Yongnuo II Vs Canon - 50mm EF Mount f/1.8 Lenses

There something alluring about the price of the Yongnuo's 50mm f/1.8 Mark II EF mount lens for Canon. I seem to be having some trouble getting my mind of it. Perhaps I have been seduced by it. You can't blame me as I am staring at something like a 40% savings here compared to a Canon original 50mm f/1.8 STM lens. If Yongnuo II can perform as good as a Canon's why pay more, right?

Apple-to-apple comparison

But somehow I have this uneasy feeling. I need facts, I need proof that it can produce good quality images before opening my wallet. I need an apple-to-apple comparison between the two lenses. Otherwise, I just can't make a decision.

I searched, I Googled and I DuckDuckGo-ed. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything comprehensive. The best I could do was to collate the information from the videos by Christopher Frost Photography on Youtube. And below is what I have transcribed from this review videos to the best of my abilities. There are other reviewers on Youtube by the way. But I find the reviews by Christopher Frost Photography to be the best as he tested the lenses on both Full Frame and APSC cameras. Others may disagree but this is my opinion anyway.

Test On Full Frame Camera

f-stop Canon Yongnuo f/1.8 Middle: very sharp with average contrast Corners: quite dark, low contrast, noticeable ghosting, a bit soft but no chromatic aberration, . Middle: pretty nice and sharp but not perfect, contrast a little low with red colour tint Corners: contrast and resolution are fairly soft f/2.8 Middle: ?sharp? Corners: much brighter and sharper Middle: really sharp Corners: punchier image but still not sharp f/4 Middle: ?sharp? Even better at corners Middle: sharp Corners: decently sharp f/5.6 Razor sharp, corner-to-corner, absolutely perfect Excellent sharpness, corner-to-corner f/8   As in f/5.6 Excellent sharpness, corner-to-corner f/11   As in f/5.6 Excellent sharpness, corner-to-corner f/16   As in f/5.6 Corners: soft due to diffraction f/22 Corners: soft due to diffraction Corners: soft due to diffraction

Test On APSC Camera

f-stop Canon Yongnuo f/1.8 Middle: reasonable level of sharpness, low contrast not great, some ghosting and purple fringing particularly on contrasting edges Corners: a bit worse showing heavy ghosting, softness and low contrast levels Middle: a little soft, some colour fringing Corners: really soft f/2.8 Middle: excellent sharpness, fantastic image quality Corners: major improvements, sharper and clearer Middle: looking better Corners: still soft but contrast greatly improved f/4 Middle: razor sharp Corners: looking fantastic, looking good Middle: looks fantastic Corners: a bit sharper f/5.6 Middle: perfect Corners: perfect As f/4 - optical sweet spot f/8 As f/5.6 As f/4 - optical sweet spot f/11 As f/5.6 Corners: soft due to diffraction f/16 As f/5.6 Corners: soft due to diffraction f/22 Corners: looking a bit soft Corners: soft due to diffraction

Conclusion

Looks like the Canon's 50mm f/1.8 STM performs better in terms of image quality across a wider spectrum of aperture values (highlighted in light green in the table above) for both APS-C and Full Frame cameras. Since I am not on a tight budget, and I need pin sharp images for my uploads to Dreamstime, I think I can make a decision from here on. Can you?

Strange how when I have everything listed down in black-and-white things just become clearer.

Disclaimer

This blog post is not sponsored by anybody, least of all Canon nor Yongnuo. And neither am I am associated with Christopher Frost Photography.

Video Review References

• Yongnuo 50mm f/1.8 Mark II lens review with samples (Full-frame & APS-C)
• Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM lens review with samples (Full-frame and APS-C)
• Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens Mark II review with samples (Full-frame and APS-C)