop this lens - you can probably buy another without too much pain. Wide aperture makes for a very fast piece of optics - great for low-light or no-flash shooting.

The Bottom Line

For less than the price of a good filter, you can own a lens with optics as good as lenses many hundreds of dollars more expensive. While the build is flimsy, the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8mm Mk II presents the best bang for the buck in the entire Canon line. At around $80, there really isn't any reason not to have this lens in your bag.

If you decide you might want to pick one up, consider buying one from BHPhotoVideo - their service is out of control amazing. Buy the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 Mk II lens from B&H Photo Video.