Canon EF 50 mm F/1.8 II Lens

Over all the lens feels cheap, but at such a low price for a own-branded lens its hardly an argument worth mulling over for long, the plastic construction keeps both the cost and weight down.
The motor is a little clunky, but it is fast, if you are used to shooting with an 18-55 standard lens it will surprise you and acquire the focal distance much faster than you originally expect.
The internal lenses are gaussian optics, meaning you get a good clear image within your depth of field, whilst anything either further away or nearer the camera comes under a heavy blur, without the ringlets you can get from other types of lens.
With being able to select such a narrow aperture of 1.8 on the lens it allows plenty of light in for most situations, but would only have a depth of around about an inch at a meter from the lens.
The image definition with the lens is overall very pleasing and the pictures taken from the lens can quite happily stand up to those from far more expensive lenses.

I would say that you get what you buy with this lens, if you spend much under £100 for a lens you should expect something that barely works, this on the other hand feels like a £50 lens, but performs like a £200 lens. Its well worth the money and can come in highly useful for people or locations, whilst it size almost helps turn your DSLR into a handy-cam that'll fit into your pocket, and will definitely reduce aching wrists in the long run.

This is a very light weight lens which makes prolonged usage easier.

Excellent for faster shutter speeds in a given lighting condition enabling moving subjects to be captured more easily. The images i've taken with it so far have all been clear and without distortion.

The only drawback is the fixed focal length esp with a cropped sensor camera. This simply means you will need a bit more space to work in than with say an 18-55 zoom lens.

Over all good value for money and worth having in the kit bag.

First of all the bad things, Yes it's plastic, yes it feels cheap.
That's where the bad stuff ends.. This lens when fitted to a crop camera (eos 450/500/550/7/40/50d etc.) give you an excellent lens for portraits as it's equiv to an 80mm prime lens (50mm x 1.6 crop factor)
Add to that the f stop of 1.8 means its fantastic in lower light conditions too i.e. indoors or at dusk.
When fitted to a full frame camera such as the 5d it's still very worthwhile as its the optimum midway 50mm focal point "as the eye sees it" lens for that sensor size.
i.e. less than 50mm is classed as a wide angle, more is classed as zoom &/or telephoto. (and therefore the optimum midway lens for a crop camera been around the 30mm although 28mm or 35mm are probably more common to find out there which are fairly close..
So in summary.. an excellent lens to have in your bag, although prob not one you would take out with you on a stroll looking for that masterpiece due to it's fixed focal length.

Excellent, and super-sharp picture quality!

Awesome budget 50mm. Great for both budding photographers, and pro's.

Good replacement for your kit-lens (like like the 18-55mm), especially if you have a canon 400d-550d and so on.
Great way to learn about fixed focal length prime lenses without having to burn your wallet too much.

Note:
The lens auto-focus is a little noisy, so just be aware of this should you want to use it for filming.
I'd advice you to choose either the canon 50mm f/1.4 or the canon 50mm f/1.2 if this is the issue. As this f/1.8 is made mostly of plastic.

Known as the "nifty fifty", this is amazing lens, new it's only around £60, on ebay it's even cheaper.

It's a fast lens, f/1.8, which means that it lets plenty of light in, although stepping down a stop or two really helps the picture quality.

This a tiny lens, that only weighs 130g (about 5oz in old units), and can look lost on some of the bigger DSLRs. But in low light it works far better than you would expect for it's price.

The front element doesn't rotate during focussing, so you can use graduated and polarising filers easily, but it doesn't have a bayonet for a lens hood, so you'll have to use a 52mm screw in one.

On a crop body DSLR this is effectively (equivalent field of view of) a 80mm lens, which is a little long for many indoor situations, but it does make it a good portrait lens (as it flattens the face, which gives a more flattering look).

Some people will rave about the Mk I version of this lens, that has a metal mount, and a distance scale, but the optics are virtually the same.

Summary: I don't use this lens very often, but at this price (and size and weight) I just leave it in the camera bag for when the situation suits it, and it never disappoints.