Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Lens Worth Getting?

DaniellllD wrote:

Hey everyone!

I have recently been looking at the Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Lens, but I have a few questions before I dish out the bucks. So first off I am more of a video shooter so I need to know if the focus is noisy, as in when you use the focus manually and automatically does it make a lot of sound? It does say USM but I would like an answer from someone who has actually used it. I know a lot of the cheaper lens do but I wouldn't be sure. Second question is what is the focus actually like is it quite good and easy to use? Last off how amazing is the low light performance for photos and video? Even though it would seem obvious since it is f1.4, you have to factor in that it is quite an old lens (Released in June 1993). Also I use a Canon EOS 7D with a RØDE VideoMic Pro for audio. Anyways thanks in advance!

Daniel

the 50mm 1.4 isnt as noisy as old servo motors, but it is no stm either. I'd reccomend reading up on this:

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3217548

Basicly you do not want to use AF on an USM lens during video- it will never look or sound pretty. USM is fast, but CDAF is moving stepwise, so there will be noticable sound and steps. The new stepper motor lenses should be a much better choice for video.

Focusing the 50mm 1.4 while shooting video is better done manually, and unless you are on a tripod or need fast glass in particular a lens with stabilization would normally be a better choice.

Other than that im quite satisfied with my 50mm 1.4, but i normally don't use it for video.

Good luck!

-Yngve

I owned quite a few 50mm in the last twenty some years including this  EF 50 1.4 lens, currently has Sigma 50 F1.4, Zeiss 50 F2 and Nikon AIS 50 F1.2, the Canon EF 50 F1.4 is one of those lens I will never recommend it to any friends. I had that lens twice and sold it twice, the last copy i had I use it on my 1D2 and 1DS2 for a few years and was never happy with its built quality and optic quality, as soon as the Sigma 50 F1.4 arrived, I put that on the Craigslist the same day and never look back, the Sigma has so much better wider open performance, better Bokeh quality, not to mention the huge difference in built quality difference, it's two completely different class lens.

You mentioned you will be using it for video, would you consider manual focus? there is quite a few manual focus 50mm which give you much better optical performance than the EF 50 1.4. I personally only use the Sigma when I need to shoot large aperture, or anything other than landscape, because no matter how I  stop it down, the Sigma 50 never gives me super sharp edge, it's just as bad as the EF 50 1.4 in this regard, for landscape, I only use either my Nikon AIS 50 F1.2 or  Zeiss 50 2.0 because of their local contrast and amazing edge performance, I also use these two with video many times, but I hardly shoot video so I am not the expert on this topic.