Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 Reviews

Rating
Reviewed by:

tourtrophy
( Intermediate)

Review Date
May 10, 2007

Overall Rating
4 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Review 1 of 61

Price Paid: $308.00 from Amazon

Summary:

This is a sharp lens for indoor photography.
The built quality is above the 18-55mm kit lens but is good enough for casual use. I am quite happy with the result.

AF seems to have trouble hunting for focus in low light and white objects.

Strengths:

Tact Sharp
Extremely useful for low light without flash
Good Value

Weaknesses:

AF hunting in low light.

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Rating
Reviewed by:

Armand
( Expert)

Review Date
November 20, 2006

Overall Rating
4 of 5

Value Rating
3 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5,
1 votes

Review 2 of 61

Price Paid: $320.00 from Amazon.com

Summary:

Overall this lens has proven very satisfactory to me. However I had a complete failure of the focusing system within 7 months. The focus accuracy became progressively worse in the week prior to the motor becoming very erratic then completely unresponsive.

In 7 months I have noticed a little dust inside the lens. Not well sealed at all if this is the case. I'm feeling Canon charges more for this lens than it is worth build-wise. Image-wise it's a bargain.

I'm really iffy about recommending this now. Unfortunately I've discovered a lot of others online describing the same problem. I love the lens, but I have doubts about the manufacturing quality.

Strengths:

Excellent photos from this lens, very happy about 95% of the time. Autofocus is great except in the lowest lighting.

Weaknesses:

Micro USM autofocus failure. Poor low-light focusing. Gathers dust internally. Soft diffused look at 1.4 (you might like it).

About the focus issue:
http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00HYvS&tag=

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Rating
Reviewed by:

Frans
( Casual)

Review Date
April 10, 2006

Overall Rating
3 of 5

Value Rating
3 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
3 votes

Review 3 of 61

Price Paid: $360.00 from Photobuff

Summary:

I bought this lens together with Canon 85mm f/1.8, as I was so impressed in the low light shooting capabilities of the Sigma 30mm f1.4 that I had purchased some months earlier. The 50mm f/1.4 is of lower quality both mechanically and optically than the 85mm f/1.8. The 50mm produces more flare, has less contrast and the auto focus is not as reliable. This is not to say that the auto focus is bad, it’s just not as good as the 85mm lens. It seems as the focal length decreases so does the auto focus accuracy on the 350D when using fast lenses. There is a some purple fringing that is apparent under strong light. The focus ring does not operate as smoothly and also has some play, unlike the 85mm lens. My main objective was to use this lens when filming at folk music events. Most of these events are poorly lit. All lenses mentioned have proved to work very well here. The 30mm and the 50mm lenses are just about impossible to manual focus in low light unlike the 85mm. If you are considering between the 50mm or 85mm lens, then the 85mm lens is of much better value, considering that there is only about $50 between then.

Strengths:

Small
Light weight
Sharp
Beautiful background blur

Weaknesses:

Play in focus ring
Focus ring is not as smooth as the Canon 85mm f/1.8

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 30mm f/1.4
Canon 85 f/1.8

Customer Service:

not required as yet

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Rating
Reviewed by:

brianc1964
( Intermediate)

Review Date
March 29, 2006

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5,
2 votes

Review 4 of 61

Price Paid: $310.00 from Samys Camera

Summary:

I don't know why some of the reviews on the site show users complaining of the build quality of this lens. It's fairly heavy for its size, has USM focusing and DELIVERS. I shoot in film so the lens is exactly 50mm on my EOS-3 body. I shoot mostly portraits of models, but have used this lens for flat-perspective, with landscape shots as well. Extremely sharp and VERY contrasty, this lens is better(in my opinion), then the highly-regarded EF 85mm f/1.8 USM. I usually use an 81b filter from B+H for portrait work and if I use this lens for landscape work, I use a 58mm Heliopan Polarizer. There is no distortion in the corners of any of the images I've taken, razor sharpness when looking at details of portrait work-especially in very low lighting indoors- with only available light(no flash). It's a very versatile lens which has everything going for it.

Strengths:

Contrast, color rendition, sharpness and versatility.

Weaknesses:

none.

Similar Products Used:

EF Canon 135mm f/2 L USM
EF Canon 70-200 f/4 L USM
EF Canon 85mm f/1.8 USM
AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 D

Customer Service:

please!

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Rating
Reviewed by:

Lionheart
( Expert)

Review Date
March 25, 2006

Overall Rating
4 of 5

Value Rating
2 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5,
2 votes

Review 5 of 61

Price Paid: $210.00 from BH photo

Summary:

Ultrasonic motor, quiet, fairly quick focusing. Large for a 50mm lens. Build quality a little suspect for a prime in this price range. Extremely sharp. Nice bokeh at f1.4
Very disappointed given the price of this lens, even used, not a good value.
I use my 50mm f2.5 compact macro much more than this lens, and my f1.8 is my default 50mm for candid shooting.
Very poor value at 315 brand new (bh price), almost as poor a value used at 210 (what I bought it for at bh photo)

Strengths:

f1.4-great for lowlight.
sharp, sharp, sharp.
sweet bokeh.
quiet USM motor.

Weaknesses:

expensive for a lens of this questionable build. My f1.8 mark I is better built than this lens. External focusing is disappointing-you'd think at this price level that Canon would make this an internally focusing lens. Very questionable build quality-it's broken twice on me now-fixed myself both times while my more often used f1.8 has never failed me.. Focus is slower than expected for an USM motor, especially at this price level. My 1D mkII tends to overexpose at f1.4 compared to my f1.8 lens. Not a terribly versatile lens either-close focusing distance leaves much to be desired.

Similar Products Used:

EF 50mm f1.8 (original, the one with a metal body)
EF 50mm f2.5 compact macro (worth every penny).

Customer Service:

not applicable

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