Last year I spent £100 on a microscope. As soon as I clicked the Order button I started kicking myself - I'd just wasted £100. But I was wrong. The microscope, Chinese-made, easily had £1000+ performance. Recently I bought a £20 Chinese lightpad, which easily has £100+ performance. Then I bought a Chinese lens. Third time lucky?
There's been a lot written about the Yongnuo YN EF 50mm f/1.8 AF lens. It's a shameless ripoff of the Canon 50mm f1.8 prime, which, at £120, is a loss-leader for Canon. But I bought it new, direct from the manufacturer, for £40. Is it as good as the Canon? Well in some ways it's better. The bokeh is better and it's lighter. That's because it's entirely made of plastic (apart from the optical elements), including the mount. That's quite scary the first time you put it on the camera, but when it's there, it's so light you can't feel it. If you sold this to me as a sharp lens I'd set the Advertising Standards Authority on you. You don't buy this lens for sharpness, although centre sharpness at f8 is very good in my copy - it's the sharpest 40 quid lens I've ever seen. You buy it for f1.8 and the bokeh that comes with that. One thing that the Chinese haven't cracked yet (at this price) are manufacturing tolerances. I'm told there are good and bad copies of this lens and ordering one is a lucky dip. Mine seems ... OK. Autofocus? Not so much. But I don't use it so I don't care.
It's a long time since I've owned a nifty fifty - the lens that came with my first SLR, a Zenith 35mm camera in the early 1970s. I can't remember what the maximum aperture was on that, but it wasn't f1.8, so expect to see a lot more f1.8 around here soon. I'd be feeling pretty happy ... if only I could pronounce Yongnuo.
Sony ILCE-6000
Yongnuo YN EF 50mm f/1.8 AF
f1.8 1/125 ISO 100
