Canon 50mm 1.8

Awais Yaqub

Ok this is it i give up from Nifty Fifty. It never focuses where i want it to focus, but when it focuses pictures are great i love the lens quality and i am not annoyed with built or absence of USM.

Now i have convinced dad for 50mm 1.4, but i cannot afford that expensive (which is around 100$ more then US prices) lens suffering from back or front focus, though it will be with guarantee but i am still very inconfident.

Are these issues common with lenses ? if it is i won't buy it, because it i will make me further more sick :rolleyes. I am not going to buy sigma or what ever because what i read every second user is complaining about focusing issues.

ziggy53

Awais,

I have both of those lenses and yes, the f1.4 is much more consistant in accurate focus.

While the f1.4 aperture is usable, the lens benefits from an f2 and is amazing at f5.6.

Flyinggina

Awais,

I have forgotten what camera you are using, but I own the 50mm 1.8 after returning 3 versions for back focusing problems when I was using it with the 20D. I bought yet another thinking that with the 40D I would have better luck. I spent a couple of weeks shooting and shooting and shooting on the theory that the problem was with me and not the lens. Bottom line, I wish I had bought the 85mm 1.8 instead.

I agree that when everything works, the quality is beautiful. It has a gorgeous bokeh. But no matter what I try, I can't get consistantly sharp pictures with it - especially in low light, which is where it could be most useful for me.

I think it might work really well on the 5D and the Canon pro cameras but I just don't think that the focusing system on the "lesser" cameras work reliabilly with it.

I am keeping the lens and will continue to shoot with it in good light in the hopes that I will learn to get consistent results - at least at smaller aperatures than 1.8.

Maybe it is my fault. Certainly there were those on dgrin who thought so.

But I have read that the lens has a problem - that the technology behind it is problematical. (Can't remember the URL for the article, but you might try googling it.)

So my advice is to buy something else unless you are, like me, a mascholist.

Good luck!

Virginia

pathfinder

The 50 f1.8 is appealing because it is so much cheaper than the EOS 50 f1.4. But I believe there are real reasons the 50mm f1.4 is a better value in the long run.

The f1.4 lens is a much better lens, not only in term of image quality, but in build quality and robustness. I suspect it focuses more accurately as well.

Awais Yaqub

Thanks for the response i was going through old images i got with it. Images are sharp sometimes they are not.I found images i shot in bright light they are perfect in focus mostly. I shot measuing tape and iit showed about 2 cm back focus from 2 feet away.
Any advice for the upgrade i can also save money to get my dreamy 17-40L

Tee Why

Hmmm, I take it if it's only the fifty that is backfocusing and not all the lenses, it's a lens problem. I guess if you have a warranty, you can get it serviced by Canon. If not then you can replace or repair.

FWIW, I've had two fifties and have not had any AF issues with them. So if you are otherwise happy with the optics, it may be worth it to replace it with another fifty or repair it.

Good luck.

Comanche6

Awais Yaqub wrote:

Thanks for the response i was going through old images i got with it. Images are sharp sometimes they are not.I found images i shot in bright light they are perfect in focus mostly. I shot measuing tape and iit showed about 2 cm back focus from 2 feet away.
Any advice for the upgrade i can also save money to get my dreamy 17-40L

You may have hit on the problem. The f 1.8 is not the most advanced design out there, and needs lots of high contrast light to focus correctly.

I use the 50 1.4 frequently inside dark gymnasiums (basketball volleyball, etc.) taking action sports shots. It is quick to focus. I've used it on both a 30D and a 1D Mk III, and I can't speak highly enough about it.

Best of luck as you save the money you'll need to buy this excellent lens.

silverstangs

I'm happy with my 50mm about 90% of the time. Every now and then, it jams and won't focus, so I have to manually move the focus a couple of cycles and then it works fine. Almost like there is maybe too much lube that is drying out or something.

evoryware

Yeah I liked the 50 1.8 when it worked right which wasn't often. I'd say there was a 30% chance it would get focus on the first try even in excellent lighting conditions. And never when I wanted to do a portrait w/ it on a tripod even with the 580EX assist. The hood offered no help blocking extra light from filling the thing and throwing it off. When it broke I thought of replacing it, but ultimately was so sour I didn't want the 1.4 or any other prime either. I tried the 50 1.4 in B&H anyway and it didn't seem much better. I'll stick with my zooms. My 40D w/ a 24-70 can find focus on a person lit by a match.

Awais Yaqub

Thanks all for input much appreciated lets see what happens because everything depends on $$$

darryl

Awais Yaqub wrote:

Thanks all for input much appreciated lets see what happens because everything depends on $$$

I had a 50mm 1.8 for a few years before it got stolen with my original Digital Rebel last April. Loved it so much that when I replaced it with the Rebel XTi in This past December, the first lens I bought was another 1.8.

I admit that it does feel "cheap", but I'm a barely competent beginner who can't justify spending $300 on a prime. And anyways, I *looooove* the shots I get with it. So sharp with such great DOF!

Funny, just today I was talking with a friend who bought a 1.4 a few years ago and he said that between 12-24 months of use (it was out of the measly 1-year Canon warranty), it had mechanical issues. I could only find a few instances of others who had this issue, but it does suck that for the cost of three or four 1.8 lenses this $300 lens isn't even backed up by a better warranty. He was lucky to have bought it with his American Express card, so they extended the warranty by another year, and he sent it back to them for reimbursement (but alas, not repair).

Other accounts of problems with the 1.4:
http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11725
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=29&sort=7&thecat=2 (scroll down to review by jaems).

Interestingly Steve Dunn claims:

Yes, the 50/1.4 is well known for having a focus mechanism which is not as robust as one might like. Most of them work just fine; I bought one used several years ago and it's still working perfectly. But there are plenty of stories in the archives of these lenses' focus mechanisms breaking, more so than with most other lenses (and I don't believe it's coincidental that this lens uses a clutch mechanism of some sort to allow FT-M despite using a micro USM; normally, ring USM lenses have FT-M and micro USM ones do not).

http://photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00HYvS

FWIW, I've owned two 50mm 1.8s, one for about 2 years, the other for 6 months (hah), and I've not experienced any problems. However I recently bought the 35mm 2.0 and find that I'm using it a lot more for a walking around and even portraits -- it's a lot more versatile than the 50mm, which I always seemed to be stepping back to use, and I find that 2.0 isn't too bad for indoors.