New Lens!!!

[michaelb]

Its not that exciting, just the 50mm f/1.4.

I found it on Craig's list today being sold by a local pro for $225! At that price I couldn't pass it up. I figured even if I don't find a need for it, I can sell it on POTN or FM for a small profit. He bought it about 2 months ago and upgraded to a 50mm f/1.2L. He's just recently transitioned form Hassy MF to digital!!

Anyway, my first impression is that its definitely built better than the 50mm f/1.8, but its not as nicely built as I thought it would be. My 60mm macro feels much better built.

For some reason I didn't realize this lens had micro-USM and not ring-USM. You can definitely notice the difference between this and my 60mm macro, which has ring-USM - the ring type is much smoother, faster and quieter. Also, the manual focus is not nicely dampened like my 60mm macro.

Compared with my 50mm 1.8, the the 50 1.4 focuses more quietly, but honestly it doesn't seem that much faster.

I did several tests between my 50 1.4 and my 1.8 and they are closer than I would have thought. The 50 1.4 is sharper than the 50 1.8 by about f/1.6 in most of my testing, but not by much. Also, suprisingly, the 50 1.4 appears to exhibit more CA than the 1.8. (The testing below doesn't show the CA, but other testing that I did does).

The bokeh looks nice and creamy, which was one of my main reasons for wanting to replace my 1.8 with it (the 1.8 can yield some ugly bokeh at times). I'm planning on trying it out a little more at my sisters birthday party tomorrow.






Here it is wide open at f/1.4 with a little USM, not bad....
http://brownphotography.smugmug.com/photos/227644366-M.jpg




Of course, really narrow DOF at f/1.4....
http://brownphotography.smugmug.com/photos/227640573-M.jpg


Here are some of the tests (100% center crops at ISO 400)....

50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.4....
http://brownphotography.smugmug.com/photos/227640452-M.jpg

f/1.6...
http://brownphotography.smugmug.com/photos/227640468-M.jpg

f/2.0...
http://brownphotography.smugmug.com/photos/227640521-M.jpg

50mm f/1.8 @ f/1.8
http://brownphotography.smugmug.com/photos/227640437-L.jpg

1.4 @ f/1.4
http://brownphotography.smugmug.com/photos/227640453-M.jpg

1.4 @ f/1.8
http://brownphotography.smugmug.com/photos/227640497-M.jpg

1.8 @ f/1.8
http://brownphotography.smugmug.com/photos/227640546-M.jpg

My conclusion thus far? The 50mm f/1.4 seems to be a decent lens, but its not that much sharper than the f/1.8. It seems sharper than the 50 1.8 by f/1.6 and up, but again not by alot. It is easier to manually focus than the f/1.8 and its quieter, but not that much faster focusing. The photos seem much brighter at f/1.8 on the 50 1.4 than the 50 1.8 with a little more contrast. I'll be very curious to test out the bokeh a little more on this lens.

[24Peter]

Congrats. I just picked up one myself this week. Similar results to yours. And good news is, it focuses soooo much better than my 50 1.8 did.

[drama]

Congrats both of you :)
I gave up the 1.8 because of the AF too

[michaelb]

Peter,

How would you compare the 50 1.4 with your 85 1.8? I really want the 85, but for the price I couldn't pass up the 50 14.

[24Peter]

Peter,

How would you compare the 50 1.4 with your 85 1.8? I really want the 85, but for the price I couldn't pass up the 50 14.

Well considering I paid $277 for my 50 1.4 new (buydig.com) and the 85 is going for only $312 ( http://www.canogacamera.com/detail.aspx?ID=4483), I'd say get both!

I see using these two lenses differently: for head & shoulder portrait/headshots the 85 is the way to go. For half-body/full body shots people shots, the 50 is the way to go. Also I primarily got the 50 1.4 for shooting "moving targets" (i.e., my little nieces) indoors. The 85 (esp on a crop body) is usually too long for that.

So far it seems focus speed is comparable on the two lenses. And the 85 is a very sharp lens (I generally use it starting around F2.2). My 85 has served me quite well, but now with the 40D I can confirm it does in fact front focus at times (I noticed it on my XT too) so I may send it in for calibration.

If you shoot people IMO the 85 is a great lens for the money.