What 50 mm 1.8 lens is recommended for the Canon eos r50

[M2]

As the Canon R50 is an RF mount I wish to get a 50 mm F1.8. Does canon offer that type of lens. I know that there is one offered for a Full Frame camera, I see that on Amazon. Can't find this lens available for the R50??

[shadowsports · Accepted solution]

Greetings,

What is the intended use for this lens?  Are you buying it for its focal length or aperture performance?

Canon doesn't offer a fixed focal length 50mm lens for APS-C sensors.  The RF 50mm f1.2 and f1.8 for full frame are the 2 lenses available in this fixed focal length (prime).

Canon does offer RF-S lenses designed specifically for APS-C based cameras in zooms that cover 50mm.

The RF 35mm f1.8 will provide a FOV equivalent of 56mm and still provide f1.8.

The RF 50mm will provide a FOV equivalent of 80mm.  This would be complimentary for portraits.    

There are also RF-S (zoom) options designed specifically for the APS-C sensor in your body, but they don't have the f1.8 aperture performance. 

[March411 · Accepted solution]

The 50mm will work on the R50 as well as a full frame.

Link to new:

New RF50mm 1.8 @ $199: 

New RF35mm F1.8 Macro IS STM @ $500 

[shadowsports · Accepted solution]

Greetings,

What is the intended use for this lens?  Are you buying it for its focal length or aperture performance?

Canon doesn't offer a fixed focal length 50mm lens for APS-C sensors.  The RF 50mm f1.2 and f1.8 for full frame are the 2 lenses available in this fixed focal length (prime).

Canon does offer RF-S lenses designed specifically for APS-C based cameras in zooms that cover 50mm.

The RF 35mm f1.8 will provide a FOV equivalent of 56mm and still provide f1.8.

The RF 50mm will provide a FOV equivalent of 80mm.  This would be complimentary for portraits.    

There are also RF-S (zoom) options designed specifically for the APS-C sensor in your body, but they don't have the f1.8 aperture performance. 

[March411 · Accepted solution]

The 50mm will work on the R50 as well as a full frame.

Link to new:

New RF50mm 1.8 @ $199: 

New RF35mm F1.8 Macro IS STM @ $500 

[AtticusLake · Accepted solution]

Lenses for RF-mount cameras will fit both full-frame RF cameras (like the R5 for example) and APS-C RF-S cameras (like yours).  The lens will create an image which covers your camera's sensor and more besides, which is no problem.  The only downside is that you're buying a bigger, heavier and more expensive lens than you strictly need, but that needn't be a huge deal -- and it can be useful.  If you later upgrade your camera body to a full-frame body, your full-frame lenses will work great.

Going the other way -- using RF-S lenses on an RF body -- also works, but because the lens image doesn't cover the whole sensor, your camera wil automatically go into crop mode, where it only reads out part of the sensor.  This results in a drastic loss of resolution.

As Rick pointed out, Canon don't make a 50mm prime lens for RF-S.  Seems to me your choices are:

• Use one of the RF lenses.
• Get an RF-S zoom, like the RF-S 18-150mm F3.5-6.3
• Are you sure you want 50mm?  A "standard" lens for APS-C woud be more like a 35mm.  That zoom would work, or the RF-S 18-45mm F4.5-6.3.

I think the size benefit of a smaller sensor affects zooms more than primes, which is why they offer zooms in RF-S versions.

I wrote a guide to lens compatibility, if you're interested: https://moonblink.info/MudLake/gear/lenses

[M2]

Thank you all for clarifying the limited options and the conversions. Have got the 50mm 1.8 with RF mount.