# Yongnuo EF YN 50mm F/1.8



## henrywang (Dec 7, 2014)

Has anyone tried this?
Thoughts on Yongnuo expanding into lenses?

http://www.amazon.com/Yongnuo-EF-YN-50mm-1-8/dp/B00QGHSGPW/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1417977023&sr=8-11


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## sunnyVan (Dec 7, 2014)

I suppose the whole point for the company is to gain experience and develop production capacity. I don't see any point from a consumer's point of view given such small price differential. If they have the know-how to copy premium lenses, that'd be a different story. It's not a bad thing for consumers though, for more choices.


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## Ryan85 (Dec 7, 2014)

If they are as good as the YN 560 flashes I'd give them a shot if the price was right


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## raptor3x (Dec 7, 2014)

I'm surprised they didn't try to differentiate even a little bit by adding a metal mount. This seems like just flat out IP theft.


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## Marsu42 (Dec 7, 2014)

henrywang said:


> Has anyone tried this?



Imho no need to, looks like a straight clone of Canon's ancient 50/1.8 for the low-budget Chinese market.



henrywang said:


> Thoughts on Yongnuo expanding into lenses?



I've read they're also going to clone the 50/1.4 - call me if they release the 50L, 135L or 85L at 1/3rd the original price :->



raptor3x said:


> This seems like just flat out IP theft.



Indeed, and I'm really wondering if Canon will take legal action and prevent them from importing the lens for example into the EU. Or if Canon sits there, doing nothing - why?


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## lintoni (Dec 7, 2014)

The pictures of the 50mm f/1.4 that I saw also appeared to have a plastic mount. Somebody nick-named it the ‘shifty-fifty'! 

Here is the thread about the f/1.4 version:

 http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=22957.0


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## FTb-n (Dec 7, 2014)

I don't see the point. The EF 50 1.8 and the EF 40 2.8 are already good budget "normal" primes -- and the 40 is particularly sharp. For those of us who want reliable, powerful, manual flash, at a bargain price, Yongnuo has done a nice job filling this need. I don't care about ETTL, just consistent power, temp and quick recycle -- should be easy to do for a third-party. It doesn't matter to me whether Yongnuo did a good job on the ETTL side. But, I'm far more demanding with glass.


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## kphoto99 (Dec 8, 2014)

Have the patents run out on the lens that Yongnuo is cloning?


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## Hjalmarg1 (Dec 8, 2014)

henrywang said:


> Has anyone tried this?
> Thoughts on Yongnuo expanding into lenses?
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Yongnuo-EF-YN-50mm-1-8/dp/B00QGHSGPW/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1417977023&sr=8-11


This is just a clone of the old Canon 50/1.8II. If for you the saving is worth it, give it a try. I don't shoot 50mm focal lenght. I had all three 50mm (1.8, 1.4 & 1.2L) versions and sold them.


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## DRR (Dec 12, 2014)

More power to 'em I suppose. Copy the 20mm f/2.8 next!

If they can get to the point where they can come out with a small, cheap wide prime, like an 16mm f/3.5 with AF, I'd buy that in an instant.


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## Mitch.Conner (Dec 15, 2014)

Marsu42 said:


> henrywang said:
> 
> 
> > Has anyone tried this?
> ...



You pointed out the reason. If it rips off any Canon patents, it's likely expired ones.

Expired patents = public domain prior art = no cause of action for a lawsuit

Unless there is some current intellectual property that is still enforceable and applicable to that lens, Canon would be setting itself up for immediate dismissal, and outside of the U.S., attorneys fees on both sides in many cases.


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## Marsu42 (Dec 15, 2014)

Mitch.Conner said:


> You pointed out the reason. If it rips off any Canon patents, it's likely expired ones.
> Expired patents = public domain prior art = no cause of action for a lawsuit



Right, that would be it - I'm forgetting just *how* old this lens is and how long Canon has been developing lenses. Probably just the reason why Yn is releasing 50/1.8 and 50/1.4 just now, they had to wait for the oldest lenses to be not protected anymore.

Imho suits Canon right, still producing a dinosaur like the 50/1.8 needs to be punished.


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## Khufu (Dec 16, 2014)

Marsu42 said:


> Mitch.Conner said:
> 
> 
> > You pointed out the reason. If it rips off any Canon patents, it's likely expired ones.
> ...



Yeah but the Mark 1 is a solid, little workhorse... with the Mark II they added a nifty feature where the lens barrel pops right out of there! Imagine what they can do with a Mark III when considering all the more recent developments in thrifty plastic manufacturing!


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## henrywang (Dec 18, 2014)

http://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/2pp62p/getting_3_yongnuo_50m_f18_lenses_and_an_ef_5018/

"Getting 3 YongNuo 50m f/1.8 lenses (and an EF 50/1.8 ) - for science."

This guy bought 3 YongNuos and a Canon for comparison and a teardown.


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## lintoni (Dec 19, 2014)

henrywang said:


> http://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/2pp62p/getting_3_yongnuo_50m_f18_lenses_and_an_ef_5018/
> 
> "Getting 3 YongNuo 50m f/1.8 lenses (and an EF 50/1.8 ) - for science."
> 
> This guy bought 3 YongNuos and a Canon for comparison and a teardown.


Post updates, this could be interesting!!


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## henrywang (Dec 23, 2014)

Confirmed: is not a complete clone of the Canon!

"
After extensive surgery, i can confirm that the YongNuo 50/1.8 is NOT a direct copy of the Canon. The internal barrel seems to be structured the same, but the gearing, the motors, the chip and cords, and overall construction are very distinctly different
Prepped for surgery: http://imgur.com/e34Jx5q
During the procedure: http://imgur.com/ORK60zv


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## henrywang (Dec 23, 2014)

Also, some bad news?

"
AF Works in live view (Using a T3i and 5DII for most of the tests, with priority going towards the T3i) but does not fire.
Aperture locked at 1.8 - likely either a one-off issue, or an issue with this series, maybe discards / didn't pass QC.
"


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## Marsu42 (Dec 23, 2014)

henrywang said:


> Confirmed: is not a complete clone of the Canon!



The bokeh on these shots is beautiful, but for some shots, a deeper dof might make sense :-> as the lens parts in the back cannot be recognized.



henrywang said:


> Also, some bad news?



Welcome to the world of Yongnuo! After a very bad experience with my st-e3 rt "clone", I know they're selling products they know won't work as advertised - like the af assist beam on said transmitter. And I've not even started talking about qc...


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## henrywang (Dec 25, 2014)

low light update:
http://redd.it/2qcij1


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## lintoni (Dec 25, 2014)

henrywang said:


> low light update:
> http://redd.it/2qcij1


Thanks, good read! It's looking like the Yongnuo might actually be worth it for the budget photographer.


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## tpatana (Dec 25, 2014)

Marsu42 said:


> Welcome to the world of Yongnuo! After a very bad experience with my st-e3 rt "clone", I know they're selling products they know won't work as advertised - like the af assist beam on said transmitter. And I've not even started talking about qc...



Which one you mean? I bought bunch of the cheap ones, 602 or 603, can't remember which one. They sucked bad. I tried couple times, and since then they've been gathering dust in the box. Now I have 4x 622s, and they are nothing short of perfect. Well, only issue is the first two have the AF beam misaligned somewhat, the other two are from later batch and they fixed that. I can't think anything bad to say about them, works great, good range, ETTL, and reliable firing. Never had problems with those.

One time I also bought YN flash, one of the top models, paid ~$160 or so at Amazon. Tried it one time, and sold the next day. Recycle time after full flash was something horrible, plus after few shots in a row (6-8) the temperature protection circuit kicked in, and you had to wait 20-30 seconds to cool down for each shot.

So 2 out of 3 YN products I've bought sucked bad, but that one is really great.


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## kcmw (Dec 26, 2014)

Hjalmarg1 said:


> henrywang said:
> 
> 
> > Has anyone tried this?
> ...



I have just read about someone taking apart the Yongnuo and Canon f/1.8s. He says it is not actually a clone, because the inner workings are different. The overall dimensions and weight are slightly different, so the two are not identical. Canon can do nothing about the optical design, since theirs is not original, but a ripped off pre-war Zeiss one.


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## Marsu42 (Dec 26, 2014)

tpatana said:


> So 2 out of 3 YN products I've bought sucked bad, but that one is really great.



Yn's proprietary flashes might be fine by now, but at least their rt transmitter clone shows they are ready to ship products that aren't really tested (reliability, not even fixed fw updates) or working (af assist). I'd wish they made them just a little more expensive, but working instead of saving some cents where it hurts.

What made me really angry are *multiple* Yn ettl cables I tried, the plastic ripped apart in no time because the screws were too short. I have them somehow patched together with tape, but one was beyond fixing - and it's still €20. As is is with ebay purchases from overseas, you have to write it off as bad luck, and the Canon cables are simply so expensive I keep trying the clones.


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## tpatana (Dec 26, 2014)

Marsu42 said:


> tpatana said:
> 
> 
> > So 2 out of 3 YN products I've bought sucked bad, but that one is really great.
> ...



Problem is that most people like to buy cheap, so manufacturers balance between acceptable quality and saving few cents. Month ago I was talking with this welding guy who worked at car factories. He said there's huge difference in welding quality requirement between American brands and Asian brands, and no wonder the Asian cars are much more reliable. Same thing with everything. Better quality costs more money.

Only way to fix that is for everyone to stop buying the cheap stuff. Not going to happen my lifetime...


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## LowBloodSugar (Dec 31, 2014)

I have 3 Yn flashes, and they all have different problems. AF assist light doesn't work on two of them. Master mode doesn't work on one. Slave doesn't work on one. Diffuser cracked right away one one.


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## Marsu42 (Dec 31, 2014)

tpatana said:


> Problem is that most people like to buy cheap, so manufacturers balance between acceptable quality and saving few cents.



I admit it right away: I like to save money because I feel I don't have tons of it hidden under my pillow and find other meaningful uses than buying tech stuff. But: I don't want to buy "cheap" either, because it indeed means buying double. Alas, the solution "just get a 1dx+600L+whatnot" doesn't help either.

The problem here are the reviews: For one reason or another, there's a strong pro-manufacturer bias on Internet sites, not to mention yt amateur unboxing. You really have to resort to forums like CR to find users calling Yn trash what it is. And even then, you have to clear the fog of "isolated qc problems" and "just get it replaced under warranty" to see where systematic, not statistical problems are.

If there'd be more matter-of-fact reviews, 3rd party manufacturers like Yn would probably lift their prices a bit, but stop saving cents where it hurts. Lens manufacturers like Sigma and Tamron lead the way - they don't do "cheap" anymore, but "value".

Let's hope this Yn 50/1.8 is at least on par with Canon's original not only in the specs and "first impressions", but on the long run - but then again, in this special case it isn't difficult to do :->


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## Policar (Dec 31, 2014)

If it's sharper than the 50mm f1.8, then it's sharper than Canon's sharpest 50mm prime wide open, and also sharper at f1.8.

The Canon 50mm f1.8 has poor build quality and sample-to-sample variation. And the five-bladed aperture sucks for anything other than wide-open use. If I can snag a decent copy for $40, this is my new walk-around lens on my 5D III and will probably replace my 50mm f1.4 Sigma non-art (great lens, awful AF) and 50mm f1.8 Canon.

Which is sad.


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## GMCPhotographics (Jan 5, 2015)

Marsu42 said:


> henrywang said:
> 
> 
> > Confirmed: is not a complete clone of the Canon!
> ...



Everyone seems to forget that the Canon 50mm f1.8 has beautiful bokeh when shot wide open. It's got a circular "straight though" light path. The only issues occur when it's stopped down and the low number of straight edged aperture blades comes into play.


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## Marsu42 (Jan 5, 2015)

GMCPhotographics said:


> Everyone seems to forget that the Canon 50mm f1.8 has beautiful bokeh when shot wide open. It's got a circular "straight though" light path. The only issues occur when it's stopped down and the low number of straight edged aperture blades comes into play.



Good point, but of course this severely limits you in your creativity as you essentially are fixed to the "native" depth of field of the camera. And you're hit for six in bright light when your shutter is maxed out unless you use a nd filter. I often used to use my 50/1.8 stopped down since the sharpness is really mediocre wide open on ~20mp digital.


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