How much is the difference between 50mm 1.4 and 50mm 1.8?

I was going to buy a 50mm 1.8 this coming week but I'm more interested in getting a 50mm 1.4 for which I will have to wait atleast couple of months or so, maybe more since I saved one for 1.8.

So how much difference is there? should I go for 1.8 and get 1.4 later (next year)..

There's a reason the 50 f/1.8 is only $99, I'd wait.

grab the 1.8 now. its an absolute bargain for the price

if you find you really need more , sell it and then get the 1.4

but you should get lots of use from the 1.8, its a good lens

Get the 50mm 1.8 - its a great little lens, otherwise you've got to wait a couple of months like you said. Check out the archives for pics with it.

Even if you decide to save for the 50mm 1.4 afterwards you can always sell the the 1.8 and hardly lose any money on it.

Good advice - thanks..

Of course 1.4 is better but I been looking at these pictures at a Flickr Group for 1.8 users only and these aren't bad at all ..

RobertMang wrote in post #10683684
There's a reason the 50 f/1.8 is only $99, I'd wait.

Great advice !!

CountryBoy wrote in post #10683927
Great advice !!

Another country boy here that agrees.

the difference would be $250, 2/3 of a stop, USM, better build, and i guess about 6 months of waiting time

If you really want the 1.4 than wait the few extra months.

Get the f/1.8 now and when you can afford the difference, sell it and get the f/1.4. The 1.8 was great when I had it and then tried my luck with the f/1.4 and there's no way I could go back. The build quality alone is worth the price over the f/1.8, I just didn't know it until I used it.

if you have no idea whether or not you like primes, think about this...if you were to buy both lenses today and sell them next week after testing, you'd probably lose $50 on the f/1.4 and $20-30 on the f/1.8 depending on your local market.

The 50L is an awesome lens.

I would also say get the 1.8 and if you find that it isn't good enough for you then sell it and get the 1.4

The 1.8 isnt the best lens but it is great for the price. Its under $100 brand new and you can sell it used for $85 all day

ed from pa wrote in post #10684167
The 50L is an awesome lens.

How is this supposed to help the OP? I mean, I know the 50L is awesome but if it's going to be a couple months to save up $200 more to pickup a f/1.4 then you can imagine how long it would take for them to save for a 50L

I believe that the 50L is a f/1.2. The 50 f/1.4 isn't an L.