Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Lens

50mm f/1.4 is a useful lens to have both on full frame and APS-C cameras even for the professional use. There are several good reasons to get one:
1. f/1.4 aperture is very bright which enables shooting in the darkest venues without the need of the flash
2. Depth of field is very thin at f1.4 and can be used for selective focus
3. Very sharp, particularly when stopped down to f/2.5 or above
4. Very small and lightweight, can always take it to any assignment or trip

The lens is very sharp, and compares well to other respected lenses such as 100mm Macro USM or 85mm f/1.8 USM.
It is significantly better than 50mm f/1.8 II (much sharper, faster, better built, nicer out-of-focus highlights rendering). The results will blow away ANY zoom lens, including 24-70mm f/2.8L, at the same aperture settings. The kit 18-55mm would look very poor in comparison to this 50mm.

It works well, but there are a few negative points to mention about it too. Firstly, the lens motor is very prone to damage. The best workaround is to fit a proper lens hood and never remove it (screw in ones are no good and could make it worse! Cheap UV filters are probable a bad idea too - they would degrade the image quality.) This lens needs to be treated carefully and would not take as much abuse as L lenses or some other primes.
Autofocus speed is reasonable, but not as fast as 85mm f/1.8 USM.
On full frame it vignettes (dark corners) wide open and has slight barrel distortion, but that could be easily corrected in software like Lightroom 4.
f/1.4 setting may produce sharp results (works well for portraits, but for landscapes it would be ideally stopped down a little). There is very little room for error, either caused by operator, or camera body. If the photos are soft they are most likely a little bit out of focus due to whatever reason.

Other lenses that may interest a potential buyer would include 85mm f/1.8 USM, 85mm f/1.2L USM, 35mm f/1.4L USM and 24-70mm f/2.8L USM.

Overall, I would recommend one for a careful amateur or professional photographer.

I don’t know why many photographers choose a far more expensive L series lens, only to produce results that can easily be emulated by their much cheaper counterpart. I have never been impressed by the mine’s-bigger-than-your’s, so it must be better rational when it comes to optical equipment. Even if I could afford the 1.2 version of this focal length, the results I get from this lens are optically pleasing and are acceptable to me. Given the comparative apertures above 2.8 the results are similar. Apertures greater than 2.8 at close distances are difficult to use and border on the impractical for this focal length. I find this lens sharp (in the centre) wide open when the Lens plane and focal plane are parallel. Focus is fast and accurate and if needed the bright viewfinder produced by this lens permits easy manual focus. For general photography this is a highly recommended optic and preferable to the expensive 50 mm 1.2 lens. If required the eight blades and fast apertures produce a pleasing background blur to isolate the subject.

Speaking as someone who has been using the Canon 50mm f/1.8 for around 18 months or so, the 50mm f/1.4 is a noticeable step up in terms of overall quality. Build quality is far superior, as the lens feels sturdier, although with its compact size it still remains lightweight (290g v 130g). The wider aperture offers a razor sharp depth of field, and the bokeh is without doubt more attractive on the f/1.4 lens. Although i'm still in my early days of use, image quality seems to be excellent. A bit of a jump in price from the 1.8, although if you have money to spend then i'd definitely recommend the 1.4 - I can't see this one coming off my camera very often.

I can only imagine how awesome the Canon 50mm f/1.2 L must be, at over £1,000!

Like....quality of pictures..... after-all that's what its really all about. The AF is fast and quiet compared to other lenses.
Dislike...quality of build, although I know I have high expectations, it has a slight sloppy focus ring.
Overall a very good lens, which is capable of producing fabulous bokeh....an essential lens in every serious photographers bag.

Ask a bunch of photographers what their favorite lens is - and you will likely hear the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Lens mentioned. It is sharp, small, light, inexpensive and with an f1.4 aperture, fast.

The Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Lens finds a home with many photographers - from pro to casual - for several reasons.

The first reason for the popularity of this Canon lens is image quality.

Although it is soft wide open, the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Lens is sharp at f/2 and very sharp when stopped down to f/2.8 or narrower. Corners are soft until f/2 for 1.6x FOVCF bodies and f/2.8 on full frame bodies. Strong halation is present at f/1.4 (a soft, dreamy look) with some CA (Chromatic Aberration). Colors and contrast (after the halation diminishes at f/2 or so) are very nice. The 50 f/1.4's 8-blade aperture creates a good foreground/background blur quality. Light fall-off is noticeable through f/2 on a Full Frame body, When mounted on a 1.6x FOVCF body, light fall-off is noticeable only through f/1.6 or so. My exposures with this lens run about 1/3 stop brighter than with most of my other lenses.