Our experts suggest

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM

The newly designed ‘nifty fifty’ is an easy one to keep in the kit bag. It has a lightweight, small design and features Canon’s STM focusing system for quick, near-silent focusing. This is good for everyday photography as well as videography. It’s supersharp and has a fast maximum aperture to let in lots of light. With the lowest RRP among our three lenses it is huge on value for money and works perfectly on full-frame (as well as APS- C sized) Canon DSLRs.

£119

Near-silent focusing with Canon’s STM system Super Spectra coatings to reduce ghosting and flaring 7-blade aperture and minimum focusing distance of 35cm

Samyang 50mm f/1.4 AS UMC

Covering our mid-range in terms of budget, this offering from Samyang brings us a unique feature in our line- up: it does not contain autofocus. Because of this the Samyang is reasonably lightweight for its number of glass elements, and you pay for its fast, bright f/1.4 maximum aperture and multi-layered UMC antireflective coatings that help to reduce flare, rather than its focusing system.

£340

Manual focus only, meaning optical quality has been focused on A bright f/1.4 maximum aperture for more light collection 8-bladed aperture produces a smooth bokeh

Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM ART

Sigma’s ‘ART’ lens series is renowned for its incredible quality. Internally, SLD (special low dispersion) and aspherical glass elements work alongside a Super Multi- Layered coating to reduce chromatic aberration, ghosting, flaring and sagittal flare, for the highest possible resolution from a wide- open aperture. The Hyper Sonic Motor ensures silent focusing, and the fast maximum aperture is great for low-light situations.

£599

Sigma ‘ART’ lens quality thanks to SLD elements and SLD coatings A fast f/1.4 maximum aperture with 9 blades HSM focusing system for smooth, silent focusing