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Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM

The nifty fifty: f/1.8 of pure night-sky value.

around $125

Canon's legendary budget prime gathers roughly 8x more light than a kit lens. Bolt it to a tracker and any Canon body, and you're shooting sharp Milky Way panoramas for about a hundred bucks. The best value in all of astrophotography, and honestly it's not close.

Where to buy

Amazon

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Why we like it

  • f/1.8 gathers huge amounts of light for the price
  • Sharp stopped down, tiny, light
  • The classic first astro lens on Canon

Keep in mind

  • 50mm is wide — deep-sky targets stay small
  • Plastic build, basic manual focus ring
  • EF mount — RF shooters need an adapter

Specs

Optics

Focal length50 mm
Aperturef/1.8

Mount & tracking

MountCanon EF

Power & physical

Weight160 g

User opinions

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