What do we think of the Canon 50mm f/1.8 II? I hear good things about the results but I hear the build quality isnt that good (of course my kit lens and my 55-250 arent exactly the Rock of Gibraltar either). Any thoughts? Tim I know youre a Canon guy. My birthday is Saturday and I was thinking about getting it before my trip 3 weeks from Friday *totally geeks out in excitement). Katie
Image quality is pretty decent. Build quality is okay; it is a $75 lens, so it has a plastic lens mount rather than a metal one. It is noisy when it focuses, and the lens's length changes during focusing (along with rotating, which isn't as big a deal as it used to be since polarizers used to be needed more). But for the price, it's a good lens.
1) How can the lens length change if its a prime lens not a zoom. 2) Arent all the Canon's (the lower end one anyway) plastic mounts?
1) Because it focuses externally, so the element inside that focuses the image has to move back and forth. So the front part of the lens will rotate in and out. Granted we're talking millimeters, but... 2) Um I guess, yes. Canon isn't the only one with plastic mounts though.