Any feedback on Canon 50mm 1.0L?

Terry Hudson · Dec 19, 2001

I was wondering if any had any feedback on or have used the Canon 50mm 1.0L lense? A lot of my current photography work have been portraits. I've used a 50mm 1.8F for past couple of years and has performed extrememly well and looking to replace it since it has been getting beat up a bit from my travels. Primarily consider the 1.0L as a long term investment.

Thanks, Terry

Karl Guttag · Dec 19, 2001

A lot depends on what you want to do with it. Don't get too hung up on the "L" designation, the 50F1.0 is more of a "specialty lens." Most people would pick the 50F1.4 as a much better lens than the 50F1.8. The 50F1.4 is suppose to be sharper and has faster focusing than the 50F1.0L which is primarily a very low light and/or extremely short DoF lens. 99.9% of people would be happier in many ways with the 50F1.4.

Karl

Terry Hudson said:
I was wondering if any had any feedback on or have used the Canon
50mm 1.0L lense? A lot of my current photography work have been
portraits. I've used a 50mm 1.8F for past couple of years and has
performed extrememly well and looking to replace it since it has
been getting beat up a bit from my travels. Primarily consider the
1.0L as a long term investment.

Thanks, Terry

--Karl

Richard Lewisohn · Dec 19, 2001

Well, I've got one and it's great for portraits due to the shallow depth of field (if that's what you want). The lens size works better for portraits on a D30 where it became an 80mm lens (and I'm hoping on a 1D, when it's a 65mm) . When I used it on an EOS3 there was quite bad vignetting when it was wide open. This wasn't apparent on the D30 - presumably because it's only using the middle of the lens. This may of course be entirely wrong!

On the downside it is a very heavy piece of glass. I tend to use manual focus with portraits because it is VERY easy to produce a soft shot.

I haven't tried the 1.4, so can't comment.

Regards

Richard Lewisohn

Tom Heller · Dec 19, 2001

I have the 50 f1.4 and it's fabulous. Sharp with excellent contrast and even in the D30 it's focusing is extremely fast.
Tom Heller

Richard Lewisohn said:
Well, I've got one and it's great for portraits due to the shallow
depth of field (if that's what you want). The lens size works
better for portraits on a D30 where it became an 80mm lens (and I'm
hoping on a 1D, when it's a 65mm) . When I used it on an EOS3
there was quite bad vignetting when it was wide open. This wasn't
apparent on the D30 - presumably because it's only using the middle
of the lens. This may of course be entirely wrong!

On the downside it is a very heavy piece of glass. I tend to use
manual focus with portraits because it is VERY easy to produce a
soft shot.

I haven't tried the 1.4, so can't comment.

Regards

Richard Lewisohn

--Tom H.

Terry Hudson · Dec 19, 2001

Richard and everyone:

Thanks for the response. I was looking for a lense which does produce a shallow depth of field and for portraits. It's interesting about the vignetting issue with the EOS3. I have a 1V and just acquired the new 1D replacing my Leica M3 (passed down through our family - now going to my sister). It is a heavy piece of glass, luckily I've grown accustomed to lugging my 400 2.8L IS across a shoot in Africa. Like you I prefer to manual focus with portraits, eventhough the autofocus speed of the 1V is phenominal. Have a happy holiday and keep documenting life through photography.

Terry

Richard Lewisohn said:
Well, I've got one and it's great for portraits due to the shallow
depth of field (if that's what you want). The lens size works
better for portraits on a D30 where it became an 80mm lens (and I'm
hoping on a 1D, when it's a 65mm) . When I used it on an EOS3
there was quite bad vignetting when it was wide open. This wasn't
apparent on the D30 - presumably because it's only using the middle
of the lens. This may of course be entirely wrong!

On the downside it is a very heavy piece of glass. I tend to use
manual focus with portraits because it is VERY easy to produce a
soft shot.

I haven't tried the 1.4, so can't comment.

Regards

Richard Lewisohn

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Any feedback on Canon 50mm 1.0L?

Terry Hudson

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Karl Guttag

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Richard Lewisohn

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Tom Heller

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Terry Hudson

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