50mm 1.4 vs 1.8

paudie

Hey guys, trying to decide between the two I di find this link, but from that I see no real reason to buy the 1.4

Just wanted to see if anyone wanted to chime in before I purchase?

Cheers,

Oh and if anyone's interested I got my first cover stoked.

Borderfox

f1.4 is more accurate to focus and sharper, better built.

jackdaw

amazing that the f1.4 50mm was introduced in 1993!!!

just shows that lenses are far better investment then camera bodies ...

imagine a digital camera from '93 !!

"... high tech labs have developed a digital imaging sensor
with capability of recording 10,000 pixels!!! ...
.. The state of the art machine is valued at $60,000 " ....


-- but yeah .. the f1.4 is a great lens ...

a lot sharper .. apparently at f2.8 and 50mm its better quality then the 24-70 f2.8 L is at 50mm !!!

murpho999

Well I recently got the 50m r/1.4 and it is a fabulous lens.

I was also thinking of getting the 1.8 but really believe the 1.4 is worth the extra money.

Build quality is much better.
It has USM and a distance scale.
It has full time manual focus which is very handy.

However the big plus is the quick autofocus producing razor sharp images and also I just love the bokeh when opened up fully to 1.4

If you can afford the extra few bob I would go for it as you will not be dissapointed.

I also find that the link you sent really finds in favour of the 1.4 in most tests so I find it strange that you don't see any difference.

BTW, I got mine on Kea Photo on e-bay for around €270 as against over €400 here.

sineadw

I have both. Go for the 1.4 if you can afford it (and its not all that much money really - got mine for 250 quid). The colour and sharpness is much better, and the FTM focus really does come in handy. Build quality is much better too.

That Fins cover yours?? Nice one!

paudie

Cool guys cheers for that.

Going for 1.4

PixelTrawler

Love the f1.4 too.

My dad has the old f series canon f1.4 and you should see the build quality. They dont make em like that anymore.
It makes the ef version look like a toy.

Paudie thats a lovely shot

thebaz

The best photographic purchase i have made was the Nikon f1.8 50 mm (thanks Darren) - is another purchase advised ?, particularly for music , as i find my old reliable 50 pretty ok . I presume the overall quality of the Canon and Nikon 50's are the same ?
cheers

melekalikimaka

Borderfox wrote: »

f1.4 is more accurate to focus and sharper, better built.

i hear it struggles to focus on less than top end cams due to such shallow dof when wide open?

Biro

melekalikimaka wrote: »

i hear it struggles to focus on less than top end cams due to such shallow dof when wide open?

No, mine's fine on a 350d.
It's a nice bit better than the 1.8 alright, but I don't know if it's worth the price difference if you're not using it much. To be honest, mine doesn't get much use at all so I'd have been better off saving the money and sticking with the 1.8. If you plan on using it a bit though get the 1.4.

Borderfox

melekalikimaka wrote: »

i hear it struggles to focus on less than top end cams due to such shallow dof when wide open?

It actually focuses better on the 1dmk3 due to a more accurate focussing system even in low light, the 5d is excellent too and I had used it on the 40d too without too many problems