Drop Test #1- Canon EF II 50mm f/1.8

Cameras
Posted by Admin on 31, March 2010 with 19 Comments
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Today while shooting a music video for Reagan Browne’s “Goodbye L.A.”  Directed by, Darcy Fray we took a break to do the first – of what is planned to be many – Drop Tests. Drop Test #1 Canon 50mm EF II f1.8 Lens.

The Canon EF II 50mm f1.8 is known as the cheapest glass that Canon offers. It is actually a good buy at just about $100. Would you be better off buying a used prime? Jared Abrams and Jason Wawro introduce you to this new section of www.wideopencamera.com “Drop Test”. Drop Test will be a section of WOC devoted to what else ? Drop testing equipment. The taboo of dropping a lens is our first of many more tests of gear familiar to all of us. The Bui Brothers Lan Bui and Vu Bui came down to our set to help us shoot our first test. Drop Test #1-Canon FE II 50mm f1.8. You may be surprised by what you see in this video. Let us know what you think, and look forward to some more exciting drop tests soon. We’re here to show you what you’re really getting for your hard-earned money.

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Jared Abrams is a cinematographer based in Hollywood, California. After many years as a professional camera assistant he switched over to still photography. About two years ago a new Canon camera changed the way the world sees both motion and still photography. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
  • http://www.philipsonphotography.com Joe Philipson

    that’s funny, was totally NOT expecting to see Vu’s mug smiling back through the lens. lolz

  • http://jaredabrams.wordpress.com Jared Abrams

    That shoot was so much fun. Vu and Lan are some cool guys!
    Thanks for the comment.
    Jared

  • http://thebuibrothers.com Lan Bui

    This was a good and fun test… I’ve told so many people to buy that lens because it is so cheap yet the images are very good that come out of it.

    Now I need to make sure I tell them never to drop it.

  • http://www.mikelarson.com/blog mike larson

    HAHA, thats funny, we’ve dropped an 85mm 1.2 and it landed on the hood and was totally ok. I never drop stuff, but in 12 years, its bound to happen!

  • http://jaredabrams.wordpress.com Jared Abrams

    What happened to the car? Thanks for the comment.
    Jared

  • http://thebuibrothers.com Lan Bui

    I think he meant lens hood… haha.

  • Matt

    Ecccchhhhooooooooooo.

  • http://thebuibrothers.com Lan Bui

    What’s that? I could not hear you over the echo.

  • http://www.voxphotography.com Gabriel Mora

    I’ve dropped my friend’s 70-200 f2.8 L and it kept working, just having hard time focusing. After $200 it was back to normal.
    It’s well known : “you get what you pay for” .
    I don’t think any lens has been meant or designed to be dropped. Perhaps lite bangs and some dirt but definetely no drops! Same goes with the camera bodies.
    I like the video, kind of Photo Myth Busters 😀

  • http://fxmixer.blogspot.com Marshall

    I totally thought this was an April Fool’s joke. Actually, I had hoped it was, because who would spend $100 on lens just to smash it. A lot of people can’t afford the more expensive lenses so they buy what they can and don’t drop them. You should have dropped an “L” lens if you really wanted to test build quality. I get that this was supposed to be funny be it just seems in really poor taste.

  • http://www.hunterkerhart.com Hunter Kerhart

    No worries, we understand where you’re coming from. And we’ll get to that L glass soon.

  • http://www.ocabj.net Jonathan Ocab

    I think the best experiment would have been to take brand new samples of all three current Canon 50mm primes; 50 f/1.8 II, 50 f/1.4, and 50 f/1.2L; and dropped all three from the same height on the same surface at the same time.

  • Hunter Kerhart

    I predict the 1.2 & 1.4 would fare much better if dropped just like the 1.8 was here. Anyone have an extra 1.2 to send in?

  • http://thebuibrothers.com Lan Bui

    Yes, although the test is mostly just to test the particular product in question. Of course by nature you now want to find out what the best alternative to this lens is… assumptions can be made for the time being that the more expensive better build ones will perform better.

    My 50mm 1.4 has never been dropped but from the feel of it I don’t hink it would survive something like this.

    I’ve handled a few 50mm 1.2’s and think those would be the only ones to put up a fight in this test.

    THen again more and more we are shooting video with these cameras so we might as well start to test out old Nikon manuals, Zeiss, Panavision… you name it… it should be tested!!!

  • SH

    Gee, they dropped it from shoulder height of the guy doing all the talking onto a concrete floor. I wonder why it broke? I would think that a large numer of lenses would break if they were dropped under those circumstances. Moral of the story, don’t drop your lens.

    Here’s a thought guys, go buy a Hasselblad and drop it from that height. Surely a $30,000 camera can withstand stupidity….

  • http://www.paulbradleyphotography.co.uk ScudMonkey

    heheheh, nice one. Loved the fact that it still “worked” at the end.

  • Ivan

    Shame on you both. You could ‘ve made someone really happy with that lens, or could have given the money to some charity. What a waste, what a shame.

  • http://thebuibrothers.com Vu Bui

    The same could be said about the last comedy film to be released in theaters… that’s MILLIONS of dollars that could have been donated to the needy.

    We made this video to be entertaining and perhaps even informative to others. I know I was surprised at the results… I had expected the glass to shatter or the focus mechanism to just crush and not work, but certainly not what did happen. On the other forum this was posted we heard from others who’ve had the same exact thing happen to their lens and they were able to reassemble it.

  • http://www.pricebonus.com/ Michelle

    The same could be said about the last comedy film to be released in theaters… that’s MILLIONS of dollars that could have been donated to the needy.

    We made this video to be entertaining and perhaps even informative to others. I know I was surprised at the results… I had expected the glass to shatter or the focus mechanism to just crush and not work, but certainly not what did happen. On the other forum this was posted we heard from others who’ve had the same exact thing happen to their lens and they were able to reassemble it.