CANON EF 50mm f/1.8 STM £99/$125

Get some bokeh on a shoestring budget with Canon’s cheap-and-cheerful nifty fifty lens

This Canon full-frame compatible 50mm prime is the least expensive lens in the group. Even so, it’s nicely made and an improvement over the previous edition. Enhancements include a more refined autofocus system based on a stepping motor, which gives smooth, ultra-quiet transitions ideal for movie capture.

There’s also a slight improvement in handling, as the focus ring and front element no longer rotate during autofocus. The upshot is that you don’t need to keep your fingers clear of the focus ring, and it’s easier to use filters like circular polarizers and ND grads. Build quality is better in the new lens as well, with the mounting plate being made from metal, rather than plastic. From a bokeh standpoint, the increase in diaphragm blades from five to seven is a significant upgrade, giving a better-rounded aperture when stopping down a little. Although it produces a natural perspective on full-frame bodies, the lens is often preferred for APS-C format Canon cameras, where it gives an ‘effective’ 80mm focal length, more ideal for portraiture.

Performance

Bokeh is lacking in smoothness, defocused areas tending to look a little glitchy. When stopping down, defocused lights and bright spots take on a noticeable heptagonal shape, but it’s still an improvement over the pronounced pentagonal shapes produced by the previous lens. Axial chromatic aberration or ‘bokeh fringing’ can be noticeable when shooting at f/1.8, displaying as coloured fringes around edges of objects that are in front of or behind the point of focus.