Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM

£129/$125

An essential prime for Canon DSLRs Lens mount Canon EF

The so-called ‘nifty fifty’ is one of the most popular types of prime lens on the market, and with good reason. You can get a much tighter depth of field than with a kit zoom lens, for blurring the background and focusing all attention on the main subject. While this lens is full-frame compatible, it gives an effective 80mm focal length on APS-C format bodies, perfect for portraiture.

This STM edition adds a gear-type stepping motor autofocus system which is much quieter than the more basic electric motor of its predecessor. Handling is also improved, as the manual focus ring no longer rotates during autofocus.

Performance

There’s some noticeable axial (or longitudinal) chromatic aberration when shooting wide-open at f/1.8, but overall image quality is very pleasing.