Yongnuo EF YN50mm F1.8 Standard Prime Review

The Yongnuo YN50mm F1.8 is a dirt-cheap, feather-light 50mm prime for Canon EF shooters. It's a simple, plastic lens that gets you a fast f/1.8 aperture for under $110, which is the whole point.

It's a full-frame lens, so it works on both full-frame and APS-C Canon bodies. On a crop sensor, it acts like an 80mm lens, which is actually a pretty sweet spot for portraits. Just don't expect it to feel like a premium piece of glass.

The f/1.8 aperture is the main event here. It lets in a lot of light and can give you that nice, blurred background for portraits. Build quality is surprisingly decent for the price, landing in the 98th percentile. But the trade-offs are real. Autofocus is just okay (45th percentile), and optical performance is soft wide open and not super sharp overall (35th percentile). It's definitely not a macro lens, scoring in the bottom 16th percentile for that.

Look, it's a $107 lens. You get what you pay for. The value is entirely in that fast aperture for a price Canon's own 'nifty fifty' can't touch. If you're on a razor-thin budget and desperately want to shoot portraits or low-light stuff, it's an option. But if you can stretch your budget even a little, you'll get a much better lens.

The obvious rival is Canon's own EF 50mm f/1.8 STM. The Canon is sharper, has much better autofocus, and feels more refined, but it costs more. The Viltrox 35mm F1.7 is a sharper alternative with a wider field of view for APS-C shooters. Against a zoom like the Canon EF-S 17-85mm, you lose versatility but gain that fast aperture and much better low-light ability. The Yongnuo wins on price alone, but loses on almost everything else.

Only buy this if your budget is absolutely locked at $100 and you need an f/1.8 aperture right now. It's a starter lens for a beginner who wants to try portrait photography without breaking the bank. For everyone else, save up a bit more for the Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM. You'll be much happier with the results.