Canon Normal EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Autofocus Lens

The 50mm f/1.4 USM isn't Canon's top-of-the-line 50mm lens, but it is a solid performer.

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  Sharp. Internal focus motor. Fast aperture. Affordably priced.

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  No vibration reduction. Lens hood not included.

Available at a fraction of the price of its f/1.2 brother, how does this sub-£300 prime compare. Read the WDC Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM review to find out.

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  Fantastic MTF figures

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  AF is slightly unrefined

The Canon EF 50mm F1.4 USM may be based upon a 37-year old optical design, but its performance in our studio tests clearly shows that it's not giving up yet. Sure the hairs are beginning to grey a little, and Sigma's new young pretender can outmuscle it comprehensively at wider apertures, but this...

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  Excellent image quality when stopped down, Essentially no lateral chromatic aberration, Fast and accurate autofocus with full-time manual override

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  Distinctly soft and 'dreamy' at wider apertures (F1.4-F1.8), Bokeh chromatic aberration, most visible at wide apertures, Vignetting at wide apertures on full frame (essentially disappears by F2.8), Somwhat susceptible to flare

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM should probably be considered the best alternative among Canon's four 50mm lenses (in terms of value for the money, overall performance and capabilities). While not as fast as its more expensive 50mm f/1.2L USM variant, this lens performs as well (if not better) pretty much...

Gary Wolstenholme takes a look at Canon's mid-range 'nifty-fifty'. Standard lenses such as this are popular due to their lightweight and bright maximum aperture.

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  Decent resolution across the frame when stopped down., Good resistance to flare., Low vignetting at maximum aperture.

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  Barrel distortion may be noticeable in critical applications, Quality towards the edges doesn't really excite until stopped down to f/4

While it's not tack-sharp when used wide-open, the Canon EF 50mm Æ’/1.4 USM is still quite good, and stopped down to Æ’/4 image quality is excellent. At Æ’/8, it's as sharp as sharp gets.

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 50 f/1.4 finds a home with many photographers - from pro to casual - for several reasons.

Although not pin-sharp at its widest apertures, Canon’s EF 50mm f/1.4 USM remains a competent performer and its image quality between f/4 and f/8is excellent. Two issues should be considered when assessing this lens: the size of the sensor on that camera with which it will be mainly used and whether...

A standard 50mm lens with a bright maximum aperture of f/1.4 and silent ultrasonic focusing.

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  Performance-wise Canon's 50mm f/1.4 USM is fairly typical, showing it is capable of producing images with excellent sharpness across the frame at optimum apertures. For low light shooting it would have been nice to see it perform better at f/1.4, but it is still quite capable of producing a decent...

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  Performance-wise Canon's 50mm f/1.4 USM is fairly typical, showing it is capable of producing images with excellent sharpness across the frame at optimum apertures. For low light shooting it would have been nice to see it perform better at f/1.4, but it is still quite capable of producing a decent...

The Canon EF 1.4/50 USM is undoubtedly a well-done lens. The picture quality in the frame centre and at the edges is very good at apertures above f/2.0 – you can count it among the biggest assets of this device, apart from the solid workmanship.

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  good frame centre sharpness (apart from the maximum aperture),, very good frame edge picture quality on APS-C,, good frame edge picture quality on full frame,, well corrected astigmatism,, low chromatic aberration,, lack of distinct geometric deformations at frame edges,, fast, silent and accurate...

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  by f/1.4 the image is distinctly „soft”,, very high coma,, susceptibility to flares,, visible distortion on full frame,, very high vignetting on full frame.

I switched from the canon 50mm f/1.8 to the canon 50mm f/1.4 and I wanted to love it, because I loved my 50mm f/1.8! But, what I've noticed is that this lens lacks the sharpness I was looking for and has extremely slow autofocus in low light.

Lots of fun to experiment with this prime lens. Great pictures in low light. Nice portraits.

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  Great for portraits, right price

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  None

This is the standard lens (at least for full-frame / becomes moderate tele on APC-C). It is small and delicate. And with f/1.4, it is the cheapest "light capturing giant". 50 mm are suitable mainly for torso or full body shots.

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  Weight, Image Quality, Low Price

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  Build Quality, Noise, Sturdiness

Great for low light Photography without a Flash. The big 1.4 Apager lets all kinds of photo's at night without the use of a Flash. A must have for every ptogerafer's Camera bag.

will definitely recommend this product to people looking for quality and performance and at the same time a better and nice value for the money we spend when choosing similar products. And this one for longer time, so happy seeing this in earlier deal on the site

Great lens for the price. Sharp at f1.8 and greater. Light. Focus can be a little slow in darker environments. Much better than the Canon 50 f1.8. It can be hard to justify paying for the Canon 50L lens (f1.2) which is 4x more expensive over this lens.

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  Consistent Output, Easy To Use, Fast, Good bokeh, Lightweight, Sharp

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  Slow Focus

While it may have been great back in the day, it's showing its age. It goes head-to-head with the Sigma lens. The Sigma is better.

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  Low price point, Good bokeh wide-open, Non-rotating front element, Solid construction

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  Soft performance wide-open, No ring USM, Sigma is much better

Ive owned this lens for 2-3 years and while its been good for low light with a Canon 5dMk 2, its build quality and reliability has not been good. Problems with focus jamming and rough manual focus was intolarable. I regretted not paying a bit more and buying a Sigma 50mm F1.4.

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  lightweight and sharp

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  poor contrast wide open, plastic feel, poor auto focus, unreliable

Use in low light without using a flash (ex: an artist on stage, a kid blowing candles), night photographie.... <br />This is one of the lenses to have absolutely !

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  Durable, Easy To Use, Lightweight, Powerful Output