EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

Happy Holidays Everyone

A little Elf told me that this would be in my stocking on Christmas Day. For those of you here that call this lens your own, I would love any advice or comments about it. Also, what is your favorite subject matter when shooting with it? Interestingly, this will be my first prime lens. Thanks in advance!

It's the top in its class. That will probably be the next lens purchase for my bag, but I don't have a huge use for it at this time.

The 50mm f/1.4 is great for many things - from fast paced courtside basketball shots to babies in the delivery room - all with available light.

Suggestion: try some available light, close-in, informal portrait-type shots of family/friends at wide apertures ( f/1.4 to 2.8 ), selectively focusing on one part of the face (e.g. the eye closest to the lens). The overall image appears soft, but the in-focus portion draws the viewer's eye into the shot. Hard to explain - but it's a unique effect achieved with soft lighting and fast lenses opened to wide apertures.

Don't forget to do the obligatory ruler test to judge the sharpness of your 50/1.4 copy. I believe Santa has a good return policy.

Like Woody says - get used to the shallow depth-of-field when shooting wide apertures and you'll love the lens.

I have it and love it. I use it the most when just walking around town. I stick it on my 1DMkII and take a walk. I also use it on my 20D when I only want to take the camera and use the built-in flash. It does not give any flash shadow, like my 16-35 f/2.8L or the 24-70 f/2.8L, allowing me to have a light, fast camera/lens combination. and with f/1.4, I can use less available light with lower ISO's. I find it very sharp and clear, yielding awesome color "like butta."

My next choice for my camera..

Cheers,

Charles,