Canon 50mm f1.4 - first impressions

here is one I took at 1.4
vignetting was added. no PP done other than some in camera stuff and the vignetting.

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some of these images differ from the ones i took. The Hat and the car above are taken close wheres as i was a good distance from the car. and under indoor light and the car above under a cloudy sky. Do either of these factor have any impact ?

I think I got very lucky as I can get some stunning images wide open with my 50 f/1.4. This is just one image I had handy and is quite small but it was shot at 1.4 hand held at around a 1/30th!

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freefallu wrote in post #2124302
some of these images differ from the ones i took. The Hat and the car above are taken close wheres as i was a good distance from the car. and under indoor light and the car above under a cloudy sky. Do either of these factor have any impact ?

when I shoot from far, i cant get it to focus right at all...I will post pics later tonight to show you what I mean

I find mine to be really picky with focussing, and I often "bracket" focus. It seems to front-focus a little. I agree with its CA problem wide-open in high-contrast situations, when I tend to stop it down to F/2.8 - where it's still usefully faster than my kit lens at 5.6. Indoor though, I've had some stunning results (posted elsewhere here) with it at F/1.4.

I love mine though.

do you believe it to be a focussing issue , is it that a poor focus becomes obvious when the focal plane is so small ? i did some tests indoors and still find it soft. ill post the pics tommorrow

freefallu wrote in post #2124578
do you believe it to be a focussing issue , is it that a poor focus becomes obvious when the focal plane is so small ? i did some tests indoors and still find it soft. ill post the pics tommorrow

Yes, I do. I'm no pro, so I can't call upon millions of shots of experience, but I've been an SLR user for about six years, and consequently know my way around them. This is my first prime, and I find it much pickier about focussing than any of the zooms I've used previously.

For me, it's been a learning experience, and now I've had the lens for a couple of months, I'm hitting the mark more and more often. I've switched from using AI SERVO to ONE SHOT as well, because the "focus on eye, recompose on nose" headshot was throwing the eyes OOF.

freefallu wrote in post #2124578
do you believe it to be a focussing issue , is it that a poor focus becomes obvious when the focal plane is so small ? i did some tests indoors and still find it soft. ill post the pics tommorrow

I need to test mine stopped down to 3-4 a bit and see how the focus is like on it then....but Im not getting ,much luck at 1.4-2

Echo, awesome dog shot!

Choderboy wrote in post #2124170
Thanks Tom.
Judging by your test shots I'd call your lens "useable" at 1.8. (If anyone else wants to call it useable at 1.4 , no argument )
Can clearly see the limits of DOF , looks about 2 1/2 inches ( should be 2.4 if you were 48 inches away according to DOFmaster) and 100% crop detail of the straw shows good detail.

I'd say that it's useable at f/1.4, if a bit difficult to use. And then generally in softer lighting conditions.

The DOF is very thin. DOFmaster gave me about 1 inch of DOF which matches roughly what my eyes see (I was about 36 inches from the hat). AF was locked in where the bottom ofthe "Ohio State" insignia touched the red band. Given the angle of tilt on the hat, the top of the insignia is starting to blur already. It's hard to see from this angle, but the hat is tilted downward about 30 degrees.

here is one at F1.8 with my 50 1.8 (traded for a 1.4) will take some pics with it tomorrow.
thought it turned out ok...a little soft though

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JaGWiRE wrote in post #2124885
Echo, awesome dog shot!

Thanks!

Here's one of mine at 1.4:

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Guy and Gals
sorry to go a bit OT here but i was just thinking of getting this lens as a low light lens.
I already have a 35mm f/2.0 but i really need a faster lens (its to shoot bands with).
I was going to go for either the 50mm f/1.4 or 85mm f/1.8
Im hoping to shoot wide open for the most speed in which case the 50mm would be better but if i need to stop it down to say f/2 to get a decent shot (im not worried about noise etc as ill PP) would the 85 f/1.8 be better wide open and so be faster?
Im not worried about the different focal lengths, i can over come that but i do want faster than f/2.
Thanks for any advice

There seems to be a lot of debate ( or maybe very little ) about the quality of this lens at f1.4 not just surrounding its IQ but the ability to focus it ( esp in low lighting ) . It has a focal plane of some 2.5 inches in certain circumstances . Take a run over to Dwight McCanns FAQ in the performing arts section , when you have read the FAQ that then might be the best place to start getting advice on what setup is best.