Keep or sell

Looking for opinions, should I sell my Canon 50mm f1.4 because I have a 24mm x 70mm f2.8 or should I keep the 50mm?

Do you ever shoot your 50mm with an aperture larger than f/2.8?
Is your 24-70 as sharp as your 50mm at f/2.8?

I would keep it myself. May be a time when you need the faster lens for something.

yes I have but it seems I rarely use the lens anymore. I'll keep it. Thanks.

Sell and buy the new Sigma 50

Coral wrote in post #16584005
Looking for opinions, should I sell my Canon 50mm f1.4 because I have a 24mm x 70mm f2.8 or should I keep the 50mm?

Heya,

Since it's your fastest glass, I would keep it, when asking in relation to your 24-70 F2.8. The focal length is nothing to write home about, unless it's your preferred length. But F1.4 is a very powerful and useful thing to have. If you don't use it at F1.4, then it serves next to no purpose in your bag. If you stop it down, it again, serves next to no purpose in your bag. If you do use it at F1.4, then it serves it's purpose and it's worth keeping.

If you have interest in wide aperture, and you're looking for new glass, then maybe look for wide aperture glass that is sharper wide open, like the Sigma 35mm, or the Canon 24/35L or even simply 35mm F2 IS. It depends on what you're shooting and how you like to do things.

That said, it's not a very expensive lens, so ask yourself, do you really need the $200~250 it might fetch after the process? Will it fund a lens you will use more? Or is it really just something you can keep and play with sometimes.

Seems to me that you have next to no interest in it, since you're even considering selling it, which tells me you probably don't use it at F1.4, thus don't care about it. In which case, sell it.

Very best,

I agree that if you are not shooting it a f/1.4, sell it. Two stops is a lot of light. I use a 35 f/2 that gets me 2-1/3 stops over my 15-85 at 35mm. If I don't need the light, there is no point in changing lenses. Both are quite good.

EOS5DC wrote in post #16584154
I agree that if you are not shooting it a f/1.4, sell it. Two stops is a lot of light. I use a 35 f/2 that gets me 2-1/3 stops over my 15-85 at 35mm. If I don't need the light, there is no point in changing lenses. Both are quite good.

It's not just the light. You can increase exposure in other ways. There's plenty of reason to change lenses other than needing the light.

Autofocus - Wide aperture allows for better autofocus in low light.
Depth of Field - F1.4 cannot be mimicked by F2 or F2.8. It's a creative look.

The depth of field, well, is kind of a big deal. It's usually the allure to wide aperture lenses.

Very best,

I'm sure you don''t use it as much, due to the versatility of having a zoom.. versus the lack of wanting f/1.4. Most find the 50/1.4 doesn't sharpen up til ~f/2 (as do i), but that's still an extra stop..of light and/or DoF.
As MalVeauX mentioned, if you don't really need the extra $250, it might be nice to keep around.

MalVeauX wrote in post #16584178
It's not just the light. You can increase exposure in other ways. There's plenty of reason to change lenses other than needing the light.

Autofocus - Wide aperture allows for better autofocus in low light.
Depth of Field - F1.4 cannot be mimicked by F2 or F2.8. It's a creative look.

The depth of field, well, is kind of a big deal. It's usually the allure to wide aperture lenses.

Very best,

That's fair, if you shoot that way. Overly thin DOF looks like a gimmick to me. Lots of photogs overdo it just because they can. I agree that in the right shot it is attractive. Perhaps I am just not capable of that level of work.

I sold my fast primes (50 1.8, 85 1.8, 135L and 200 2.8L) because I never used them wide open. I don't care for the razor thin DOF look. I use my 35 2 for its light gathering ability. In dark restaurants, an f/2 ISO 640 shot has a lot less noise in it than the ISO 3200 I'd be forced to use with my 15-85 at f/4.5. The too thin DOF is a consequence I have to manage, not a benefit.

Ditto my 70-200 2.8. I shoot people at f/4-5.6 on crop and f/5.6-8 on FF with it. I also get the entire face in focus. The f/2.8 comes in handy at a sporting event where I need the shutter speed. It also makes for faster, more accurate AI-Servo focusing. For some of us, it is just about the light.

thanks again for all the opinions