Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Lens - An affordable standard prime lens with a fast aperture, suited to any field of photography.

As a keen photography enthusiast i have decided to take a plunge and upgrade my old Sony a200 system (that i couldn't get on with) to a canon 7d - the first mistake i have made was buying expensive body and not having the funds to buy a decent lens. I love photographing people so i thouht a prime lens will be the best choice for me (this is a fixed focal lens ) 50mm lens can basically mimic the perspective seen by the human eye . i felt that this will be the best choice .Also prime lens made me more creative , as i hadn't had the opportunity to just zoom in if i wanted to.I had to move around and try viewing subject from different angles.when the lens arrived i was surprised by the toy feel - its all made of plastic (besides optics) - it felt cheap like it will brake any minute ,there iwasnt any pouch with this lens .just an instruction manual .The lens is very light ( 130g ) and small (2.7" x 1.6"/68.2mm x 41.0mm - WxL ) - it is also a canon smallest lens on the market . before i have decided to review it i thought i will use it for a bit (i have used it for over a year ) .I was a bit doubtful if constant lens change could affect plastic lens mount in any way - but it didn't .On the lens itself there is only one switch AF/MF (Auto focus and manual focus ). Autofocus is driven by a micro motor - that is pretty fast. With a minimum focus distance of 1.5' lens can deliver some good images.My first test shots look terrible , the lens flare that was on the images looked pretty bad and affected the overall quality . Lens flare is created when forming light enters the lens and subsequently hits the camera's digital sensor. I have decided then to buy lens hood and filter (to reduce glare) and try again. i would strongly recommend buying lens hood (ES-62 ) that includes the Hood adapter that threads onto the lens - the hood then attaches to the adapter by pinching two latchesWith everything in place i decided to do a few test shots again on few different light situations and f settings (aperture size are often referred as a f settings .The aperture size determines the depth of field, or zone of sharp focus, that surrounds your subject the smaller the f i.e. f/1.8 - the shallower the depth of field is ). i love the way my images came out - sharp where i wanted them to be , and colours where fantastic .focus worked well on a 4 year old who run around the park like a tornado and because lens is very light i was able to take some decent shots handheld , without the discomfort, or a lense shake..The strongest quality of this lens is sharpness - it produces fantastic pictures , i can honestly say that its sharpest at f/2.8 and beyond on f1.8 it performs also good but not as sharp if the camera is hand held .All depends what you want to shoot . i tend to shot people at f/5.6 (but this depends how much of the subject i want to stay sharp) and landscape at f/8 - as i find this my safe zone , and i know images will come out decent.Autofocus is pretty fast when shooting moving objects ,it focuses quickly witch is handy when shooting kids (that just don't sit still ... ) or fast moving objects .Lens its very good in limited light conditions ( in the house ) - but only if you shooting on wider aperture (smaller f number) .- most of portraits are shot in low light condition and all of them are shot using this lensanother good factor was the lens size and weight -it is very easy to carry around , despite being plastic it is also very robust ,and it can take some serious banging. Just imagine me trying to strap screaming 4 year old into a booster seat with camera still hanging on my neck - it usually bash straight into car paintwork (that did chip)I have grown to love this lens in fact this is the lens and i use in 98% of my images as the lens is very portable and light , so its easier to take hand-held shots without minimal camera shake.most of the new dlsr's on the market come with a standard kit lens either 18-55 or 17-85 . so if you are looking for a nice addition to your camera i can highly recommend buying this lens despite it plastic look , its a very nifty lens with fantastic price tag. , and as i mentioned earlier i would recommend purchasing lens hood and possibly a UV filter ."please bare in mind that im Polish - and English is not my strongest point but i try my best to give as honest review based on my own experience , and i know my grammar is terrible . "

This is a canny little lens and I purchased it on the basis that I wanted to take some photographs of food; seriously! I didn't want a macro lens, just something where I could photograph food with very little depth of field, against a blank (or foil) backdrop and the f1.8 suited me nicely to ensure that I had a nice soft bokeh effect and the background would be slightly out of focus/"milky". Obviously the f1.4 or f1.2 would have been better, but the price premium to photograph shepherd's pie or bacon and eggs in a kitchen wasn't worth it to me. I had tried to use my trusted 40 mm prime and my 18-55 kit lens, but neither gave me what I wanted, particularly due to the smaller maximum aperture on both of them and the increased depth of field. I just wanted that bit more and for less than £75, it was worth the gamble - and it paid off and I have the images which I wanted for a marketing project for a little more cost than the meal would cost for 2. I have used it indoor and outdoor, in natural and with studio lighting and just simply love it.So why 5 stars? Lot's of things actually! It is compact and whilst I regularly carry my 40mm for shots outside, this lens is rapidly becoming the alternative for when I want just a little bit more focal length and with my APS-C body has a circa 75-80mm lens when compared to full frame. Basically, it is hard to beat a prime lens, even a cheap prime lens with a zoom, whatever the quality there has to be some compromise to accommodate the flexibility of the optic array. It is also useful to have that extra stop of light for winter days when it compares well with my 40mm in terms of ability to focus and take shots in low light.I believe that it would be good for portrait work, but so far I haven't tried it, but I anticipate that it would be very similar to the 85mm I used to use for the same with my 35mm camera some time ago.ConstructionIt is all plastic, other than the lens elements, but to be honest, I needed this item to supplement my range of lenses for a specific task which was unlikely to generate any income and if necessary, I could just dispose of it. So far it fits snugly and I would suggest that it will last as long as the Canon 550d it is used with.OperationWell it is very smooth, focusses very quickly either in manual or autofocus and the images produced are crisp and very sharp. I would say though that with the same optics as it's considerably more expensive stable mates, I am not surprised. It really is great for the price and small enough to pop into a pocket when you are wandering around with a multi purpose zoom such as 50-250 or similar if you need a quality image or light is low. I tend to pop both this and the 40 mm in my pocket even when using my 150-600 zoom out of doors, just in case the opportunity arises for a landscape or similar; being compact and light, they take no space at all.ImagesI have said already that the pictures are crisp and sharp. There is much written here already about how good it is and the excellent reviewers have gone through the technical stuff.In summaryPro'sLightCompactCheapConstruction (it's plastic but so what)Fantastic imagesCon'sConstruction (it's plastic but so what - I realise that I have repeated myself - it doesn't matter and I am confident that it will outlast me)I always use good quality UV filters to protect the outer lens element and that cost almost half of the cost of the lens.