How Good is the New Canon RF 50mm f/1.8?

The 50mm focal length on a full frame camera is a staple in most camera bags. While typically preferred for portraiture, they're also used in other genres, including landscape. The best part, however, is they're cheap. So, how good is Canon's new 50mm for their mirrorless mount?

The humble 50mm has a formidable reputation in the photography world for being one of the most — if not the most, prevalent lenses — and for good reason. The focal length is wide enough to capture a lot of a scene, but zoomed enough to give flattering, bokeh-filled backgrounds. This is made all the more bokeh-filled by their typically quick widest apertures, usually starting around f/1.8 (unless it's a macro variant.) This number can drop as low as f/0.95 in modern lenses, increasing how big a hand dips into your pocket as it drops.

The 50mm f1/.8 is the most common variant of this lens, across most mounts, and so Canon was bound to release one for their new RF mount, as seen on the front of their 2020 hit cameras, the R5 and R6. Now, the 50mm f/1.8 throughout recent years has been the cheapest lens to buy brand new for most manufacturers, so the price of the RF mount version needed to be low. Thankfully it is. Canon's RF 50mm f/1.8 STM is just $199, and early reviews show it's as brilliant as ever.

Have you tried the new nifty-fifty yet?