Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro Lens
Review by Daniel Koretz : great macro lens for the price

Some of reservations people have in their reviews are right--the lens is slightly noisy, it does sometimes hunt a little for focus, and it is only 1:2 magnification, not 1:1. But despite that, I love it. I have found that it is a great lens, particularly for the price. It has good optics, it is a nice length for a lot of macro work (yes, you have to get closer with a relatively short lens, but depth of field in macro shots is hard enough with a lens this long, let along a longer one), and it generally focuses plenty fast enough. Some people have complained that the noise of the focus would scare off insects, etc., but I have not had that experience at all. I have gotten up close to lots of bugs, like bees and wasps, and they don't respond to the focusing at all. [...] If you are concerned about skittish critters, the issue is not the slight noise of the lens; it's how close you have to get to them with any 50mm or 60mm lens. So unless you decide you need a long macro lens or want to spend a lot more money, this may be a very good choice for you. And keep in mind that if you have a consumer-level SLR, the effective length of this lens (compared to the old 35mm standard) is about 90 mm.

Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro Lens
Review by Richard Hohn "Rixtar" : Gets You Closer Than You Expect With Digital Rebel

I purchased this lens to take photographs of vintage wristwatches. I use an original Canon Digital Rebel and the shots are really very detailed. It is easy to use in fact, I can hand hold the camera and capture the details in the hand-made craftsmanship of the watches. Its F2.5 opening is a welcome change when you are use to shooting with a zoom lens and it is quite sharp edge to edge. If you own a Canon digital SLR and want to pocket some extra coin then this is the lens for you.

Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro Lens
Review by G. Slocum "XPh" : My experience with this lens

I am THRILLED with this lens's capabilities and the pictures it does. I test shot a corner of a window to determine if it would be good for my insect shots that I like so well.

Well, it did great as it came but I found that I wanted to have the 1/1 capability so I bought the add-on converter and am thrilled to have added both of these necessary items for my set-up. I like nature photography the best and like to use my off summer days for hiking and finding photographs to take in perhaps well-known places but finding unique angles and subjects is what I like to specialize in. This lens will greatly enhance your experience in that 'little world' we commonly trod over or weed-ate away. I built a diffuser using a ping-pong ball over the flash so the lighting would work better. (Works great, btw).

As usual, it's great Canon glass that does the trick.