UPDATE: Now Shipping - Mine will be here tomorrow (Friday May 21) Follow on Facebook & Instagram for updates, first look and review.BUY from B&H Photo 50mm f/1.8 STM or Amazon 50mm f/1.8 STM $125Rumored last week and discussed on our weekly podcast, now officially announced. This is a successor to the incredibly popular 50mm f/1.8 often called the nifty-fifty or plastic fantastic because of it's cheap plastic mount.  The new STM version offers a metal mount in a slightly smaller size and 7 aperture blades for smoother bokeh in the background.   All while keeping the cost the same as the current 50mm f/1.8.  I preordered mine from B&H and will have lots more to share when they start shipping May 21st. I do expect it to be noticeably sharper, especially when shooting at the wider apertures.Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Standard Telephoto Prime Lens Specifications Summary

• Compact, lightweight, fixed focal length standard lens for EOS cameras
• Large f/1.8 maximum aperture
• 80mm effective focal length when attached to EOS cameras with APS-C sensors
• Canon STM gear type stepping motor technology provides quiet autofocusing to support Canon’s EOS Movie Servo AF function
• Improved exterior design including new focus ring placement makes it the most compact Canon EF 50mm lens ever
• New metal mount for stability and ruggedness
• Super Spectra Coating for minimized ghosting and flaring
• Circular 7 blade aperture (The current 50mm f/1.8 has just 5 blades and as a result the bokeh is often shaped like small fuzzy pentagons.)
• 14-inch minimum focusing distance
• 0.21x maximum magnification

BUY from B&H Photo 50mm f/1.8 STM or Amazon 50mm f/1.8 STMYour use of my links helps support this site and the work I do.They have a lens hood for the news lens too and B&H has the cheapest price at $26.95 Honestly for the more recessed design of this lens, a lens hood is not critical but if you would like to provide more protection and decrease your chance of sun flares you should buy.   Canon is selling a UV filter too. I will just remind you that I rarely recommend UV filters for protection and I certainly wouldn't spend the time or money to put one on a $125 lens.  Read more about filters you should have here.The new STM lens will be better than the current f/1.8, I am 100% sure of that. The real question is how will this lens compare to the Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM.  The 50mm f/1.4 is not exceptionally sharp wide open and needs to be stopped down to f/1.8 or f/2 to get better results putting these two lenses on similar footing.  USM focusing system is different but not really better than STM though USM does provide a more direct manual focusing system experience.   For easy autofocus during video the new STM version is going to be best.  I am struggling to come up with a strong argument for many to pay $200 more for the USM version. I will be testing the Canon 50mm f/1.8 and the new Canon 50mm STM along with the Canon 50mm f/1.4 soon. Subscribe to my newsletter, of stay up to date with Photorec.tv announcements on the Facebook page, Twitter or Instagram.  I also suggest you Subscribe to my Youtube channel.