Canon EF 50/1.8 II

If you can read Polish, you can find more detailed comments in my paper published in 1998 in Foto: Canon EF 1,8/50 mm II – tanio, ale z klasą! Generally, I hate the appearance and love the optics (and the price - it was some 60 bucks in US!). The lens looks like a toy for kids, bought in a one-dollar store: everything is plastic, even the lens mount, mechanical parts make strange grating sound when you switch between auto and manual focus, and somewhat annoying whistling sound during autofucusing (especially if you are used to USM drives!). But don't be fooled with the appearance - optically the lens is amazingly good. I mean GOOD, not good considering the PRICE! If you don't believe my personal opinion, look through results of some professional tests. You will soon find out that the lens is optically not significantly worse than some best Canons, Nikons or even Leicas. The EF 1.8/50 certainly has one of the best price-to-quality quotients. If you are still not convinced, try it yourself - anyway, 60 bucks is not going ruin you. You will soon realize that the lens is far better than most of those inexpensive common zooms you can buy as 'standard' lenses for your camera; you will find out the fun of making pictures with a lens with f 1.8; you will love its tiny size and light weight.