Canon EF 50 mm f/1.8 II review - Distortion

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Canon EF 50 mm f/1.8 II

21 January 2015

Arkadiusz Olech

6. Distortion

Classic 50 mm devices usually show low barrel distortion and the Canon EF 50 MM F/1.8 II is not an exception to that rule. On a smaller sensor of the Canon 50D we got a negligible level of that aberration amounting to –0.39%. A bit more problems were on full frame where the distortion level reached –1.28%.

In the chart below you see how the Canon compares to its rivals.

	Nikkor AF-S 1.8/50G	Nikkor AF 1.8/50D	Canon EF 1.4/50	Canon EF 1.8/50 II	Minolta 1.7/50
APS-C/DX	−0.49%	−0.20%	−0.49%	−0.39%	−0.30%
FF	−1.18%	−0.49%	–1.98%	–1.28%	−0.68%

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The performance of the Canon is hardly impressive. Two things really stick up: firstly the distinctly better result of the Nikkor 1.8/50D, secondly the worse result of the Canon 1.4/50. Strange but true: the cheaper, slower Canon 1.8/50 manages to correct distortion better than its f/1.4 brother. Go figure.