Prime lens Yongnou v Canon

[stevenson166]

Was looking for a 1.8 prime focus for astronomy imaging and came across a great deal  for the Canon 50mm 1.8  here

but someone suggested a Yongnou 1.8 here

anyone tried the Yongnou and which would you opt for ..if either of them ?

[hobsey]

I read this review a couple of days ago about the Yongnou,

http://www.canonwatch.com/first-review-yongnuos-canon-nifty-fifty-clone/

Long story short, same outside, different insides but same results.

[wxsatuser]

Most likely not much good at 1.8, look to stop down a bit.

[Ruud]

I have the Canon 1.8. It is built very cheaply, but it works. At f/4 and beyond it is reasonably sharp. Best performance is at f/5.6.

Of Yongnou I only have a remote flash controller. It steers three groups of flashes independently. Much better than Canon's alternative and less expensive.

Had I known of the Yongnou 50mm (if you pronounce it it sounds something like John Snow) I would have tried that first. 

[stevenson166]

F Stop chart for reference

[Mick J]

I think they are so new until someone uses one for astro we won't know how good/bad they are.  £32 from HongKong on Amazon would be stunning if any good,  noticed this extender half the canon price and cheaper on ebay.

I wonder if we will see more of this sort of thing.

[stevenson166]

as a newbie how will the extender compliment the lens ?

[baggywrinkle]

These are marketed via Hong Kong but the manufacture is across the border in Shenzhen city.

Not quite a clone but probably some good traditional & typical Chinese reverse engineering.

I just looked at their manufacturing/business licence and though the website states they have ben in business for 10 years the two certifucates are dated for 2013.

http://hkyongnuo.com/e-aboutus.php

That said many of us are using Chinese optics....SW and Celestron.

[Mick J]

Sorry to confuse, the extender won't compliment the lens,  I just thought another example of Yongnou producing a clone of Canon equipment considerably cheaper was interesting.

[jefrs]

The Canon EF 50/F1.8 ii is only £74 which is very cheap for a fast standard prime and Currys are knocking 10% off that, you generally get what you pay for.

Having to be stopped down to f/4 (or f/5.6!) is a bit of a give away. A good f/1.8 would not need to be stooped down much more than f/2 to produce edge to edge sharpness

Contrast that to the Panasonic M4/3 20/F.17.ii for £280 which can be used wide open, and the Panny Leica 42.5/F1.2 is only (cof) £1,200 ouch! Expensive hobby.

A Canon 50mm has an "80" FoV, so does a MFT 40mm lens

Excellent legacy glass from film SLR and such can be picked up rather cheaply: you won't need autofocus.

Some good many newer s/h digital ones get shifted cheaply on fleabay

Using a 2X teleconverter will add 2 stops to the lens, that f/1.8 becomes a maximum aperture of f/3.5 even before it has to be stopped down to f/11 to make is sharp.

A teleconverter always loses contrast and sharpness.