Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Canon 50/1.8 vs 50/1.4
#11
I own, a lot of F/2.8 glas and love it. But for concerts, dance performances and other occasions where flash is inappropriate, I couldn't do it without my trusty 50mm f/1.4. Although at 1.4 it's very soft, It enables me to get blurless shots in very low light without noise (ISO at 800). It's a pitty that canon (and nikon) don't have other affordable f/1.4 primes. Is the 1/2 stop worth the extra money? Absolutely! What about the 1.2? Well, one of the beauties of the f/1.4 is the the fact that it's still a very compact lens and therefor a light-weight too. Not only is the 1.2 much much more expensive, it's also a lot heavier and not something you pack into your bag anyway, because it takes hardly up any space.
#12
Thanks for all the replies, chaps!



I purchased the Canon 50/1.4 today, and it seems that most of your comments were in greater or lesser parts true:



Slightly better auto-focus than the 50/1.8



Nice and sharp after at 2.8 and above.



The focus ring is bigger, but feels a bit flimsy and cheap. As does the USM motor gearing.



Nice contrast, slightly less halo effect than the 1.8 to my eyes.



Perfectly adequate from 1.4 to 2.0 if the subject is a few metres away. I'll definitely be able to get decent results in concert/theatre conditions with this lens.

Hell, even my Zeiss 85/1.4 isn't perfect wide open, but I'm not a pixel peeper, so I frankly don't really care.



It looks like the 50/1.8 is going to loving new home. <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='Big Grin' />



Toni-a: I'll probably be making the most of the lovely sunny weather we're having Germany right now, so if I take both the Canon and Zeiss 50mm out, I'll try to post some comparisons. It'll be interesting to see what the differences are.
#13
Hey Pinhole, did you manage to get out and take some nice pictures with your new Canon 50mm f1.4 lens? It would be nice to see your experiences with it.



I registered and saw your post too late to get my own 2 cents worth, but thought I'd mention my own limited experience anyway. For very similar reasons (concert photography, with rapidly changing coloured lighting conditions) I decided to get a new 50mm lens to replace my Canon 50mm f1.8 (nifty fifty) primarily because its autofocus was noisy and ultra slow. Decided upon the Sigma 50mm 1.4 with HSM to pair with my Canon 5DM2 and having just read the review here (um, thanks by the way, I think) see that unlike DPReview the whole point in getting a high resolution lens for low light work was wasted really.



The Sigma 50mm f1.4 (well my copy anyway) is a very poor performer AF-wise, at least in low light conditions (as described above). I'd been pleased with the resolution but am wondering right now if it isn't just my own subjectivity telling me it's good, since I pretty much ignore corner performance in favour of judging a picture by how sharp the centre is (which is where focus is or should be most important). Anyway, I'm not totally displeased with it suffice to say it's pretty useless in bad light for AF, so no good at all really. I thought the Sigma was well known for generally quite poor AF compared to the Canon 50mm f1.4 (especially in low light) so was not hoping for miracles but a focus lock on at least once in a while would have been nice.



Anyway, it'd be nice to see some samples from your own pics or just to hear more about how you've been getting on with your new Canon 50mm f1.4 lens. I think I'd love to play with the 85mm f1.4 Zeiss on my Canon 5DM2, but will have to wait a long time till I've saved up enough money!
#14
[quote name='Pinhole' date='09 June 2010 - 02:21 AM' timestamp='1276039285' post='353']



Toni-a: I'll probably be making the most of the lovely sunny weather we're having Germany right now, so if I take both the Canon and Zeiss 50mm out, I'll try to post some comparisons. It'll be interesting to see what the differences are.

[/quote]





Congratulations for your new lens, you will just love it.



Enjoy your photoshoot, I used to have several lenses overlapping at the same focal length, it is sometimes hard to get separated from gear especially when it is performing well, but sooner or later when you have no more place in your bag, you will have to get rid of dust collectors.



Canon 50f1.4 will surely not disappoint you in this test, looking forward to see your results.
#15
[quote name='Spook Tooth' date='09 June 2010 - 03:31 AM' timestamp='1276050717' post='360']

Hey Pinhole, did you manage to get out and take some nice pictures with your new Canon 50mm f1.4 lens? It would be nice to see your experiences with it.



[/quote]



Hi Spook Tooth,



I went out this week and took a few photos with the Canon 50/1.4 - from late afternoon until dark. All in all, it's a fine lens, more or less as people have stated here: quite good up to f2, then very sharp from 2.8 onwards. In fact, f1.4 is perfectly fine if you are not expecting miracles (a brick wall, face-on at 1m isn't going to be sharp corner-to-corner).

In comparison, I'd say the Zeiss has a slight edge in resolution, has better micro contrast, and a more distinctive bokeh and colour rendition. The CAs are also slightly higher on the Canon ... so there's no chance my Zeiss will ever start collecting dust in my bag. <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='Big Grin' />





That said, the 50/1.4 focusses well in dark conditions, it's nice and small, and I'll definitely be using it for concert/theatre work. The rather cheap build quality is a shame considering the good optics, but it's in any case an improvement over the 50/1.8 (at least to my eyes).



I'm going to post some images under 'Prime lenses' in the gallery section soon.
#16
Hey Pinhole, sounds good. I wish my Sigma 50mm f1.4 behaved itself all right in low light, that would make it far more useful.



I'd like to get something with extra reach, say the Canon 85mm f1.8 as 50mm on full frame indoors can be a bit too wide at times. I found myself using 70mm a lot on my Canon 24-70mm L (no problems with AF on that lens).



It'll good to see some of your shots, thanks for taking the time to get back. I'll be keeping an eye on the prime lenses section in the user gallery. <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='Big Grin' />
#17
Hi.

I had both lenses, two 50/1.8 and one 50/1.4. The AF of the 50/1.8 was a bit inconsitent, especially in low light conditions.

It was my first large aperture lens, so it's possible that was my fault.

I found a good offer for a 50/1.4 and I bought it. It's autofocus is certainly better, also in low light. Regarding its sharpness, I found the 50/1.4 @1.4 as sharp as 50/1.8 @1.8. As Klaus stated, the 50/1.4 is better than the 1.8 at 1.8 setting (at least my copy).

At the end of the day I'm very satisfied and it's almost always mounted on my 40D (so APSC camera and not FF).

There are two things that I would stress:

1) the AF is a bit fraile (there are a lot of fault reports) because of the micro-USM (not ring USM) and because of the moving plastic tube is fraile. It would be better to store the lens at infinite setting (when the moving tube is completely retracted inside the lens barrel)

2) the AF ring has 2-3mm play. I mean that if you move the focus ring, for the first 2-3 mm you will not observe any effect...then the focus mechanism starts to move and you'll see the focus point change. This is a bit annoying if you intend to use it in manual focus mode (or you use full time manual focus feature)



Regarding the bokeh, the 50/1.8 is bad (except at 1.8), the 1.4 is better, even if I prefer (especially if light source are present on the background) to colse a bit (around f/2) in order to avoid circles with glowing borders at background.

I feel the bokeh @1.8/2 a little better and creamy than @f/1.4



EDIT: Sorry, I missed the post where you told us that you bought the 50/1.4.

Enjoy your new lens, I'm sure you will not regret it.
  


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread:
1 Guest(s)