50mm f/1.4 (is my lens broken, or is this normal)

[vvizard]

I went to the post-office to pick up this lens today. Bought used at nice price from a guy. When I take off the lens cap's, both in front, and at back, and ratlle it a bit, the whole lens feels like it's made of plastic! It makes small noises, and rattles, and it's obvious that things don't fit very well. When looking through the lens, I see that it's full of dust.

I'm anyway sending this back because there's a scratch in the glass the seller didn't notify me about. But the rattling and dust-problem, is that to be expected when I buy the lens new? I've never owned a SLR before, and even if this is quite a cheap lens, I would expect build-quality to be a lot better :/

[JABACo]

This is not usual. I have bought all of my lenes used on eBay and have never had a problem with any of them. Of course I was patient and checked out the sellers before hand.

[vvizard]

Fortunatly, this is bought used in Norway, from a norwegian seller, and geographically he doesn't live more than about 2-3 hours of driving away from me. But I hate this situation. If he refuses, I guess my only way out of this is to file a complaint at the police-office, and maybe take it to court. Which is less than usefull, since lawyer-expenses probably by far will exceed the price of buying a new one :/

[nsxpower]

Canon's 50/F1.4 build quality is absolute rubbish, as bad as 50/F1.8 or maybe even worse.

Yes it is made of plastic and it rattles, mine does the same thing. It rattles more and louder when focused to infinity ... don't ask me why ... it just does.

This lens also sucks up dust and small insects like a vacuum cleaner that hasn't really affected the photos since the dust is small and OOF.

You may also experience "stuck" focus when focusing near-to-far ... the lens will make noises but will refuse to focus ... just slam the focusing ring to infinity and continue as you would normally.

If you are shooting wide open make sure your focus is spot on or this lens will make you cry :) Small DOF and beautiful boken are awsome.

http://alexmfin.redmartian.org/thumbnails.php?album=9

Take some photos and then judge the lens.

[Andy_T]

Go to a photo shop that sells the lens (maybe used with warranty) and test it out on your camera!

Regards,
Andy

[Belmondo]

nsxpower wrote:
Canon's 50/F1.4 build quality is absolute rubbish, as bad as 50/F1.8 or maybe even worse.

Is yours a widely held opinion, or are you an isolated case?

I personally can't agree with you. I have the 1.4, and it's tight, doesn't rattle, takes great pictures, and is my favorite lens to keep in the body at times when I don't know what I'm going to be shooting. It certainly doesn't display any of the quirky behavior you describe.

Heck, it doesn't even smell funny.

My only complaint: it's a little pricey for a non-L lens---at least in my estimation.

Perhaps you got a bad one

OR

maybe I haven't used mine enough to bring out some of its less desireable traits.

[larshkj]

vvizard wrote:
If he refuses, I guess my only way out of this is to file a complaint at the police-office, and maybe take it to court.

Well, I don't think the police is interested in this.
As long as he didn't say anything about the dust and the scratch, he's out of luck. Take a look here: http://forbrukerportalen.no/ona/Publikasjoner/1023824302.54/1025851213.08/publikasjon_view.pt

How much did you pay for the lens? Did you end up with the 10D?

Good luck!

Lars