EF-M 22 is no doubt an unbeatable king by weight, price and capability in its class, but it is a dead system. What a shame Canon ignores what the customers need and love.

That Nikon 35 1.8 extended the life of my old Nikon D40 years beyond what it should have been capable of. A wonderful lens at an incredible price! I also loved the concept of the lens automatically switching to manual focus when turning the focus ring and thanks to its clever placement, I never accidentally bumped it, too. Too bad no manufacturer is able to do this for Mirrorless full frame cameras.

the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM is one of my Favorites. The Image Quality is amazing and even though the aperture isn't the widest, it is still one of the sharpest budget lenses I have in my collection.

I have to say that I tested the Nikon 35mm DX on both a D3 and a D4 (in Full Frame) and surprisingly it worked flawlessy, a little bit of pleasing vignette at f/1.8 but at f/2.8 it's perfect.

Bought a Canon 40mm f2.8 pancake lens the other day for my Canon 5D, but it actually covers the larger sensor in the Fuji GFX with brilliant results. Unfortunately, they have just stopped producing it, but I still managed to get hold of a near mint condition.

I just stumbled across your channel and look forward checking your honest well balanced reviews for my Nikon D3500 entry level camera. Well done!

😊 the Nikon 35mm f/1.8 was my first prime lens. I got a D3200 in a kit with 2 zooms and I really wanted a prime. I used that combo for a few years before I upgraded to full frame. I still use the 35mm on my D300. It's a wonderful lens.

Thank you. Love your tests and reviews 👍

Thank you for your reviews and recommendations

35mm dx Nikon is a must for anyone that can use it. Absolutely loved mine!!

Its the Sony 85mm f1.8 for me. Only about £400 in the UK and I see many pros use this for weddings and portraits - sharpness not far from the 85mm GM.

Sigma 45mm f2.8 for Sony and Leica. The specs may not be great but the images coming out of it are lovely. It often goes on sale for half its price. Despite owning many GM lenses this sigma is a favorite of mine The 24mm tamron is a cheap , crazy sharp macro capable lens

It must be 9 or 10 years I have been watching your vids which have helped guide me in my purchases over the years and long may you go on with the best reviews online.

Keep emm coming, great 🎉

Thanks for sharing another wonderful video like always 👍👌

Samyang AF 35mm f2.8 on my A7R2. Ideal for parties or similar occasions, where you don't wanna attract attention.

I have used the little Nikon 35mm DX for years, its great quality and just about works on full frame with a small amount of vignetting.

I've got EFM 22mm and EFS 10-18 and boy these are GOOD and cheap. I especially love the 22mm, that lets me put the whole camera+lens in a single small bag on my belt and be ready to shoot anywhere anytime. 22mm is suitable for most scenarios, I've photographed the whole 1 week vacation last summer without issues with that single lens. This 22mm lens is a must have for all EFM shooters.

Lovely list. I shoot Nikon DX and FX so I have limited budget options, but I have to nominate my 18-55 DX VR2 kit lens for a list such as this. Picked it up for around $35 used here in South Africa. Oh my goodness I would love to do a photo tour of Busan and the rest of South Korea with you Chris. Our visit to South Korea last year blew my mind. Busan was quite something else!

Nice choice Thanks for sharing

My all time favorite lens still is the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM. It was also my first prime lens, and so my first fast lens with f/1.8 as well. I changed to Nikon Z a while ago, but thinking about that little beast always makes me smile.

I had the Nikon 35mm 1.8 DX until a few years back when I moved to FX. Brilliant little lens.

The Tamron 70-210mm VC f/4 full frame for nikon f mount is my favorite. $350 ish used, it’s small, lightweight, internally zoomed, vibration control is really good, and is super versatile. Can focus really close for semi macro shoots, is great for portrait, pretty fast and accurate AF, weather sealed, I love it.

I love my Sigma 40mm F1.4 Art lens. It's big but the optical quality pairs very well with the A7RIV. I got my copy for $500 used, which is kind of crazy to me considering it's comparable to the $3-4k Zeiss Otus 55mm.

I owned nikkor 35mm dx f1.8g (which I really loved and 50mm f1.8g (was good but 35mm was just more useful for me). I used it on nikon d7200. Right now I have Fujifilm XT3 with 18-55mm and really thinking to buy xc 35mm f2!

Love the good low budget lenses!

For me it is the Nikon AF-P 18-55 VR. For my landscape work it is all I need, really. Stopped down it is really sharp from edge to edge, decnet range and basically free as the kit is often the only availabe option.

I love the 24mm version of the Tamron (got it for the 35mm look on aps-c)… I also love the 75mm Samyang f1.8, great on fullframe but even better as a compact telephoto prime… My favourite fullframe that I like on fullframe lens is my Samyang 35mm 2.8… it’s tiny and beautiful!

The best one for me has been the 24 MM F2.8 pancake lens from Canon, its small, its incredibly sharp, i can use it for landscapes, portraits and even macro, i got one new for around $100 and its generated some fantastic images along the way.

Hiii =) i would add 15-45 fuji, for 70-80$ its amazingly sharp, wide and close focus is awesome :)).

Great list happy to have 2 on the list . Sigma 18-50mm goes every where with me great travel lens and the Sony 50mm both work well on my a6400. Cheers phil in Blackpool

Good Job. I personally, tho, would replace your Fujifilm XC-35mm f 2 with the Fujifilm XC-15-45 mini zoom. ✅

Because of your reviews I have two of these lenses on this list! I have the Canon nifty fifty, and the 10 to 18 mm ef-s!! Thank you for your reviews! You are the gold standard!

That EF-M 22mm f/2 is what sold me on the M system- I got my M3, used, with that lens rather than the kit zoom, and for a while it was the only M lens I had. It remains the one most frequently found on the camera, though the 32mm f/1.4 is a common sight as well now.

I know zoom lenses are frowned upon, but I personally really like the 55-250 STM. It's incredibly cheap second hand and is very sharp at most apertures with little chromatic abberation and it also has fast, silent Autofocus.

Good selection Christopher! I am a Canon and Fuji user. I have a bunch of quality lenses and the best value for money I have are the Fujinon XF 35mm f/2 (for my XT3) and recently the Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 STM (for my R6 and R6 Mk II). Cheers from Buenos Aires!

Nice list. My best low budget lens has been the TAMRON 45mm 1.8 (used) $230

Just today I learned of your channel from a photographer on Flickr: I'm enjoying your reviews very much! I also like this emphasis as inexpensive isn't always low quality. A few years back, a wonderful but sadly defunct high quality German photography magazine was shocked when Canon released its 5DS R with the caveat that their 25-105mm L only be used with it with caution, and recommended to NOT use their 16-35 2.8L II at all on it. But that the 50 1.8 plastic fantastic was fine! I have the original EF 50 1.8 plus the two named Ls and fully agree: it is mind blowing. The magazine tested the 50 1.8 and it blew most lenses out of the water. A little secret in the camera industry: when Leica invented 35mm film format still photography, every other manufacturer copied their lens design. While not everyone has Leica's flare for making glass, the simplicity of the design meant that most manufacturer's had decent 50 1.8s. Indeed, I like it better and use it more than the Canon 50 1.4 I also own. Those who shoot with it, know. Happy shooting and keep up the good work!

My Canon lenses are: EF-S 24mm f/2.8, EF 50mm f/1.8 II and EF 75-300mm f/4-f/5.6. My manual focus lenses are: TTArtisan EF-M 35mm f/1.4 and Kamlan EF-M 50mm f/1.1. I think I have done pretty good getting budget lenses that I can use.

I started shooting on cannon EF-S. I was was so upset that we didnt have a 35mm 1.8. Next best thing was the 35mm f2 IS. It's a great time to be a photographer now a days.

I love the Nikon 35mm f1.8 G. Still use it adapted to my Fujifilm camera. Sold all my Nikon stuff except for this lens.

nothing beats the ttartisan 35mm 1.4 retro vibes for me, it's my favourite lens and the one I use 90% of the time

Don't know if vintage counts for the value question, but the K-version Nikon 50mm f/1.4 I have was $20 because it had "haze" (I couldn't see it and neither could the guy at the shop), and it's honestly sharp enough at f/2.8 and down to be mistaken for a modern lens both on full frame and APS-C. Plus it's built like a tank, the lens itself looks nice, and manual focus on a lens _designed for manual focus_ is fun.

That 35 1.8 dx is still used to this day for me. I take classroom photos for work, works so well on a z50.

Nice list :). I had great fun for years with another plastic fantastic Sony, its 35mm f/1.8 for A-mount. Can't remember what I paid for it but it was worth every penny.

My favourite budget all around lens for canon FF DSLR was 40mm f2.8, and for Sony FF mirrorless - it is Samyang 35mm f2.8.

Absolutely agree with Nikon 35mm dx . It’s small sharp nice bokeh and so cheap . I used with D90 and loved both so much.

Great selection of lenses Chris. Do use the nifty 50 and also the Efs 10-18 until this day on my R7 and R10. also just did buy the RF35 and RF24 F1.8 which are also a good choice.

Hands down the best low budget lens that I have found is the Canon EF-S 55-250 f/4-5.6. It is one of their hidden gems. It costs less than $300, has an all-plastic housing, no weather sealing; however, it is incredibly sharp over the whole focal length range and even at a wide open aperture. Autofocus is fast and accurate. On a 1.6x crop camera, it is a FF equivalent of 400 mm at f/5.6, which gives it decent lower light performance. It is unbeatable for anyone who wants to try their hand at wildlife photography without breaking the bank.

for me the best value I ever got was the Canon 50mm STM. It's such a great lens with incredible quality. I was very impressed with what you could get for 100$ new

What most people don't know, the Nikon AF-S 35mm f1.8 DX lens is also suitable for FX bodies as well!! There are just minimal black edges which can be dealt with in editing 😉

Christopher, I have a bunch of vintage lenses (some are rather cheap second-hand now) and I'd be curious how they would fair in your process. Would you do a video showing us a bit of how you do the tests? It might help viewers like myself compare some of our lenses. I can guess at a bunch of the test process just by looking at your videos but my hunch is there are lots of "gotcha" elements and things you've learned over the years since I can see tweaks / changes to your process, such as the brick front of a house for sharpness before you switched to the poster, but even the last year or so of adding coma-smearing checks and how you changed from daytime to nighttime checks for flaring/glare.

Sigma 105 2.8 macro for Nikon F mount. Cost about £330 I seem to remember. Very sharp, as you'd expect. Awesome for portraits as well as getting me into macro photography.

I love the Canon 10-18 for Infrared on my Sony A6100. great images all around

Came here to say when I started learning photography, the Nikon AF-S 35mm F1.8G DX consistently blew me away with the quality of shots it would produce on my D7100. Since updating to full frame Z mount, the Nikon 40mm f2 has been one of my favorite purchases. Cheap, sharp, lightweight, and inconspicuous. Can't ask for better budget value

I agree with you in the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8. It's wonderfull: small, light, unexpensive, sharp enough & fast. What more could you ask for an APSC camera lens?

Don't forget you have to apply the crop factor to the aperture as well. So the 18-50mm f/2.8 is actually equivalent to a full frame 27-75mm f/4.2 . Which is why it's smaller then a full frame f/2.8. You would have to compare to an f/4 lens to see if your saving any size/weight.

great work Christopher ...me: for years the EF 50/1.8 II (plastic)- I used it for more the 30x front pages for an international bank magazine (sold the 50 1.2L )- good enough for professional work 🙂 now the XF56 1.2 (first one now cheap as hell)

I loved the old, cheap Sigma trio of lenses. The 19mm, 30mm and the 60mm too. I bought them all for less than £300 used for the E mount. That's a good amount less than Sony's own 35mm f1.8 OSS. Mind you!! These lenses are super sharp and contrasty too with very few optical flaws. The 60mm is sharper than the copy of the 50mm f1.8 OSS I had. The 30mm f2.8 is a gem of a lens.

One not here: I have the Nikon 10-20mm f4.5-5.6 and have to say is sharp, silent AF, good against sun, and quite cheap. I also have the 35mm you include here and I love it!

Nice list but since it’s mainly APSC I was surprised by a couple. My best value lens is still my Tamron 28 to 75 e-mount. While, the G2 version would be nice as an upgrade, the original need getting into full frame Sony system achievable.

My best budget lens is also my favorite lens overall, it's the Samyang 21mm 1.4 ED AS UMC CS which I bought for my Sony a6000 a couple of years ago for around £270. A great little lens although it's manual focus only, but that didn't matter too much for me since I mainly bought it for astrophotography.

I too loved the 22mm when I had Canon, would like the 27mm for my Fuji. While not being super cheap, I think the fuji 18-55 punches well above it's price. I also have a thing for vintage manual focus lenses, and really like the Olympus Zuiko 100mm f2.8 and Nikon e-series 50mm 1.8 - Both can be had for very little money, I found both of mine at carboot sales.

Really great list! How do you think the sigma 18-50 2.8 compares to the Fuji 18-55 2.8-4 kit lens?

Top of the tops lens for me is the one with lots of keepers divided by very little price. Nothing beats the somehow unknown 7Artisans apsc 35mm f1.4. Amazing vintage look pictures, planar design, easy to focus, for under $70.

Chris, beside the 50/1.8/STM EF is another lens that was a real workhorse in my work - EF 24/2.8/IS/USM. I know how people complain about the focus breathing, but a primary video shooter I can say - NO ONE NOTICED IT, just know how to shoot. Also this lens is not very expencive, works in every conditions, have fairly sharp image and the only downside is that the autofocus motor is louder (but faster) than the STM lenses. Probably mu best shots are with it and as a BMPCC6K user I love it more than my Sigma 18-35/1.8!!!

My 2 best and cheapest lens are all kit lenses. They are Sony E 55-210mm and 18-55mm zoom lens. The only drawback is low light condition but it can be relieved with super low light sensor of my A7S3 camera and flash.

My mirrorless top: APS-C $150 - Meike 7,5mm f/2.8 Fish-eye - manual fish-eye with 190°. For all mirrorless mounts. $460 - NiSi 9mm f/2.8 Sunstar. Seems to be a bit pricey for a manual lens, but this is the best wide angle fix focal. For all mirrorless mounts. $280 - Yongnuo YnLens YN 16mm F/1.8 S/Z DA DSM - AF, unique combination of price, angle and speed. For E and Z mounts. $130 - Youngnuo YN 50mm F/1.8 S DA DSM - AF portrait lens. Sharp in-focus, smooth and very old-fashioned OOF with lot of CAs. For E mount. Full frame $215 - TTArtisan 11mm f/2.8 Fish-eye - manual fish-eye with 180°. For all mirrorless mounts. $300 - Canon RF 16mm f/2.8 STM. It suffers from distortion, but this is THE lens you need to stitch panoramas, because barrel distortion helps with stitching and getting wider angle of view. For RF mount. $400 - Samyang AF 18mm f/2.8 - small, lightweight. And it's sharp, if you could test it before the buying. For E mount. $280 - Yongnuo YN 35mm f/2.0 S DF DSM - delivers smooth OOF, okayish sharpness, but struggles from purple fringing wide open. For E, RF and Z mounts. $200..250 "like new" on eBay - Sony FE 28-60mm f/4-5.6 - marvelous combination of small size and sharp picture. For E mount. $320-360 - Yongnuo YNLens YN50mm F1.8 DF DSM - sharper than Zeiss 55/1.8 (sic !), but struggles with busy background blur at long distance. For E and Z mounts. $530 - Selena 58mm f/1.9 - manual artistic lens with unique ability to control background swirling. For all mounts. $700 - Sigma 65mm f/2 - the best lens I ever seen in 28..100mm range. It sharper than every Leica/Zeiss/Sony/Canon/Nikon, and it delivers the smoothest background blur (except the softfocus and STF ones). For E and L mounts. $300-400 - Samyang AF 75mm f/1.8 - compact, sharp, lightweight portrait lens. The background blur is a bit busy as for me, but many people love it.For E and X mounts. $400 - Viltrox AF 85mm f/1.8 II - the best 85/1,8. For E, RF, Z and X mounts. $800 - Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM - unique combination of small size, sharp 400mm and smooth background blur. Even the newer DN version of this lens worse in some points. And 800 bucks for telephoto is cheap actually. For EF and F mounts. $390 - TTartisan 100mm f/2.8 2x ultra macro tilt-shift manual lens. The cheapest tilt-macro lens ever, and the cheapest 2x macro. For all mirrorless mounts.

One of my favourite cheap lenses is the TTartisans 50mm f1.2. Damn good image quality for the price.

550 lenses sounds like a fun life. I love the little Canon 22mm F/2 and use it all the time

I really liked the silver Sony lenses lol. I also like the look of the Sigma Contemporary lenses more than any other modern lenses, and I know you love the look of those too lol.

great video, I expected something unique lenses in list but most are 50mm & 35mm which nobody is bothered as almost all brands got handful of them.

I have 2 lenses that I love and were pretty darn cheap. One bought used for 90 euros, Minolta 50mm f1.4 AF, what a gem, and trully great image full of character (although no contrast at f1.4, had to stop down to f2 for best results when contrast and aharo needed). Secound bought new for 340euros, Samyang 135mm f2 MF. I would love to own the new 1.8AF, but price is more than double! ❤❤

Nailed it! I'm a Canon shooter, but have often advised Nikon shooters of that 35mm DX lens. It's a brilliant piece of kit, so much more versatile than a 50mm would be on a crop body. I agree 100% that it is annoying Canon never made something to match/compete with it. I actually have a list of Canon lenses for people with APS-C cameras that I suggest for people learning the game. I call it "the four lenses to buy first for beginners with Canon APS-C cameras". The 10-18mm and 50mm F1.8 you mentioned, but I also suggest the EF-S 24mm F2.8 STM and EF-S 55-250mm IS STM (specifically the STM model). The list comes from the idea of lenses that are affordable, highly rated, and all offer something different to your kit outside of what the standard 18-55mm kit lens can do. Each lens is no more than 300 USD, often much less than that if you know where to look. I advise to grab these lenses before updating your camera, as together they might cost about the same as a new camera but add so much more to what is possible, while a new camera likely doesn't add enough just on its own if you don't have lenses to use with it. Granted, this is specific to people on DSLR crop bodies (Rebel series, mid-range 20D to the 90D, 7D), but can also apply if you have adapters for the M and R series, but there could be other options I would suggest there instead. Such as the EF-M 22mm F2 STM you mentioned instead of the 24mm F2.8, or the EF-M 11-22mm STM instead of the 10-18mm (though more expensive, it's better overall). Really hope to see more RF-S lenses, and would love to see the 22mm F2 and the 11-22mm STM ported over from M.

Nikon 40mm dx macro. Only f2.8 but fab.

My favorit: 50mm TTartisan f2 Sharp, fast, light weight, great build quality. Only negative is the missing autofocus

How about a similar video about vintage lenses? I'm curious what your picks would be.

I'm really interested on the NIKKOR 35mm but I have a sony body. I have this worry that using lens adaptor might affect videography performance such as AF accuracy and breathing. Is investing on this lens and an adapter worth it?

I had almost all of them so far (except the Sony's), always on budget :D i would also mention the Panasonic 25mm F1.7 for MFT, it was about 130 EUR brand new two years ago.

The Nikon DX 35mm F1.8 was my lens of choice when I was on Nikon D3300. Todqy, I've upgraded to a Sony a6100 but my favourite lens is the Sigma 30mm F1.4

The one lens that I have low expectations, but turned out to be stunning was the Laowa 9mm f/2.8 for Fuji. While manual focus, setting it at f/8 and focus at infiniity, everything past 1-2 meters are in focus, making this a veritable point and shoot lens. The image quality was by far the biggest shock, and fantastic. I took the lens on a trip over seas last week, and some of the images taken with an X-T5 are my favorites.

Thanks for the video! How does the Sigma 18-50 compare to the Fujifilm 18-55? I mean purely in terms of optical quality.

Thanks a lot for this video. Although I enjoy watching reviews of high end lenses (or simply outside my price range), it is unlikely I will buy one. This type of review is more likely to be used when choosing a used lens for my mirrorless camera. Vintage lenses on Sony full frame/apsc (Olympus om series) would be greatly appreciated.

Very good . Nikon AF Nikkor 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D Macro old , but cheap , very hard for buy used in UK.

there is one lens that eluded you for many years, Christopher :) and it is the pinnacle of budget lenses that can rival the Canon L line any day. i am talking ofcourse about the canon EF 100mm F2.8 (1:28, this is the model name not time stemp) Macro lens (the japanese one from 1990) i know it's an old lens but maybe someday you can review it :) watching your channel from the day 1 it was created and always wondered if you get to that lens eventually.

Can you please try the TTArtisan 25mm and 50mm F2 lenses? They are amazing small lenses with a pretty bright aperture, and an extremely low price.

Can you also make a video for full frame lenses on a budget, especial for Sony

The Canon 22mm f/2 ef-m lens is definitely one of my favorites. Even compared to other lenses that cost more, the canon m6ii with the 22mm is unbeatable for the small carry size, image quality and price. Hopefully Canon realizes what a great system they have in their eos-m line and they continue to develop it for compact apps-c travel cameras.

sony 85mm 1.8, panaleica 15mm those are my fav lenses

The Fujifilm xc35mm f2 is very solid for $200. Same optics as the xf version.

It is always very difficult to understand if the lenses are a full frame or an aps-c from the search by titles. Very nice channel.

the mitako 20mm f2 is a really fun lens 😊

When I bought my first DSLR, a Canon EOS 30D, instead of buying it with a kit lens I bought the Sigma DC 17-70 f/2.8-4.5 and I loved it so much that I eventually upgraded it to the newer slightly faster f/2.8-4.0 version with OS. I have made 30x40" prints from it that looked great. At round £350-ish I think it is the perfect walk-around lens for an APS-C camera, and I am much happier trading off the stop on the wide end for the extra reach compared to the 18-50mm f/2.8. In a strange way it is a little sad that I now have a Canon EOS R6, and not just because I am still far from won over by EVFs. But my walk-around lens is now a second-hand original version Canon EF 24-105L f/4 which is a very similar angle of view, and a fine lens, but a stop slower at the wide end and is huge and heavy in comparison. I feel it is under appreciated because of the lack of a constant aperture, but the Sigma 17-70 is a fantastic lens.

Thank you, God bless

Laowa 15 macro shift - its sharp, it shifts, its a macro and is usable on a ff as long as you don't shift far

The Canon nifty fifty was my first "fast" lens. AF is terrible by today's standards but IQ/Price value is way up there. Great little lens

Canon 50mm 1.8 STM is a solid performer. It lives in my bag alongside L glass 😅

Canon 10-18mm is my favorite on your top 10. Too bad it is only for apsc even though there are videos of modifying the mount to fit it to a full frame camera.

I am still using 35mm for last 12 years, started with d3000 then d7000 now using it on z6.

Not sure what budget is but the best lens for the money I've ever had is the first gen Samyang 85 1.4 AF that i got for $350 used. The little samyang 24 2.8 actually surprised me too. Got it for my wife for a light hiking setup.