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Best Canon 50 ever

Started Feb 12, 2019 | User reviews
Lee Baby Simms Contributing Member • Posts: 931
Best Canon 50 ever
5

This lens is more impressive than the EOS R you have to shoot it with. Focus accuracy at ƒ1.2 is confidence-building. Sharpness at every stop up to ƒ8 is something. CA is never an issue. The bokeh is a little busy wide open (why I can't give it five stars) but settles down at ƒ1.6

Easily the best Canon 50 ever, and arguably slots at the top of all autofocus 50's, ever.

Wish it were lighter, had smoother bokeh wide open and was for EF mount. Other than that, it's perfect. There's a few photos on my flickr feed.

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wedding shooter - canon gear (currently) - not a brand zealot
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomkphoto/

 Lee Baby Simms's gear list:Lee Baby Simms's gear list
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Canon EOS R6 Canon EF 135mm F2L USM Canon EF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM Canon EF 35mm F1.4L II USM +12 more
Canon RF 50mm F1.2L USM
Prime lens • Canon RF
Announced: Sep 5, 2018
Lee Baby Simms's score
4.5
Average community score
4.7
(unknown member) Regular Member • Posts: 363
Re: Best Canon 50 ever
1

Agreed.  I'm curious though what your reasons were for not getting the EF 50L f1.2?

OP Lee Baby Simms Contributing Member • Posts: 931
Tried 4 copies ...

LensSodomist wrote:

Agreed. I'm curious though what your reasons were for not getting the EF 50L f1.2?

The lens I wanted to love. Rented one about the time of release (2007) and loved it — both on full frame and APS-C. Later I tried to purchase them as soon as they hit the Canon refurb store (I buy many lenses there) and couldn't get a good one. Either the AF was not reliable, or the purple fringe was off the chart, or the lens was just plain soft. After the 4th try, I gave up.

This RF50 feels like it's from another manufacturer — heck, another planet.

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wedding shooter - canon gear (currently) - not a brand zealot
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomkphoto/

 Lee Baby Simms's gear list:Lee Baby Simms's gear list
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Canon EOS R6 Canon EF 135mm F2L USM Canon EF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM Canon EF 35mm F1.4L II USM +12 more
(unknown member) Regular Member • Posts: 363
Re: Tried 4 copies ...

Lee Baby Simms wrote:

LensSodomist wrote:

Agreed. I'm curious though what your reasons were for not getting the EF 50L f1.2?

The lens I wanted to love. Rented one about the time of release and love it — both on full frame and APS-C. Later I tried to purchase them as soon as they hit the Canon refurb store (I buy many lenses there) and couldn't get a good one. Either the AF with not reliable, or the purple fringe was off the chart, or the lens was just plain soft. After the 4th try, I gave up.

This RF50 feels like it's from another manufacturer — heck, another planet.

I do not believe you would've ever gotten a decent EF 50L. By design, they are flawed. I had two brand new ones, calibrated by Canon to my two 5D's but could not get satisfaction. Too soft wide open, and both had the dreaded focus shift issue when shooting close and fast apertures.

But yes, the RF 50L f1.2....like you said as if made by another manufacturer...stunning, to be sure.

Is your copy razor sharp at f1.2 like mine? How accurate is the AF? Mine is 100% spot on regardless of the FP used, regardless of the aperture setting, regardless of the distance from the subject.

OP Lee Baby Simms Contributing Member • Posts: 931
Re: Tried 4 copies ...
1

LensSodomist wrote:

Lee Baby Simms wrote:

LensSodomist wrote:

Agreed. I'm curious though what your reasons were for not getting the EF 50L f1.2?

The lens I wanted to love. Rented one about the time of release and love it — both on full frame and APS-C. Later I tried to purchase them as soon as they hit the Canon refurb store (I buy many lenses there) and couldn't get a good one. Either the AF with not reliable, or the purple fringe was off the chart, or the lens was just plain soft. After the 4th try, I gave up.

This RF50 feels like it's from another manufacturer — heck, another planet.

I do not believe you would've ever gotten a decent EF 50L. By design, they are flawed. I had two brand new ones, calibrated by Canon to my two 5D's but could not get satisfaction. Too soft wide open, and both had the dreaded focus shift issue when shooting close and fast apertures.

You're probably correct, but after four tries you just shrug your shoulders and move on.

But yes, the RF 50L f1.2....like you said as if made by another manufacturer...stunning, to be sure.

Is your copy razor sharp at f1.2 like mine? How accurate is the AF? Mine is 100% spot on regardless of the FP used, regardless of the aperture setting, regardless of the distance from the subject.

Perfect in everyway, except the busy bokeh wide open (compared to 35L II).

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wedding shooter - canon gear (currently) - not a brand zealot
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomkphoto/

 Lee Baby Simms's gear list:Lee Baby Simms's gear list
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Canon EOS R6 Canon EF 135mm F2L USM Canon EF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM Canon EF 35mm F1.4L II USM +12 more
sobrien
sobrien Senior Member • Posts: 1,756
Re: Tried 4 copies ...
1

Lee Baby Simms wrote:

LensSodomist wrote:

Lee Baby Simms wrote:

LensSodomist wrote:

Agreed. I'm curious though what your reasons were for not getting the EF 50L f1.2?

The lens I wanted to love. Rented one about the time of release and love it — both on full frame and APS-C. Later I tried to purchase them as soon as they hit the Canon refurb store (I buy many lenses there) and couldn't get a good one. Either the AF with not reliable, or the purple fringe was off the chart, or the lens was just plain soft. After the 4th try, I gave up.

This RF50 feels like it's from another manufacturer — heck, another planet.

I do not believe you would've ever gotten a decent EF 50L. By design, they are flawed. I had two brand new ones, calibrated by Canon to my two 5D's but could not get satisfaction. Too soft wide open, and both had the dreaded focus shift issue when shooting close and fast apertures.

You're probably correct, but after four tries you just shrug your shoulders and move on.

But yes, the RF 50L f1.2....like you said as if made by another manufacturer...stunning, to be sure.

Is your copy razor sharp at f1.2 like mine? How accurate is the AF? Mine is 100% spot on regardless of the FP used, regardless of the aperture setting, regardless of the distance from the subject.

Perfect in everyway, except the busy bokeh wide open (compared to 35L II).

You’re not the first person I’ve heard say that bokeh gets less busy slightly stopped down. I’d really love to see an example of two shots of the same scene, one wide open and one stopped down where the bokeh is better, if you have ever done a comparison?

Many thanks

Shane

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"The simple things are also the most extraordinary things and only the wise can see them."
https://www.flickr.com/photos/135843555@N03/

 sobrien's gear list:sobrien's gear list
Canon EOS R Canon EOS R5 Canon EF 85mm F1.8 USM Canon EF 135mm F2L USM Canon Extender EF 2x III +16 more
OP Lee Baby Simms Contributing Member • Posts: 931
Re: Tried 4 copies ...
2

Perfect in everyway, except the busy bokeh wide open (compared to 35L II).

You’re not the first person I’ve heard say that bokeh gets less busy slightly stopped down. I’d really love to see an example of two shots of the same scene, one wide open and one stopped down where the bokeh is better, if you have ever done a comparison?

Many thanks

Shane

I don't have any progressive comparisons on hand (deleted them after the quick test), but here's the busy bokeh at 1.2

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomkphoto/46422926181/in/dateposted-public/

Not so bad here at 1.2 ...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomkphoto/46353669104/in/dateposted-public/

Here's 1.6 ...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomkphoto/44606416460/in/dateposted-public/

and 2.0, oddly the balls are not fully round ...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomkphoto/40112389953/in/dateposted-public/

compared to the 35L II, in roughly the same spot (a different day, on a Mark IV) ...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomkphoto/47022032172/in/dateposted-public/

I always have to frame it that it's not that the RF50 is bad, it's that the 35L II is perfect.

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wedding shooter - canon gear (currently) - not a brand zealot
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomkphoto/

 Lee Baby Simms's gear list:Lee Baby Simms's gear list
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Canon EOS R6 Canon EF 135mm F2L USM Canon EF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM Canon EF 35mm F1.4L II USM +12 more
sobrien
sobrien Senior Member • Posts: 1,756
Re: Tried 4 copies ...
3

Lee Baby Simms wrote:

Perfect in everyway, except the busy bokeh wide open (compared to 35L II).

You’re not the first person I’ve heard say that bokeh gets less busy slightly stopped down. I’d really love to see an example of two shots of the same scene, one wide open and one stopped down where the bokeh is better, if you have ever done a comparison?

Many thanks

Shane

I don't have any progressive comparisons on hand (deleted them after the quick test), but here's the busy bokeh at 1.2

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomkphoto/46422926181/in/dateposted-public/

Not so bad here at 1.2 ...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomkphoto/46353669104/in/dateposted-public/

Here's 1.6 ...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomkphoto/44606416460/in/dateposted-public/

and 2.0, oddly the balls are not fully round ...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomkphoto/40112389953/in/dateposted-public/

compared to the 35L II, in roughly the same spot (a different day, on a Mark IV) ...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomkphoto/47022032172/in/dateposted-public/

I always have to frame it that it's not that the RF50 is bad, it's that the 35L II is perfect.

Thanks for sharing those. Really beautiful images. Stunning.

The fact that you are a relatively large distance from your subjects in your "busy bokeh" shot (full body taking up about half the height of the image), however, will of course impact on the bokeh.

By contrast, you are much closer to your subject in your "not so bad" f/1.2 example, which looks fantastic to me, btw.

You are similarly much closer to your subjects in the other stopped down shots so they are not fair comparisons.

I am not saying you are wrong, but these images certainly don't show any issue with f/1.2 that is improved on stopping down.

Your 35mm shot is indeed wonderful. Is it a slight crop? I guess some people might say that it would be better with a 50mm from a distortion perspective but really it looks great to me.

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"The simple things are also the most extraordinary things and only the wise can see them."
https://www.flickr.com/photos/135843555@N03/

 sobrien's gear list:sobrien's gear list
Canon EOS R Canon EOS R5 Canon EF 85mm F1.8 USM Canon EF 135mm F2L USM Canon Extender EF 2x III +16 more
OP Lee Baby Simms Contributing Member • Posts: 931
Re: Tried 4 copies ...

There's a lot of 1.2 images I shot that I didn't like (regarding background nervousness). In the end, I trapped out the camera to not shoot wider than 1.6 so it became a "see no evil" proposition.

If you're ok with that distant 1.2 shot (on the lawn with the house the background) then you'll love the lens. It's really something.

btw, the 35L2 image wasn't cropped (I almost never crop).

Enjoy!

 Lee Baby Simms's gear list:Lee Baby Simms's gear list
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Canon EOS R6 Canon EF 135mm F2L USM Canon EF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM Canon EF 35mm F1.4L II USM +12 more
(unknown member) Regular Member • Posts: 363
f1.2 Beautiful Bokeh Is Possible...

Lee Baby Simms wrote:

There's a lot of 1.2 images I shot that I didn't like (regarding background nervousness). In the end, I trapped out the camera to not shoot wider than 1.6 so it became a "see no evil" proposition.

If you're ok with that distant 1.2 shot (on the lawn with the house the background) then you'll love the lens. It's really something.

btw, the 35L2 image wasn't cropped (I almost never crop).

Enjoy!

I have hundreds of examples of f1.2 fantastic buttery bokeh, but the background is not very far.

I do not think the busy background is specific to a particular 50mm f1.2 lens....its just the way it is with 50mm + f1.2 + far backgrounds.

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