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What is the lifespan of an EF 50mm f/1.4 USM?

Started May 25, 2016 | Discussions thread
Schnapper Contributing Member • Posts: 995
Re: What is the lifespan of an EF 50mm f/1.4 USM?

Mine lasted a few years of light use before it first broke... I never used it much because AF was unreliable/iffy (maybe it was that I was shooting at wider aperture than I was used to, or maybe it always had a bit of an issue) and I missed focus on a lot of shots.  When it broke I brought it to Canon (Australia... a bit north of the Harbour Bridge) and they repaired it - it lasted about 10 shots before I was dropping it off again, and then it lasted a few days before the third repair.  They finally seemed to fix it on the third try - they replaced the AF mechanism (ramp and motor?  something like that).  Since that time - maybe it was about 2008 or so - it has not broken again, but I've probably used it about 5 times over those 8 years because since I got the 17-55/2.8 I really never use the 50/1.4 anymore.  2.8 is big enough aperture for me, especially when IS is an added bonus of the zoom to make up for the loss of 2 stops.  I rarely used the 50/1.4 below about f/2.0 anyway, so it's really only 1 stop I lost.

If I could do it over again, I would not get the 50/1.4.

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