Canon EF 50mm, Compact Macro

The Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro is a small, versatile macro prime that works just as comfortably for everyday photography as it does for getting close to the details.

Its 50mm focal length gives a natural perspective on full-frame and 35mm Canon EOS cameras, while the close-focusing design takes you down to 0.23 metres with 0.5× magnification. That's half life-size, or 1:2 reproduction, making it useful for film cameras, small objects, product photography, documents, flowers and everyday details.

Unlike a dedicated long macro lens, the 50mm focal length keeps this one useful when you're not shooting close-ups. It's essentially a normal prime and a compact macro in the same lens.

It also has a particularly long compatibility history. Introduced in 1987, this is a native Canon EF lens, meaning it was designed for the EOS system from the beginning and can be used with compatible EOS 35mm film SLRs and Canon EF-mount DSLRs.

Best for

• Close-up photography
• Film and camera details
• Product photography
• Copy work
• Flowers and small objects
• Everyday photography
• 35mm Canon EOS film cameras
• Canon EF-mount DSLRs
• Photographers wanting one lens for normal and close-up shooting

What to expect

The important thing to understand with the Compact Macro is that it reaches 0.5× magnification natively, rather than the 1.0× or 1:1 reproduction offered by many dedicated macro lenses.

At its closest focusing distance of 0.23m, a subject can be reproduced at half its actual size on the film frame or sensor. That's plenty for many product, detail and close-up photographs.

Autofocus is available, but this is an older EF autofocus design rather than one of Canon's later USM or STM lenses. Manual focusing is also available and is particularly useful when working at close distances.

Developing

This lens is natively compatible with both Canon EOS 35mm film cameras and compatible Canon EF-mount digital SLRs.

When used with a film EOS body, developing depends on the film loaded into the camera. Colour negative film will commonly use C-41, while black and white and slide films require their respective processes.

When used on a digital Canon EF-mount camera, no film developing is required.