Canon 50mm f1.4

dannyjo22 · 11 Feb 2010 at 08:05

Hmmm not overly sure I'm going to keep this lens. The focus in low light is not as fast as I'd hoped.

I'm not getting as sharp as result as I would like either. Mostly taking pictures of my son and more is out of focus than I would like. Any tips?

D.P. · 11 Feb 2010 at 08:50

dannyjo22 said:
Hmmm not overly sure I'm going to keep this lens. The focus in low light is not as fast as I'd hoped.

I'm not getting as sharp as result as I would like either. Mostly taking pictures of my son and more is out of focus than I would like. Any tips?

Shoot at a reasonable aperture (f/8) with a flash....

ScarySquirrel · 11 Feb 2010 at 09:51

I actually treat my 1.8 like crap. It hasn't had a lens cap for about 3 months, and it goes from sitting in my camera bag, to sitting on my desk, or bed. It's still in great condition thought and works brilliantly.

Does the 1.4 really offer THAT much more over the 1.8? The only thing I hate about the 1.8 is the AF in low light. Does the 1.4 fix this?

dannyjo22 · 11 Feb 2010 at 10:45

D.P. said:
Shoot at a reasonable aperture (f/8) with a flash....

Yeah I then didn't find it that much sharper than my Kit lens. I will practice some more.

ScarySquirrel said:
Does the 1.4 really offer THAT much more over the 1.8? The only thing I hate about the 1.8 is the AF in low light. Does the 1.4 fix this?

I thought it would be faster in lower light, faster than what I already have. It isn't really and some times hunts around more than even my kit lens.

I think I will send it back and just buy the 1.8.

robmiller · 11 Feb 2010 at 11:03

ScarySquirrel said:
Does the 1.4 really offer THAT much more over the 1.8?

It offers f/1.4, better build quality, and USM focussing—it's up to you whether you think that's worth paying three times as much.

You reach the point of diminishing returns quite quickly at that sort of level: compare the 50mm f/1.4 to the 50mm f/1.2. A third of a stop faster, arguably worse optically, but it costs nearly five times as much as the 1.4 (and nearly fifteen times as much as the 1.8!).

topbanana · 11 Feb 2010 at 15:47

The colours and especially the contrast are the biggest improvement in the 1.4 over the 1.8.

It's not great at autofocusing in low light, but that's not a problem for me.

Rojin · 11 Feb 2010 at 19:44

What about the Sigma 1.4? Is that still poor with AF in low light? The poor AF performance in low light is the biggest issue with the 1.8 that I have. Getting used to having to use the flash now though, although most pictures of my daughter now have a frown at the "bright light"!

dannyjo22 · 11 Feb 2010 at 20:51

Rojin said:
although most pictures of my daughter now have a frown at the "bright light"!

haha get a speedlite, makes a world of difference to my sons pictures and it never bothers him at all. He's 8 months he's seen so much of the camera he smiles when he sees the camera bag.

Rojin · 11 Feb 2010 at 20:57

I've got a 430ex II (with a stofen), but my 14 month old daughter just likes to get as close as possible to the camera as soon as she sees it, and after the flash goes for the first shot she gives it a very "measured" look! Time for a macro lens!

I should add that trying to place the flash off camera just results in Jennie sat there with the flash in her hands or trying to topple the tripod!!!

dannyjo22 · 11 Feb 2010 at 21:53

Rojin said:
I've got a 430ex II (with a stofen), but my 14 month old daughter just likes to get as close as possible to the camera as soon as she sees it, and after the flash goes for the first shot she gives it a very "measured" look! Time for a macro lens!

I should add that trying to place the flash off camera just results in Jennie sat there with the flash in her hands or trying to topple the tripod!!!

I've never tried off camera flash.

I have a series of shots I took of my son when he was just lieing on his back, they would mean nothing to anyone else but to me they are priceless. He was about 4/5 months old and smiling. I fired off 5 rapid shots and the first one is him smiling. Then the shock of the shutter noise, then he looks sad, then he sucks the lip and water wells up in his eyes and on the 5th is bawling.

My mrs and most that have seen it thought it was funny, so I got a custom frame made of the 5 shots in order and hung it in his nursery

I've been hooked on my slr since

topbanana · 12 Feb 2010 at 09:31

Haha, poor chap!

Depending on the flash, you can disable the flash but keep the focus assist beam working. May be useful sometimes

Kainz · 12 Feb 2010 at 13:33

dannyjo22 said:
I have a series of shots I took of my son when he was just lieing on his back, they would mean nothing to anyone else but to me they are priceless. He was about 4/5 months old and smiling. I fired off 5 rapid shots and the first one is him smiling. Then the shock of the shutter noise, then he looks sad, then he sucks the lip and water wells up in his eyes and on the 5th is bawling.

My mrs and most that have seen it thought it was funny, so I got a custom frame made of the 5 shots in order and hung it in his nursery

I've been hooked on my slr since

LOL great story

dannyjo22 · 22 Apr 2010 at 16:25

After sending my 1.4 USM back I've since bought a 1.8 for a third of the cost. After playing around with it for a few weeks I'm starting to wonder if my 1.4 was faulty.

My 1.4 used to hunt for quite a while indoors and the autofocus would take a frustrating amount of time. The 1.8 is so much faster and of course noiser.

I much preferred the build quality on the 1.4, is it a known problem on the 1.4 as I'm thinking of going to try some more instore to see If I just had a 'bad' one?

Schizophonic · 22 Apr 2010 at 17:05

Just on a side note, is there anyone looking to sell there 50mm F1.8?

Raikiri · 22 Apr 2010 at 17:33

Schizophonic said:
Just on a side note, is there anyone looking to sell there 50mm F1.8?

Yeah, sure

Raymond Lin · 22 Apr 2010 at 18:05

dannyjo22 said:
After sending my 1.4 USM back I've since bought a 1.8 for a third of the cost. After playing around with it for a few weeks I'm starting to wonder if my 1.4 was faulty.

My 1.4 used to hunt for quite a while indoors and the autofocus would take a frustrating amount of time. The 1.8 is so much faster and of course noiser.

I much preferred the build quality on the 1.4, is it a known problem on the 1.4 as I'm thinking of going to try some more instore to see If I just had a 'bad' one?

First, what aperture are you shooting at?

Second, try using only the centre point and aperture at less than F/4 and focus with only that and see.

topbanana · 22 Apr 2010 at 18:23

Raymond Lin said:
Second, try using only the centre point and aperture at less than F/4 and focus with only that and see.

Would the aperture size really make a difference? It doesn't stop down until you release the shutter.

dannyjo22 · 22 Apr 2010 at 18:27

Raymond Lin said:
First, what aperture are you shooting at?

Second, try using only the centre point and aperture at less than F/4 and focus with only that and see.

That is exactly what I was doing, practicing with apertures less than 2.8 down to 1.4 and it was hunting quite a bit. I'd say the 1.8 I have is focusing in half the time atleast for similar aperture sizes.

I'm considering taking my camera and 1.8 into a highstreet store and seeing if they will let me so some comparisons in the lighting in the store to see if I just had a slightly slow faulty 1.4.

Literally sometimes It would take me a few seconds of hunting to get a focus on a single point.