These are the best Canon lenses under $500, chosen for their blend of image quality, versatility, and value across both RF and EF systems so you can build a serious kit without overspending. If you’re on an EOS R body and want native choices, start with the RF 50mm f/1.8 STM—the modern “nifty fifty” with quiet AF, pleasing sharpness, and smooth background blur that makes portraits, detail shots, and low-light work look expensive; pair it with the RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM, which doubles as a close-up tool with image stabilization and fast aperture for food, street, and video, and you’ve got two small primes that cover most storytelling with style. For travel, vlogging, and interiors, the RF 16mm f/2.8 STM is a compact ultra-wide that brings dramatic perspective without the weight, and the RF 28mm f/2.8 STM is a featherweight daily driver that renders clean, classic frames while keeping your camera pocketable. If you prefer zoom convenience on APS-C bodies like the R50 or R10, the RF-S 18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM is an all-in-one that handles landscapes, portraits, and casual wildlife in a single stabilized package, while the RF-S 55-210mm IS STM gives lightweight telephoto reach for sports and travel; for sweeping interiors and handheld cityscapes, the RF-S 10-18mm IS STM is a tiny ultra-wide that’s perfect for small rooms and dramatic skylines. Budget full-frame shooters should consider the RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS STM, a surprisingly sharp, stabilized walk-around zoom that covers everything from wide scenes to head-and-shoulders portraits in a single lens and is often the most affordable way to get a useful full-frame range. One of the smartest money-saving moves for any EOS R owner is to add the EF–EOS R adapter and tap Canon’s deep catalog of EF bargains that routinely slip under $500: the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM remains a portrait and low-light staple; the EF 40mm f/2.8 STM pancake keeps your setup genuinely pocketable; the EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM pancake is a tiny APS-C companion for street and travel; the EF 85mm f/1.8 USM delivers flattering compression and fast, confident focus for portraits; the EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM is a featherweight ultra-wide gem for crop bodies; and the EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM is a shockingly good telephoto for daylight sports and wildlife. If you don’t mind buying used, a few classics often dip below the mark and add pro polish to a budget kit: the EF 17-40mm f/4L USM is a sturdy landscape and architecture workhorse on full frame, the EF 24-105mm f/4L (original version) is an all-purpose stabilized zoom with L-series rendering, and the EF 100mm f/2 USM gives you a fast short-tele for portraits and indoor action. To stretch your $500 further, match lens choices to subjects and shooting style—fast primes (f/1.8–f/2.8) for portraits and low light, stabilized zooms for travel and video, ultra-wides for rooms and vistas—and lean on Canon’s excellent in-lens IS where available for steady handheld frames. Keep a simple, flexible setup in mind: an RF 16mm for wide, an RF 50mm for portraits, and an adapter plus EF-S 55-250mm for reach will cover almost any trip; on APS-C, an RF-S 10-18mm plus RF-S 18-150mm is a two-lens travel combo that stays small, sharp, and ready for anything. Because these lenses are compact and affordable, you’ll carry your camera more, practice more, and get better images in more places—proof that a thoughtful sub-$500 lineup can deliver professional-looking results without a professional price.