Yongnuo 50mm f/1.8 EF Review

The Yongnuo 50mm f/1.8 is the first of a few lenses announced by manufacturer Yongnuo (which you may know by their third party flashes, radio triggers, led lights, etc) to be released to the general public.

I'll just skip the package pictures, It's the gold/black usual yongnuo package with an english/chinese small sheet and a few plastic bags.

Compared to my Canon 50mm f/1.8

The front cap says Yongnuo and uses the new "pinch" design compared to my "old" Canon 50mm f/1.8.

The rear cap doesn't say anything, not even a brand name.

They both look very similar, the Yongnuo being a little bit bigger. Nothing you'd notice anyway.

This focus grip has a rubber band around it, making it easier to focus.

The focus wheel turns just like the Canon, something around the 45 degrees from one point to another.

Image Quality Compared to the Canon

Camera: 

• Canon 6D

Lenses: 

• Yongnuo 50mm f/1.8 EF
• Canon 50mm f/1.8 II
• Canon 24-105mm f/4 IS USM

I set the tripod pointing at the books. Then set manual focus, live view, 10 second shutter and tried my best to focus at the center, to the word "Estudio" (more precisely the letter U).




Lets start at f/1.8:

Canon 50mm f/1.8 II @ f/1.8 

Yongnuo 50mm f/1.8 @ f/1.8

Yongnuo on the left. Canon on the right.

At f/1.8, manually focusing in live view the Canon shows a clear edge in sharpness in the Center of the frame.

Top left and bottom left corner looks the same to me.
Top right looks like a tie and bottom right looks the yongnuo did a tiny better job.

Another thing you could easily notice comparing both pictures is that the Yongnuo seems a little wider, the Camera and Tripod where in the exact same place.





Now lets look at f/2.8:

Yongnuo 50mm f/1.8 @ f/2.8

Canon 50mm f/1.8 II @ f/2.8

Yongnuo on the left, Canon on the right.

Again, at f/2.8, Canon shows clearly more sharpness than the Yongnuo. However, all four corners shows a tiny advantage to the Yongnuo here.

(Let me again, remind you, that i was focusing manually on live view with digital zoom x10)






Now at f/4:

Yongnuo on the left, Canon on the right.



Canon does it again. At f/4 the center is tack sharp. Corners this time is confusing, some goes to Canon, some goes to Yongnuo.

A little note to make here. Both pictures had the exact iso, shutter speed and aperture. There was no delay between pictures, no extra lights. The yongnuo look a little bit brighter here.

Finally, lets look at f/8:

Yongnuo 50mm f/1.8 @ f/8

Canon 50mm f/1.8 II @ f/8

Yongnuo on the left, Canon on the right.

Not much to say. Center and 3 corners goes to Canon, top bottom goes to Yongnuo.



I'll upload the unedited raw files to mega in the night.

RAW FILES

JPEG FILES

 Stay Tuned!