Canon EF 50mm 1.4 USM Lens- I'm so glad I broke my 1.8

Author's Rating:

Pros: Buttery soft bokeh, fast performance in low light conditions, ultra sonic motor

Cons: Spendier than the 1.8, a little slow to focus in low light

The Bottom Line: 
I have to give this lens five stars because I love the pictures I get from this lens- my subjects pop while leaving the background beautifully blurred.

Author's Review
One year ago my husband surprised me with a Canon digital Rebel XT, which completely changed the way I took photos. This past fall I upgraded to a Canon 30d, and took to heart the theory that an excellent photo has less to do with the actual camera and more to do with the lens. I knew it was time to venture outside of my Tamron 28-75 2.8 (which has served as an excellent walk-around lens).

Alas, I am a somewhat poor girl and cannot afford the spendy Canon L-Series lenses. I know there are many photography snobs that scoff at the idea of owning less than an L-Series, but this is the real world. I take photos mostly for pleasure, and am usually not paid. So with that in mind, I began my search.

A friend loaned the Canon 50mm 1.8 lens to me and I was immediately addicted to prime lenses (fixed focal length requiring "foot zooming"). Most of the photos I take either 1.) in low light or 2.) portraits. The maximum aperture of 1.8 gave excellent depth of field to my photos, allowing the subject to "jump" from the frame while the background remained blurred. The lens was a steal for around $80, and I rushed to purchased one to add to my collection.

However, I quickly found out why the lens was such a steal- it was cheaply made and took awhile to "hunt" for focus on AF (auto focus). I didn't mind the plastic casing, until I carelessly dropped the lens one December afternoon. It fell about six inches onto the hardwood floor and broke into two pieces. My husband was able to fit it back together, but it made an unpleasant grinding noise while trying to focus.

So I was left with a conundrum: Keep the 50mm 1.8 and deal with the grinding, or upgrade? I had always had my eye on the Canon 50mm 1.4 after seeing the photographs displayed on http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/. He uses a 5d and a 50mm 1.4 lens and upon first sight I was smitten. Thankfully, my husband made the decision for me and surprised me with the Canon 50mm 1.4 lens one morning right before Christmas. It retailed for $300 on Amazon.com (and is roughly the same price at bhphotovideo.com).

Right out of the box, I was amazed with the photos. Set at an aperture of 1.4, the subject lept out of the photo had a creamy and smooth bokeh (background blur). The 1.8's bokeh, while pleasing, tended to be a little rough and jarring at the same time. The nice bokeh on the 1.4 is attributed to the lens' eight blade diaphragm, whereas the 1.8 has only five.

Since receiving the lens, it has not come off my camera. The build quality seems to be much better than the 1.8. My only complaint is that while the 1.4 offers an ultrasonic motor (the 1.8 doesn't), it is a little slow hunting for autofocus, especially in low light conditions. It's faster than the 1.8, though, so the complaint should be taken lightly.

There have also been some complaints in other online forums of the lens of being "soft" wide open. The photos I've taken so far all look sharp to my untrained eye (which is just that: untrained. Two years ago I didn't even know what a digital SLR was). I also do extensive post-processing in Photoshop, where adding a unsharpen mask isn't a problem if I'm feel nit-picky about the sharpness of the original photo.

If you're considering the 50mm 1.4, another lens that I feel is excellent is the 85mm 1.8. While I use the 50mm 1.4 most of the time due to it's shortened focal length (more practical for a small house), I feel that the 85 mm 1.8 is slightly more versatile. The focusing is faster, and the longer focal length is a plus for headshots (you're not all up in your subject's face, which can be unsettling). While I feel that the photos I get out of each lens are similar, the photos out of the 85mm 1.8 are usually slightly sharper and require less post-processing.

Both lenses are excellent and I'm glad I have them both because I love prime lenses.


The Bottom Line:

If you're a weekend hobbyist taking photos strictly for yourself, the Canon 50mm 1.8 is a must-have lens. However, I found that I was taking photos almost all the time for friends, family and even for work. In that case, the 50mm 1.4 is a lens that will take me far. There is a 50mm 1.2L that just came out, but the only way I could ever justify the $1000 price tag is if I ever went professional. In that sense, it makes the 1.4's $300 price tag seem like a steal.


Examples:

Taken with the 50mm 1.8:
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p7/xxskagirlxxepinions/IMG_1244.jpg

Taken with the 50mm 1.4:
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p7/xxskagirlxxepinions/IMG_6301.jpg

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p7/xxskagirlxxepinions/IMG_7679.jpg