which canon lens is best for sharp manual focus and if I'm on a budget?

The 50mm f/1.8 is every bit as sharp as the f/1.4 and under a 1/3rd of the price.

When you get to the DSLR level, you have to consider the total cost of ownership. The major mistake most new DSLR owners make is buying the most expensive DSLR they can afford, then think about lenses as an afterthought.

Truth is - lenses are more important than the camera, and lenses are expensive. The minimum budget any DSLR owner should look at for just lenses is about $2,400 (USD), for a cropped DSLR, and that is just for three good high-quality f/2.8 zoom lenses that will provide adequate coverage; and 3rd party lenses at that. Expect to spend $6,000 (USD) for those same 3 lenses if you have a full frame camera and you want camera brand lenses.

Of course, you don't have to buy these lenses all at once, but you should budget that amount of money over a 5yr period. If you go to buying the cheapest lenses you can get, you might as well save your money and buy a less expensive camera system.

Having said that, $330 is not a lot of money for a good premium lens. Buying cheap lenses is a waste of money - buying premium lenses is not.

The 50mm is indeed awesome and sharp, you should also look at the 50mm f/1.8 and 40mm f/2.8 STM. $300 is already dirt cheap for such amazing lenses.

Here's a list of 15 most popular/cheap Canon lenses - http://www.smashingcamera.com/2013/12/15-most-popu...

Good luck! And none of these will make you feel like you wasted any money ;)

If you are on a budget, then you need to think out the usefulness of an item before buying it.

What do you expect to do with a 50mm f1.4 or 50mm f1.8?

There are situations for which 50mm on a DX camera is a good choice, and a prime lens will have a little less distortion and chromatic aberration than the 50mm setting on a zoom. It can be a little sharper. The wider aperture is sometimes useful, although depth of field is shallow and sharpness not optimum at wide aperture. It is not going to make the tripod obsolete.

Some say they use 50mm a LOT, and I can't say they don't. I have one, and I don't.

The 50mm's reputation as a general purpose lens was made on film cameras, and for the same angular field on a DX sensor, that would take a 35mm lens.

Portraits? Suddenly people are touting 50mm on DX as a portrait lens. In film days there was not a 75mm portrait lens. 85mm or 105mm were preferred.

All of them. Even non-Canon lenses produce sharp photos if you know exactly what you are doing. If the lens can't produce a sharp image, it would be useless and it won't sell.

All dSLR lenses can be focused manually. If they weren't then it's probably a pan-focus lens, one that doesn't need focusing because it makes everything relatively clear which means everything isn't really sharp because it's dirt cheap.

Here's how to look at lenses, those mm's, f's and everything else.

http://keerok-photography.blogspot.com/2011/05/len...

Get the f/1.8 for $125, and here is why.

http://www.adorama.com/alc/0012817/article/50mm-le...