jameszhan
Leading Member
Before I dive in, I just want to give you a heads-up that I rented this lens, so it's not a brand-new copy, but it is a perfectly functioning used, retail copy.
I found that color and contrast are usually the two things that separate pro-grade lenses from consumer-grade lenses, and this ridiculously expensive lens does nail those two things, especially after retouching. It renders beautiful bokeh too. Here's a shot I took with this lens today that I'm very happy with.
Its autofocus is quite mediocre when I use it in AI-Servo mode in broad daylight. It sometimes hunts even though the subject (human face) is only moving back and forth. I still prefer STM over USM because STM is so much faster, quieter and seems to hunt less for some reason. My Canon EF-S 18-135mm STM kit lens focuses faster than this 50mm/1.2 and you can't even hear the motor working.
The sharpness is alright. I needed to do some AFMA after getting the lens but I made sure the shots I'm judging on are in focus. It's not nearly as sharp as some of the new lenses and if you zoom in 100%, you can just see a little bit of softness at where you focused.
The most disappointing part is the color fringing. It's horrendous. For a $1.3k lens, this is quite unacceptable. I get it that the lens is over 10 years old, but I'm merely stating the problem, which exists, although I'm sure my APS-C body made the fringing worse. Also yes stopping down the aperture will solve the problem but still, I would like to use f/1.2, and the consumers are paying for the extra glass.
In general I can say that I quite enjoyed the lens, but Canon should really develop a Mark II version of this!
--
-_- is the face I make when people assume I'm a newbie because I have an APS-C camera.
Photography is my art, my craft. View my works in my gallery!
I found that color and contrast are usually the two things that separate pro-grade lenses from consumer-grade lenses, and this ridiculously expensive lens does nail those two things, especially after retouching. It renders beautiful bokeh too. Here's a shot I took with this lens today that I'm very happy with.
Its autofocus is quite mediocre when I use it in AI-Servo mode in broad daylight. It sometimes hunts even though the subject (human face) is only moving back and forth. I still prefer STM over USM because STM is so much faster, quieter and seems to hunt less for some reason. My Canon EF-S 18-135mm STM kit lens focuses faster than this 50mm/1.2 and you can't even hear the motor working.
The sharpness is alright. I needed to do some AFMA after getting the lens but I made sure the shots I'm judging on are in focus. It's not nearly as sharp as some of the new lenses and if you zoom in 100%, you can just see a little bit of softness at where you focused.
The most disappointing part is the color fringing. It's horrendous. For a $1.3k lens, this is quite unacceptable. I get it that the lens is over 10 years old, but I'm merely stating the problem, which exists, although I'm sure my APS-C body made the fringing worse. Also yes stopping down the aperture will solve the problem but still, I would like to use f/1.2, and the consumers are paying for the extra glass.
In general I can say that I quite enjoyed the lens, but Canon should really develop a Mark II version of this!
--
-_- is the face I make when people assume I'm a newbie because I have an APS-C camera.
Photography is my art, my craft. View my works in my gallery!
