What is the crop-body equivalent to the 50mm f/1.8?

[TheKingInYellow]

I guess the obvious answer is either the 28mm or 35mm f/2 but they are *so much more expensive* than the 50mm f/1.8. I know that they have better build quality than the nifty fifty, but it would be nice to have a normal lens on a crop body that isn't $300+

Is there another option that I'm missing?

[cphoniball]

There isn't a lens comparably priced to the 50mm 1.8 that offers a 50mm (full frame) angle of view on a crop body.

The best options are the Sigma 30mm 1.4, the Canon 28 1.8 and the Canon 35 f2.

Edit: I'm sure if you really wanted to, you could find a suitable manual focus lens and adapt it to the Canon body. But you'd lose autofocus, metering, and auto aperture control.

[TheKingInYellow]

Originally Posted by cphoniball

There isn't a lens comparably priced to the 50mm 1.8 that offers a 50mm (full frame) angle of view on a crop body.

Yeah that's what I thought. Boo!

[inkista]

Not really. The way Canon new lenses are priced, $300 is actually a low price by their lights. Your third option, btw, is the Sigma 30mm f/1.4, which costs about as much as the EF 28mm f/1.8 USM.

I ended up going to manual focus glass (i.e., adapted lenses), but since those were designed for film and much older, you typically can't find f/1.8 in anything wider than a 50mm and even f/2 gets pricey, especially at the wider angles. I eventually settled on a Leica Summicron-R 35/2, which I desperately love. But it cost me $350, and has all the drawbacks of using a manual focus lens.

We're just going to have to wait to see if Canon comes out with a $200 EF-S 35mm f/1.8, like Nikon's AF-S 35mm f/1.8.

[Doug Pardee]

Originally Posted by TheKingInYellow

I guess the obvious answer is either the 28mm or 35mm f/2 but they are *so much more expensive* than the 50mm f/1.8.

There's a reason for that.

The 50mm f/1.8 is a simple Gaussian design. This is possible because it can sit at about 50mm from the sensor. The flange-to-sensor distance for EOS lenses is 44mm.

Any shorter lenses require a retrofocal group to allow them to be mounted farther from the sensor than their focal length. A 30mm lens can't sit 30mm from the sensor, lest the mirrors smack into it. Designing and manufacturing a quality retrofocal group is not something that can be done inexpensively.

Lenses designed for the reduced sensor size—Canon EF-S, Sigma DC, Tamron Di-II, Tokina DX—can use a less powerful retrofocal group, so they can be less expensive. That's why the lens manufacturers have these designs with reduced image circle; you'll only find these designs on lenses that are 60mm or less at the wide-angle end.