Camera Labs

Hello everyone, one of the most popular questions in the Canon section is which of the three Canon 50mm lenses to go for.

Regular members will know there's three models, in ascending price:

Canon EF 50mm f1.8

Canon EF 50mm f1.4

Canon EF 50mm f1.2L

You can compare prices and specs on all three on this page.

So all three have the same focal length, all three will work on cropped or full-frame bodies, and all three will let you achieve shallow depth-of-field effects. The choice between them boils down to aperture, build quality and focusing - and of course your budget, as they have quite different prices.

Since many of you own one of these models and have spent a lot of time weighing up the options, I'd like to invite owners to tell us why they went for their chosen model, what they think of it, and whether they would buy it again or go for a different one. Since many of you have posted comments about it before, feel free to copy and past your previous messages here.

This is to help future buyers of this lens decide. It also means if the question arises in the future, we can point new members towards this sticky thread.

And remember, if you are buying this lens, doing so through one of our partner shops will help support Cameralabs and keep it running!

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Affil ... ping.shtml

Thanks,

Gordon

I bought the f/1.8, mainly as it was very cheap. I wasn't expecting to use it a lot. If I was going to use it more, I would have gone for the f/1.4 to get the slightly bigger aperture and increased number of aperture blades helping with the bokeh. It is handy for those times where there isn't much light, or if I want a shallow DoF without going to longer telephoto lenses.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

I got the 1.8 because it was dead cheap, although i have to say, i would like the 1.4 for it's AF and BQ, i may well upgrade some day!

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Ed


Canon 40D + Grip | Sigma 10-20 EX | 17-85 | Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 EX II | 50 F/1.8 | 430 EX II + Other Stuff
Flickr
Portfolio - Not recently updated!
Saving for: -

I got the 1.4 because it's presumably the sharpest o the three, it's gonna be used mainly as my low-light lens, where the 1.4 comes in handy and it's dead cheap compared to the 1.2 and good build quality compared to the 1.8.
Oh yeah. It has great bokeh
I got it second hand for about 225 euros.

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flickr
Canon 5D + 17-40 F4L + 50 F1.4 + 70-200 F2.8L
Velbon Sherpa 200R

50mm 1.8! because it was cheap and i was going on vacation soon and wanted to buy a dslr to travel with and i didn't have enough for the kit lens so i bought the cheapest lens canon makes

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Canon 40D + 70-200mm f/2.8L IS + 50mm f/1.8
Manfrotto 055CX3 + 496RC2
www.thomaslowe.com

I bought one last month for the same reasons.
It'll become very useful now during the fall and winter because it's dark nearly 22 hours a day during that season where I live.
With 1.6x crop sensor it's a very nice focal length for portraits.
If it's an important photo I'm trying not to use f:1.4 because it can be a bit of the soft side there but a very nice aperture to have in emergency cases.
I like to add though that on the downside the 50mm/1.4 USM has got a cheaper budget type of "micron" USM autofocus wich is not as quick as the more expensive USM. That said the 50mm/1.8 is therefore equal in autofocus speed as the 1.4 USM although you have to switch the AF/MF button to MF for manual focus wich is not the case with the USM.

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my flickr

i purchased the ƒ/1.4 version for the reasons of build quality and larger aperture for low light shooting. Would have gone with the ƒ/1.2 version but funds at the time wouldn't allow it, i probably will one day.

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Mark Osborne
My life through an iPhone

Hi Greg, I've deleted your post here as this thread really is just about the Canon models, BUT your tips were useful, so I've created a new thread in the Nikon section for people to explain which 50mm they bought.

PS - no Canon comments in that one either please!

For my Canon I bought the F1.4 because of the build quality mainly. The F1.8 felt too flimsy, no offense to anyone that has it or doesn't mind it.

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Nikon D800
Nikon 14-24mm f2.8G, Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f2.8G, Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f2.8G VRII, Tokina 100mm f2.8D Macro and Nikon AF 50mm f1.8D.
Nikon SB-700, Nikon SB-600

i use the 50mm 1.4

great body built... many said that it is as sharp as the 24-70 2.8L at the same FL...

it has a faster fousing than the 50mm L 1.2 and actually it is sharper than the 1.2 over the F/2- F/8 (tested) under F/2 the L series of the prime lens is a KING (what i dream of having because it fits my style of hotography, Product, food an beverage photography)

the 1.8 is not bad if u are entrying the 50 prime lens... im sure one day when u really get the feel of the prime lens u will upgrade to the 1.4...

i used the 1.8 before
these are some of the results

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arydigipic ... otostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arydigipic ... otostream/

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BestAri photography
EOS 7D, EOS 500D, EFS 24-105 F/4 L IS USM, 50mm f/1.4 USM, EFS 55-250 F/4-5.6, 580ex Speedlite.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arydigipic/sets/

I'd been try the 1.8 & the 1.4 version, the 1.8 does produce great result but the Bokeh output bit distract & isn't smooth next to the 1.4. The 1.4 produce better output than the 1.8 as well the bokeh are buttery smooth the only criticism with these lens are tad soft at wide open aperture setting.

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Soon.....

I had the 1.8 but I sold it not long after I picked up the 17-55mm. Main reason why I sold it was that there wasnt that much of a difference and I hardly used it.

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Canon EOS 450d/XSi, BG-E5 Grip, 4 LP-E5 battery, Canon EF-S 17-55 F2.8 IS USM, B+W 77mm Pro1 MRC UV0 filter, Canon EF-S 10-22mm USM, HOYA 77mm HMC UV(C) Multi-Coated Filter THIN, Canon 580EX II,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31510271@N05/

I bought the f/1.4 version because it was a better build than the f/1.8, but hardly ever used it, felt restricted by having no zoom... so have now sold it to puziparrot.

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Roy
EOS 350D, 40D + BG-E2N, EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM, EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM, 430 EX Speedlite




My Fotopic

I got the 1.8 version because it was dead cheap. But I will upgrade to 1.4, some day, as this 1.8 feels like a plastic toy.

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Canon 450D | BG-E5 | 430 EX II | 50mm f/1.8 II | 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM | 17-50 2.8 VC | 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

I bought the 1.8 because that is what I can afford.

The build quality is terrible, but if I break it, it won't break the bank to buy another one.