The Canon EOS R50 isn’t the cheapest camera in the EOS R system range. That dubious accolade goes to the Canon EOS R100. But spend a little more on the R50 and you get a massively better camera with a newer-generation image sensor and processor, a more advanced autofocus system, and a fully-articulated touchscreen instead of a fixed screen with no touch-sensitivity. Long story short, I think they’re both ‘beginners’ cameras but the R50 has the features, finesse and downright power to grow with you on your photographic journey.
Picking out the best lenses for the EOS R50, I’ve gone for high-performance glass that’s also compact, lightweight and relatively inexpensive. You won’t find any of Canon’s ‘L-series’ glass on this list. My chosen lenses are ideally matched to the camera in terms of image quality, overall performance, handling, balance and budget. So, where to start? The chances are that if you actually are a beginner (and even if you’re not), you probably bought your R50 complete with its kit RF-S 18-45mm lens. I think this zoom is a perfect fit and that the body and lens are literally made for each other. To stretch the camera’s versatility, I’d put a telephoto zoom and a wide-angle zoom next on my shopping list, but there’s also a lot to be said for an all-in-one superzoom ‘travel’ lens.
Canon also makes some seriously good (and seriously small) prime lenses that really enable you to stretch your creative wings. The ones I’ve picked are all ‘RF’ full-frame compatible primes but they work perfectly on the EOS R50. Another bonus is that if you do eventually outgrow the camera and want to trade up to a full-frame EOS R system body, you can keep using all these primes without being limited to the APS-C ‘crop’ shooting mode. Let’s crack on with the hit list.
Rod is an independent photography journalist and editor, and a long-standing Digital Camera World contributor, having previously worked as DCW's Group Reviews Editor. He has used practically every interchangeable-lens camera launched in the past 20 years, from entry-level DSLRs to medium-format cameras, so he has the expertise to select the best Canon lenses for you.
The Quick List
This is my first-choice, everyday lens for the EOS R50: it's small and light, and delivers solid image quality with fast autofocus. Read more below…
Whether I'm shooting sports or capturing wildlife, this telephoto zoom gets me close to the action. Read more below…
This is my go-to RF-S lens for expansive scenes, whether that’s an epic landscape or an imposing architectural interior. Read more below…
Thanks to the crop factor of the R50, this lens can handle everything from landscapes to wildlife without you needing to change lens. Read more below…
This lens is compact and delivers quality images, making it ideal for everything from street photography to night-sky shots. Read more below…
On the R50, this lens offers the ideal focal length for headshots, and the wide aperture gives you diffuse backgrounds too. Read more below…
View the full list ⤵
The 0.5x magnification option on this lens lets you capture insects and flowers at close quarters – and it’s got image stabilization too. Read more below…
The R50 is a small camera, so sometimes you just want a small lens to go with it. You can fit this pairing into a coat pocket. Read more below…
The best lenses for the Canon EOS R50
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Best starter lens for the R50
This is the standard kit lens for the Canon EOS R50, so if you've bought this camera, you probably have this already. But if you've yet to buy and you're still weighing up the options, you probably want to know whether this lens is any good or not. Well, it is!
As a compact companion to the R50, or Canon's other APS-C EOS R models for that matter, the RF-S 18-45mm is a fantastic option for everyday stills and video shooting. It's obviously not going to give the same performance as L-series or even mid-range glass, but it still delivers solid image quality, along with with fast autofocus and solid stabilization. Best of all, I like that it's really compact and light.
Read more: Canon RF-S 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM review
Features ★★★★☆ | Smart features include stepping motor-based autofocus and effective optical stabilization but long-end aperture is pretty narrow. |
Design ★★★★★ | The retractable design makes the stowage size of the lens absolutely tiny, and it’s really lightweight as well. |
Performance ★★★★☆ | Performance and image quality are mostly very pleasing but edge/corner-sharpness is disappointing. |
Value ★★★★☆ | It’s very good value on in its own right and pretty much a no-brainer when bought as a kit lens with an EOS R system camera. |
Best telephoto lens for the R50
If you're interested in longer-range sports or wildlife photography, you can fit any of Canon's full-frame telephoto zooms straight on to the EOS R50. But that's a pretty expensive option, especially when you've got this much cheaper telephoto option designed specifically for the smaller format.
This telephoto zoom is entirely in keeping with the compact, lightweight theme while adding serious reach, equivalent to 88-336mm in full-frame terms. That’s no mean feat for a lens that weighs in at just 270g (9.5oz) and fits in the palm of your hand. It has fast autofocus and highly effective optical stabilization, the only real downsides being that it has a fairly ‘slow’ aperture rating and pretty basic handling.
Read more: Canon RF-S 55-210mm f/5-7.1 IS STM review
Features ★★★★☆ | Generous telephoto reach is the main feature of this zoom lens, backed up by fast autofocus and 4.5-stop optical stabilization. |
Design ★★★★☆ | It’s refreshingly compact and lightweight for a telephoto zoom although the long-end aperture is quite small and there are no control switches. |
Performance ★★★★☆ | Image quality is very pleasing, the autofocus system is able to track moving subjects and the stabilization ensures a good hit rate. |
Value ★★★★☆ | It’s typically keenly priced for a Canon RF-S lens but, as usual, the hood is sold separately. |
Best wide-angle lens for the R50
A wide-angle zoom has been the missing link in Canon's RF-S lens line-up for some time, but the launch of the RF-S 10-18mm means the EOS R50 has an affordable option for shooting interiors, landscapes and buildings. The wide angle of view also makes this a great option for vloggers.
The 10-18mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM delivers sharp, high-contrast photos, although it does exhibit heavy distortion, especially at the widest setting. Fortunately, this is covered by automatic in-camera correction, which can't be disabled in menus. The lens's narrow aperture can be a limitation in low-light situations.
Read more: Canon RF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM review
Features ★★★★★ | The big feature of this lens is its big maximum viewing angle on APS-C cameras, but there’s also fast STM autofocus and optical stabilization. |
Design ★★★★☆ | The lens packs its generous viewing angles into a really compact and lightweight package, but it lacks weather-seals. |
Performance ★★★★☆ | Image quality is impressive but as with many modern lenses, it relies heavily on automatic in-camera corrections. |
Value ★★★★☆ | It’s good value for an ultra-wide-angle zoom lens but you’ll need to buy the hood separately. |
Best general-purpose lens for the R50
The regular Canon RF-S 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM kit lens is a great general purpose kit lens, but what if you want a longer zoom range? The RF-S 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM is a bigger and more expensive alternative, but it does give you the equivalent of a 240mm telephoto at its longer focal length. You may see this lens as a bundled option for the EOS R50, but it's more likely you'll have to buy it separately.
You might think that no lens with a focal length this broad is ever going to produce sensational image quality, but the Canon RF-S 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM nevertheless performs very well for a superzoom optic. It's a great all-purpose, all-in-one lens for Canon APS-C cameras, and ideal for when I want to take a single lens for the journey.
Read more: Canon RF-S 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM review
Features ★★★★☆ | It has an epic zoom range, equivalent to 28.8-240mm, plus highly effective stabilization and even a 0.59x macro ability. |
Design ★★★★☆ | Befitting a ‘travel lens’, it’s quite compact and lightweight but isn’t retractable and lacks weather-seals. |
Performance ★★★★☆ | Edge/corner-sharpness could be better but overall image quality and performance are very pleasing. |
Value ★★★★☆ | It’s good value, considering that it can effectively replace both standard and telephoto zoom lenses in a single package. |
Best wide-angle prime for the R50
This is really a popular lens with full-frame Canon users, because it offers a really wide angle of view and a really low price! It works really well on the smaller-format EOS R50 too, with a slightly wider angle of view than the kit lens and a much wider maximum aperture. Despite its pocket-sized build, this lens delivers impressive image quality and boasts a speedy, unerringly accurate autofocus system.
When you use this lens on full-frame cameras, the definition drops away somewhat at the edges of the frame, but the advantage of using it on the R50 is that you're only using the central part of the lens, where any lens performs at its best.
Read more: Canon RF 16mm f/2.8 STM review
Features ★★★★☆ | Ultra-wide on full-frame bodies and still usefully wide for APS-C, complete with stepping motor autofocus and switchable focus/control ring. |
Design ★★★★★ | I’m amazed that Canon has packed such ultra-wide-angle potential and swift f/2.8 aperture into such a compact and lightweight lens. |
Performance ★★★★☆ | Image quality is very good indeed, although there’s a massive reliance on auto-correction for barrel distortion. |
Value ★★★★★ | The price of this lens makes it standout value for any EOS R-system camera. |
Best portrait photography lens for the R50
A cheap 'nifty fifty' is a popular first buy for camera owners building a system, but while this is a full-frame lens, it's equally useful on the smaller-format EOS R50, where it can take on a completely different role. The smaller sensor means that this lens has an effective focal length of 80mm – and this, combined with the fast maximum aperture of f/1.8, makes it a great portrait lens for the EOS R50.
The Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM is quite simply an essential lens for every camera bag; small and light enough to go anywhere, fast enough to shoot in low light and snap into focus in a heartbeat, and silent and smooth enough to be used for video work.
Read more: Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM review
Features ★★★★☆ | The feature set is pretty basic but includes STM autofocus and a switchable focus/control ring. |
Design ★★★★☆ | I love the compact and lightweight yet robust build of this lens but it lacks any weather-seals. |
Performance ★★★★☆ | It’s not up to the standard of Canon’s top L-series lenses but punches well above its weight for image quality. |
Value ★★★★★ | The bargain basement price of this lens makes it a no-brainer for both full-frame and APS-C format EOS R-system cameras. |
Best macro lens for the R50
Here's another full-frame Canon prime lens that's well worth a look. This one is a little more expensive because it has a couple of extra features. The first is in-built image stabilization, which is really useful on a camera like the EOS R50 which doesn't have IBIS, and the second is a 'macro' capability that offers up to 0.5x magnification. That's not quite as much as a genuine 1x macro lens, but it still lets you get very close to small subjects.
I've seen some price variations, so that this lens can be significantly more expensive in the UK than the US, for example, but you're getting a lot for your money in terms of a wide maximum aperture, image stabilization and that 0.5x close-up capability.
Read more: Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM review
Features ★★★★★ | Useful features include optical stabilization, a fast f/1.8 aperture rating and even a 0.5x macro facility. |
Design ★★★★☆ | Compact but sturdily built, the design is perfect for walkabout photography, although the lens lacks weather-seals. |
Performance ★★★★★ | Image quality is lovely, while autofocus is fast and assured and stabilization works well. |
Value ★★★★☆ | This lens is reasonably priced but, as usual, you’ll have to buy the hood as an ‘optional extra’. |
Best compact lens for the R50
This is another full-frame Canon RF prime lens, and one of the newest. What's interesting about this one is that it's a super-compact 'pancake' design, so that if you fit it to the EOS R50, which is pretty small itself, you've got a combination you can just slip into a coat pocket. The 28mm focal length gives you an effective 45mm angle of view on the EOS R50, so this could be a great general-purpose 'standard' lens.
The Canon RF 28mm f/2.8 STM has really captured my heart. It's pocket-friendly in terms of both size and price, but doesn't compromise on performance.
Read more: Canon RF 28mm f/2.8 STM hands-on review
Lab data and comparisons
The graphs below show the comparative performance of the lenses in this guide, based on our in-house lab tests. It’s no real surprise that the two full-frame compatible prime lenses in the group score the highest for sharpness, although it’s pretty good across the board. The RF-S 10-18mm relies particularly heavily on automatic in-camera correction for distortion, while results for color fringing are broadly similar.
Scores for sharpness and color fringing are averaged from data taken across the entire image frame, from the center to the edges and corners, throughout the aperture range. For zoom lenses, the scores are also averaged from data measured at all marked focal lengths, and the same applies to distortion. Bear in mind that these average values don't fully reflect specific areas of performance. For example, a zoom lens might have noticeable barrel and pincushion distortion at its shortest and longest focal lengths respectively, which tends to average out when looking at the data overall. For more detailed graphs of each lens's performance, which give the full picture, check out the graphs in our full standalone lens reviews.
How to choose the best lens for the Canon EOS R50
Do all Canon lenses fit the EOS R50?
The R50 uses the Canon RF mount, which means it works with all RF and RF-S lenses. RF-S lenses are tailored for use with APS-C Canon cameras such as the R50; they are typically small and light, which makes them a good physical match for the R50. RF lenses tend to be larger and heavier than RF-S lenses.
The R50 can also use Canon's older EF and EF-S lenses for DLSRs, but you have to buy a Canon Mount Adapter EF-EOS R to fit the lenses.
The R80 can’t use EF-M lenses, which are made for the Canon EOS M series of cameras. No adaptor has been released for EF-M lenses.
How do I know which lens to get for my R50?
The reason there are so many types of lens in the first place is that different scenes demand different lens designs, particularly when it comes to focal length and aperture rating.
Usually, you will decide what you want to photograph, then get a lens with the focal length that suits the situation. For example, to shoot landscapes you will need a wide-angle lens, while for sports and wildlife you will need a telephoto.
You can watch this video that explains focal length: it helps you work out what kind of lenses you need for different genres of photography.
How we test lenses
The lens experts in our testing lab run a range of tests under controlled conditions, using the Imatest Master testing suite. Photos of test charts are taken across the range of apertures and zooms (where available), then analyzed for sharpness, distortion and chromatic aberrations.
We use Imatest SFR (spatial frequency response) charts and analysis software to plot lens resolution at the centre of the image frame, corners and mid-point distances, across the range of aperture settings and, with zoom lenses, at four different focal lengths.
There's more to it than just the technical side, though! Beyond the lab, our reviewers test lenses in real-world environments – and sometimes on professional shoots! We work with lenses both indoors and outdoors, in studio conditions and in natural light, with as many different subjects as is possible (or appropriate – there's no point testing a landscape lens' ability to shoot a portrait!).
We take into account everything from handling and ease of use to speed of autofocus and the overall quality of the images produced.
Find out more about how we test and review on Digital Camera World
