Canon 50mm f1.4 - first impressions

Ordered my hood last night

saved 30$ ordering off ebay. and it's a canon one.

hoping to get it next week. *crosses fingers*

Hoods - now there's an interesting topic!

Let us know how useful you find it on this lens.

I'm more leaning towards protection of the lensn over function, I tend to have stray fingers that like to touch glass.

50 f/1.4 USM Av mode ISO 1600 1/250 sec f/2.0 handheld

blam wrote in post #2134205
dies anyone use a hood on their 50mm 1.4?

I use a hood. Aside from the flare reduction, it is wonderful protection - from accidental fingers and from bumping into things. And it looks pretty cool too.

ISO 400, F 1.4
focus on the chest

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Damn my 50 1.4 was tack at 1.4. send it back!!

blam wrote in post #2139742
ISO 400, F 1.4
focus on the chest

Sweet.. Cool photo.

I should definitley get the 50 1.8 back, just for doing fun stuff around the house. i think the 85 will do that for me too though .

Dante King wrote in post #2139761
Damn my 50 1.4 was tack at 1.4. send it back!!

spidey's chest looks tack sharp to me...and according to DOFmaster.com the DOF was about 1/4" in that picture which seems to be correctly shown

I suspect this lens to be awkward but not unusable at F1.4 . I cant remember what i paid for it , but it was in the region of 250 US dollars. Therefore I dont expect fantastic results from it. I am still convinced the cost of moving from this to the L version is too much of a leap with the improvement. Really the only time the low light capability ( F1.4 ) is required is when there is little light of the wrong type ( high contrast and strenght ) to cause CA ? Here is a pic i took at F1.4 today inside. Its from the 5d and has no sharpening , but does have a velvia action applied. No other pp. Perhaps somebody will burst my bubble ( lol ) and tell me its this or that, but i like it and for what i paid im happy. The DOF is has been discussed wafer thin.

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freefall, that shot looks fine to me...

what other gripes are you having with it?? (other than those bad focus car shots you posted earlier)

my only gripe is the misfocus at long range when wide open, but I am being told that this is normal...

If misfocusing at long range wide open is the norm can someone tell me at what F stop it will be sharp as if i get one it would be a shame to keep it locked up at home even though i dont really intend to use it wide open outside
Thanks

dave: this is what I found

http://members.shaw.ca​/br.l/50mm.htm

Canon Rebel XTi, ISO 100, F1.4 - 7.1

hope that helps...there is a lot of CA @ 1.4 especailyl since it was super sunny out that day

edit:
also keep in mind, at F1.4 & F1.6 my shutter speed maxed out at 1/4000th second.

not any really. I would not take long range shots with this lens. The mis focus suprised me a little and i will now work on manual focus a buit also outside so i know how tohandle the lens. If im outside i would probably have my 24- 105 L IS on so didnt see the misfocus in my day to day. If i am on prime , i would normally be close to the subject also. why im not sure but thats me.. The only reason i bought this puppy however ( it being non L ) was to get down in the F1.4-F1.8 range which is tpyically for me indoor ( without paying a fortune ). I suspect that if this was an F4 prime people would not buy it ,so by inverse its main application is indoor in low light. The last few posts seem to correlate with my own result. It works well ( for the amount paid ) where we need it the most. I think its a " contreversial lens " because without paying a bucket more its the best your gonna do in that range , some like me might like to have more out of it , and not have to be careful .. but you get what you pay for. Ill do a bit more with this lens on my next scurry out of the office...

To me the Car series above me , shows the lens " grows up " at F2.2 . Now if your outdoor and shooting at F2.2 you have to be on 4000th of a second and or in the noisy ISO range.

What would be good to know , is if the " focus issue " is just an integral part of the lens or its just show up wide open ( the latter not making sense to me ).