(Updated on 1/4/09)

Until I got this lens I had forgotten how much fun it is to shoot with a plain old prime lens. I worried that I would not be able to frame shots without being able to zoom but after using it a couple of times I have now gone out on hikes with this lens mounted rather than attaching a zoom. I also like to use it sometimes on “urban photography walks” with my 5DII – sometimes as the only lens on the camera. (However, I’ll still use a zoom more often than not.)

The performance of this lens seems in line with its reputation: While it is has somewhat low contrast at f1.4, it is extremely sharp at smaller apertures. That said, it is certainly usable at f/1.4 in low light or when you need very narrow depth of field. Image quality improves greatly if you stop down to f/2, and even f/1.8 shows an improvement. At small apertures it is a very sharp lens indeed – in my experience as sharp as the sharpest Canon lenses I know of. I occasionally use it to shoot some landscape photographs on my full frame Canon 5DII where it produces truly outstanding image quality at f/8-f/16. The manual focusing works fine. The lens does have a bit of barrel distortion – lines near the edges of the frame bow out slightly. In the majority of photographs I do not notice this at all, but on those occasions when it could be an issue I simply correct for it in post-processing.

This focal length is supposed to be “boring” according to some. However, I find it very useful for shooting semi-close ups where I am able to control the composition easily by moving the camera a bit. It also works well for subjects that are a bit further away, but still close enough to let me get better framing by moving closer or further away. I also occasionally enjoy going out with just this lens on my 5D – providing a lighter and simpler setup when appropriate – it can be a fine street photography lens if the focal length suits your approach to this subject.

Since my other lenses are zooms (for outdoor/landscape photography) with smaller maximum apertures I find it esecially useful to have some additional wide aperture prime lenses. I have used the 50mm for landscapes when the framing worked out (and it produces exceptionally sharp images in this role) but more so for indoor and low light photography of events and people, for some street photography, and for certain types of closeup work.

On a crop sensor camera this is a short telephoto “portrait” focal length lens. When I used a cropped sensor camera I had success using this lens to photographic musical and theatrical performances, especially during rehearsals when I could move around and sit a bit closer to the stage.

While low light performance can be an advantage of a f/1.4 lens like this one, it may not be the best reason to use a large aperture prime. The real usefulness of f/1.4 is often its ability to produce a very narrow depth of field (DOF). This can isolate the subject or even part of the subject (for example, the person’s eyes in a portrait) and it can throw the background nicely out of focus.

I do not recommend this lens – or any other 50mm prime – as a main lens for most shooters on crop sensor bodies. While the 50mm focal length was regarded as providing a useful “normal” lens back in the days of 35mm film SLR cameras, there are plenty of reasons that the 50mm lens is generally not the best choice in this role today. In general, for all but confirmed prime shooters, a decent zoom is going to be a more flexible and useful starter lens. But more importantly, on a cropped sensor DSLR the 50mm focal length is not “normal”, and those looking to replicate the function of the old film SLR 50mm lens would be better off considering something in the 28mm to 35mm range.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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