Nifty Fifty - Edge of field testing.

[Chris]

After buying the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II (Nifty Fifty) lens, and decided to see how well it performs for Astrophotography from f8 right down to f1.8. Results are below. I think it's pretty good from f/2.8 upwards, but below this it's very soft in the corners. The images consist of single 20 second exposures, ISO 800-1600 using a Canon 77D.  (You need to select 1080p for it to look vaguely good, there is upload compression  ) 

 

[Louis D]

I used the original Sigma 50mm f/1.4 for years on my APS-C Canon DSLRs to photograph live dance performances.  After several hundred thousand exposures and 3 dead bodies, it's still going strong.  It's much sharper into the corners than the Canon f1.8 at all apertures, but especially below f/2.8.  I see on ebay UK that they regularly go for less than £200.00 used.

[Alan White]

Nice video Chris, enjoyed watching it.

Considering the Nifty Fifty Canon is a budget lens, it's done well for itself.
A more premium glass may have done a little better, but who would shoot at f1.8 for astro?

 

[Chris]

Sounds like a winning lens, Louis  I don't have that particular lens but It does sound like it's worth checking out. I have a couple of other vintage 50mm lenses from Pentax and Pentacon, these are pretty good but I wanted an auto focus lens hence the Canon EF 50mm1.8 II. It only cost £60.  

[Chris]

24 minutes ago, Alan White said:

Nice video Chris, enjoyed watching it.

Considering the Nifty Fifty Canon is a budget lens, it's done well for itself.
A more premium glass may have done a little better, but who would shoot at f1.8 for astro?

 

Thanks Alan, I'm quite pleased with it for the money, not only for astro but for portraits too. 

Yeah f/1.8 might be ok for showing the milky way on shorter exposures, maybe if the stars aren't the main subject of the picture, say if there is something in the foreground but you want a streak across the sky. It kind of looks ok unless you zoom in any amount lol. I'd be happy at f2.8 - f4.

 

[Alan White]

I used to love my Nifty when I had EOS.
Small, light and reasonable quality.

[Louis D]

1 hour ago, Alan White said:

I used to love my Nifty when I had EOS.
Small, light and reasonable quality.

The Sigma 50mm f1.4 is big and heavy compared to traditional 50s.  It's not a double Gaussian design at all.  Low distortion and light falloff wide open come at a price.

2 hours ago, Lockie said:

I have a couple of other vintage 50mm lenses from Pentax and Pentacon, these are pretty good but I wanted an auto focus lens hence the Canon EF 50mm1.8 II. It only cost £60. 

I started out using a 1970s Olympus Zuiko 50mm f1.4 adapted to EOS mount when I began photographing dancers because it was what I had laying around.  I quickly realized I needed fast, reliable autofocus and a much sharper image between f1.4 and f2.8.  The Sigma delivered.  The center 50% in particular is unreal sharp and saturated and the out of focus bokeh is creamy smooth.  Dancers really pop from the background.  Enlargements are limited only by the imager's resolution.  It was priced right as well.  Ironically, it was sharper than the much more expensive Canon L 50mm f1.2 lens of the day costing several times as much.