50mm 1.8 STM AF Noise... Really?!

I just picked up a 50mm 1.8 STM for my EOS M6, since I just gave away my trusty old 50mm 1.4 to one of my assistants. I was thinking that the 1.8 STM AF would be a better fit for the M6, since canon claims the STM motor is smooth and silent...

Have a look at the video here, and please let me know if this is "smooth & silent" : 50mm 1.8 STM AF Noise

Is this normal for this lens?! I have the 22mm EF-M, and it literally is smooth and silent, but the 50mm seems anything but. It also feels extremely slow.

Maybe I have bad lenses too but my EFS 24f/2.8 STM and my EF 50 f/1.8 STM are both noticably louder to focus than my EFS 10-22 which uses a USM motor.   I know the STM  lenses focus smoother and don't have the fast start/stop of a USM  motor but I don't believe the silent part at all.

I use this lens as well in my A7RII and the focus is slow and sometimes not accurate, mostly if you're not using the central point. And outside the center is less sharp than my manual Canon FD 50 1.4 until f4 or so. You should have better kept the AF 50 1.4 I guess...

The 85 1.8 with the USM focusing system is awesome though.

juanmaasecas wrote:

I use this lens as well in my A7RII and the focus is slow and sometimes not accurate, mostly if you're not using the central point. And outside the center is less sharp than my manual Canon FD 50 1.4 until f4 or so. You should have better kept the AF 50 1.4 I guess...

The 85 1.8 with the USM focusing system is awesome though.

It's certainly accurate enough, but it is definitely slow, hesitant, and man... That motor noise... Wow.

Yep, mine sounds like that too...kinda dissapointing...and slow focusing..but quieter than the old version ii...but not as fast to focus.

My 18-135 stm and 10-18 stm are both silent.

I just tested mine, and mine is not that loud at all.  Maybe you got a bad copy?  Did you buy it new or used?  I'm assuming new since they are dirt cheap anyways.  If so try returning it and getting another copy.  If it happens again, either you have bad luck or your camera is recording the noise louder than it's supposed to be.

sorry previous post was directed to OP, my bad

Thomas Richter wrote:

Yea, mine is that noisy too. I guess Canon engineers got a requirement from marketing to only improve things gradually over the 50mm/1.8II. That also goes for the optical performance...

I think you're right; it's less noisy than the 50 1.8 II, so that's likely the bar they're referencing.

Steve Balcombe wrote:

XeroJay wrote:

I just picked up a 50mm 1.8 STM for my EOS M6, since I just gave away my trusty old 50mm 1.4 to one of my assistants. I was thinking that the 1.8 STM AF would be a better fit for the M6, since canon claims the STM motor is smooth and silent...

Have a look at the video here, and please let me know if this is "smooth & silent" : 50mm 1.8 STM AF Noise

Is this normal for this lens?! I have the 22mm EF-M, and it literally is smooth and silent, but the 50mm seems anything but. It also feels extremely slow.

I don't have any personal experience of it so I can't comment on whether it's normal for that lens. However there are two types of STM mechanism, "lead screw STM" which is used in the STM zoom lenses, and gear-type STM which is used in the shorter lenses where lead screw STM wouldn't fit. See https://www.canon.co.uk/lenses/tech-guide/focusing/ - doesn't give a lot of information, just the basics, but the animations (Flash required) illustrate the mechanisms quite nicely.

This was helpful, as it specifically mentions the 50 1.8 STM. Looks like it's just the way this lens is.

It is no doubt not a quiet lens. It also isn't terribly fast in the light you would use a 1.8 lens in. The accuracy isn't terribly great in low light either. I'd have to test it to confirm, but I remember this lens being quite adequate in good light (focus-wise). But ultimately, I keep reverting back to the fact... it's a $100'ish lens that optically punches well above its weight. Honestly, I'd argue even with its problems, it punches well above its weight.

XeroJay wrote:

juanmaasecas wrote:

I use this lens as well in my A7RII and the focus is slow and sometimes not accurate, mostly if you're not using the central point. And outside the center is less sharp than my manual Canon FD 50 1.4 until f4 or so. You should have better kept the AF 50 1.4 I guess...

The 85 1.8 with the USM focusing system is awesome though.

It's certainly accurate enough, but it is definitely slow, hesitant, and man... That motor noise... Wow.

It's slow, yes, but I would not call it hesitant. The old one was acceptably fast [i]if[/i] it nailed the focus exactly on the first try; if it overshot, which it did in many cases, it would start to grind and whine on and on and on for what seemed like an eternity, causing you to reach for the focus ring, only to curse when you remember that the lens wouldn't allow full-time AF.

At least the STM never does that.