Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Standard & Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras Review
I decided to give this lens a try after reading all the great reviews.
One problem I have is...I like to use the center focus spot and then recompose. Many times I have locked the focus by pressing the shutter down halfway, then I recompose, then I press the shutter all the way down to take a pic and then my camera tries to focus on something in the background. This is very frustrating. Once I lock focus the camera should take a pic witht he current focus setting no matter where I point the camera. This lens has caused me to miss a few really good shots. None of my other lenses do this.
Sometimes I have to lock the focus, then switch to manual so I can be sure the lens will stay focused on my subject. I shouldn't have to compromise like this. Did I get a defective lens or is this common with all the Canon 50mm 1.4 lenses?
Even though I am having a few minor problems I still love using this lens because it is so light and the I.Q. is really good. I love having an F1.4 if I need to use it. (I rarely go below F2.0 because that is where this lens starts to get a little soft) This allows me to get a really shallow depth of field (this helps make orindinay subjects become extraordinary)and also it helps keep the ISO really low, which greatly improves image quality.
This focal length (on a small sensor like my 40D) is a little long for a walkaround lens but I find myself carrying it around anyway. I just hope there is always room to back up.
A few days ago I really wanted to take a pic of store front but there was no room to back up so I took three shots and merged them in Photoshop CS3. It was a little extra work (about a minute for Photoshop to put them together) but the extra time was worth it because the final image came out great. And, with plenty of megapixels to spare. Whenever I combine pics in Photoshop I get pictures that have more megapixels than my camera is capable of producing.
One big plus for this lens is that it doesn't give you severe neck pains after using it for many hours. This lens is so light you don't even feel the extra weight on your camera.
I hope I can solve my focus lock issues because I would love to only have to carry this lens around with me all day long.
I can't wait to do some portraits with this lens. I have seen some examples on the internet of people using F2.0 for portraits and the quality is amazing. The huge aperture thows the background out of focus and puts all the emphasis on your subject. Love it!! Just be very careful where you focus because if the very shallow depth of field. You could get a nose in focus and blurry eyes.
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Customer Reviews
Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM review - Zzzzz - Cali
This is a fantastic lens. It's great in low level light and performs excellent in all conditions. The one thing to remember is that since it's a fix focus lens, meaning no zooming capability, then you have to make sure you have enough room to back up in order to get the view you want. I actually won a photo contest with the lens and continue to use it for all my family photos. I even took some photos for a couple of my friend's kid's first birthday and they were quite happy. I'm not a professional, but definitely think it's worth it if you want to be able to take pictures inside without the use of a flash. Highly recommended!
Great lens ! - G. Lim - Santa Clara, CA
GREAT lens ! I can't say enough ! The pictures are great even in low light.
I put 3 stars under economical because of it's price. The 50mm f/1.8 is half
the cost. But I love the extra stops, really comes in handy.
Let's lay out the options... - Michael A. Duvernois - Minneapolis, MN United States
If you're looking at this, then you've probably decided on a 50mm or so prime lens, likely because the kit zoom lens is both slow and not very good quality. Here are the options for Canon:
Canon 50mm f/1.8 (version 2): It's inexpensive, very fast compared to any cheap zoom and exceptionally good for the price. On the down side, it's cheap feeling, noisy in focusing, and difficult to focus manually. You should buy at least this.
Canon 50mm f/1.4: A little bit faster, but that's a less important trait these days with good digital high effective ISOs. More importantly, it's robust, easy to use, with full-time manual focusing (you can just grab the ring even when it's autofocusing), and good image quality
Sigma 50mm f/1.4: More expensive than the Canon lens, but slightly better image quality wide open. It's a tough sell since the quality change isn't huge. But if the extra money and Sigma logo don't bother you, then go for it.
Canon 50mm f/1.2: Big money for that extra light-gathering ability. If you need this for photographing in a club, then you'll buy it. If you don't need it, it's too expensive and heavy to compete with the lenses above.
Another, used, option, the original Canon 50mm f/1.8 EF lens was sturdier and better built, but they're only available used and possibly abused. I own one and am happy with it. I have shot with the Canon f/1.4 as well and that's the lens that I'd buy today.
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Nov 13, 2009 19:06:12
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