Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM lens review with samples

I was particularly excited to be testing out this important new lens because this appears to be the first full review of it available on the internet! So I had no idea what to expect. As I've mentioned, a comparison video between this and the older, EF version of the lens is coming soon.

By the way, I know I need to clean my windows ;-)

This lens will /not/ work on digital SLR cameras, or Canon EOS M cameras - only Canon EOS R system cameras.

Find it here (Amazon affiliate link):

All sample pictures taken by me on a Canon EOS R5 cameras.

Equipment I use to make my videos (Amazon affiliate links):

Music:
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

[christopherfrost]

Apologies for the re-upload: there was a mistake in the original review regarding the function of the control ring which was serious enough that I decided to edit the content of the video.

[rjb]

Whereas Peter Mckinnon does a nice job as a Canon Sponsor to tell you how great the lens is and shoots some nice video, Christopher Frost at 3:55 min shows how loud and slow the auto focus is. He is a reliable reviewer and I appreciate getting the "whole truth " rather than a partial truth. THANKS. A +

[robertbirnbach]

the things I like about Christopher Frost videos. - howdy everyone - a calm soothing voice in this unpredictable time - his insightful and detailed technical reviews- pictures of a welsh village that at lest allow me to imagine traveling to somewhere quaint and different from San Francisco during our lockdown :)

[juanquispe]

4:08 Lens of the year because it's also a printer!

[nandorblue]

Christopher you should also show test result at F2.0 or F2.2. Many photographers will use this lens as portrait lens and they would like to know at what F stop the center becomes usable without closing it down too much in order to preserve bokeh. When you jump from F1.8 to F2.8 you avoided the most important stops for portrait shooters. Thanks.

[sibangjack]

can't wait to see comparison between this RF lens to the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM.

[defakosgr]

Dear Mr. Frost You are the one and only I trust when it comes to lens reviews. You have helped me decide for my purchases 99.99% of the times that I was looking to buy a lens and never gone wrong! I am a subscriber and I trust your reviews all the times. Good job!

[tomvanbergen]

Good review as always.

I have the new RF version and have owned the EF STM as well. For me, getting rid of the adapter is worth the extra money. After selling my EF version and the adapter I got this lens practically for free. It does seem a little sharper and focusses faster. The noise is actually not too bad and quieter than the EF version in my experience. I was not expecting a big jump up in quality, so sharpness and bokeh rendering is on par with what I expected.

Funny how so many praise the EF version and suddenly seem disappointed if a $200 RF equivalent does not perform as well as its $2000+ f/1.2 L big brother.

[Jimaroid]

I received the RFmm 50 f/1.8 last week also and am pleased with it, I also have the EF 50 f/1.8 but the native RF achieves the main thing I was after which was to make my EOS-R a pretty small package to have in the bag. Wasn't expecting miracles in image quality given its similar formula and it's a good enough trade-off for what it provides in opportunities.

[adrianomoreira]

Excellent review as always. A tip: everyone is making comparative videos between this RF 50mm f1.8 and the EF 50mm f / 1.8 (it's natural, since the new one corresponds to EF. But nobody (nobody) has so far made a comparison between RF 50mm f / 1.8 VS EF 50mm f / 1.4
It would be one of the first.
Congratulations again.

[p_adam]

When the AF is decoupled from the shutter button, the manual focus will work without needing to keep the shutter button pressed.

[SuperMe]

I set my R5 up on a tripod and took some sample pictures with this lens and my adapted Sigma 50mm f1.4 DG HSM Art. Both seem equally sharp which is by far the most important thing to me.

[plzetel]

Dear Christopher, your tests are the best in the net. All my lenses I bought always after having seen your tests. Thank you. Peter Langer

[bjure]

That focus breathing must be some kind of record 😁

[romatou]

I have owned the EF f1.8 STM in the past used it on my 6D, and I have rented a Canon R8 recently with this lens. I think you are a bit on the hard judgment side of the spectrum. I absolutely loved this lens. And it feels fundamentally different from the EF version.

For starters, the EF version was so badly cheap and plasticky that the lens side of the mount damaged my 6D side of the mount, the electronic connectors to be precise.I had to send it to the repairer and cost me $200 to fix.

This is how cheaply made the EF f1.8 was.

Next is the autofocus: it is inherent to the mirrorless autofocus RF system, the fact is as a direct consequence: The autofocus absolutely nails it on this lens, especially low lights and leaves the EF 50 mm and lenses in general far far far behind any EF dSLR with the EF version.

Honestly 6D EF 50mm vs. R8 RF 50mm, again it's like day and night in practise. Perhaps with all those reviews you are used to handling new and excellent cameras, and found it relatively disappointing for the price. I absolutely love your videos btw and watched many of them.

But overall the feel and usage in practise of this RF lens, by a landslide, definitely leaves the EF one far behind on sharpness resulting of the lens potential being fully leveraged by the far superior RF mirrorless AF system.

And this is valid for other RF vs. EF lenses.

When I rented that R8 for a couple of months, I had no preconceived ideas. And apart from EF lenses with an adapter, The only RF lens are used is this 50 mm. And my word I absolutely loved it, much more than I ever liked the EF f1.8 STM 50mm.

This is my personal opinion. But having done photography passionately since 1997, over many years then, being a semi professional getting paid for gigs and sold print outs, so yes I don't live off it but I'm serious, I can tell for having owned, 2 canon cameras, 1Nikon and 1 Minolta. I can tell, without an hesitation, that in practise this lens feels amazing for the price. No the shadow of a doubt really.

Not that this video is not saying it's it's a bad lens it's not saying that. Just makes it sound very dull or unoticeable. And not a real improvement over the EF version. It's effectively a landslide of a difference I believe.

For the little story even my girlfriend last year, when I took a series of followers on the street in a couple of portraits of her, she found the contrast and the perceived depth of the images produced so striking that she said something like "it feels like this picture is in three dimensions".

This is how good the perception of it was. Straight out of the camera without retouching anything.

So yes I really believe that this lens is capable of producing amazing results it cannot be emphasised enough.

Not to mention that it's absolutely super small and super late which is so handy if you are a skier and climber like I am.

[MD-wkgj]

Adding to your review a few screenshots for the settings you are describing is next level information!

I’ve not seen that done unless it’s a full on review of a camera and the various settings.

Thank you 👍

[stephenpartridge]

I would love to see a comparison between this and the EF 50mm 1.8 STM....

[michaelbell]

Thanks! I hate this lens on FF cameras. Bought it for my RP, hated it and returned it but then bought it again for my R6 thinking it might have been the camera. Nope, it's the lens. Anything faster than f/3.2 I found unusable for portraits. The bottom third of the image (in portrait orientation) would be blurry. Not just out of focus with a nice fall off, but blurry. I saw no point in keeping a 1.8 lens I couldn't shoot wider than 3.2 Now that I have the R10, I bought one a third time and love it. Obviously it's only using the center of the image on a crop sensor camera, and that must be the difference because the edges suck on this lens as your testing shows at 5:13. I also like the fact it's an 81mm on the R10 as I like the 85mm focal length for my portraits.

[alanwood]

Helpful review Chris. Got mine yesterday and am delighted (+relieved) to report that for back button focus users you don’t need to go into the menus to enable manual focus with this lens and you don’t need to be half pressing the shutter button to enable the focussing ring. So, with BBF enabled (and focus decoupled from the shutter button) I get full time manual focus override just as for my other Canon lenses.

[DarkestKnight]

These videos on the rf glass is super helpful for my recently bought eos rp