Canon EF 50mm F/1.4 Lens – Introduction

The 50mm Standard Lens

Back in the days of 35mm film a 50mm “standard” lens was well, standard. The 50mm lens mounted on a FF body produces a field of view that is comparable to how you see the world. Most standard lenses are fairly compact, have fantastic performance and fairly large apertures. These factors make a standard lens THE MUST HAVE lens in your bag.

THE most critical element of photography is composition. I’m not referring to the ability to put your doggy in the center of the viewfinder. Great composition is arranging, emphasizing and distilling visual elements until the essence of your message remains. It has been said it is not what you put in the frame but what you leave out that makes for a compelling photograph. The natural field of view, aka FOV, presented by the 50mm makes the process of composition very natural.

Drawback of a Zoom Lens

Mounting the typical zoom lens, or worse “super zoom“, to an EOS 5D, A900, D700, etc handicaps all but the best photographers. The reason is simple. You don’t see the world through a wide angle or super telephoto lens. It’s not that you SHOULDN’T capture your world with either a wide angle or super telephoto lens but don’t rely on those as crutches. There is a time and place for such tools but you need to learn to walk before you can run.

Mounting a standard lens to your camera presents your subject matter in the viewfinder much as you observed it moments earlier when you decided to raise the camera to your eye.

Canon’s 3 Standard Lenses

Canon currently offers three standard 50mm lenses for FF cameras. The cheapest model, Canon’s EF 50mm f/1.8 II, is constructed mainly of plastic and feels as if it couldn’t survive a fall from a photographer’s hand onto a carpeted floor. On the upside this “plastic fantastic” lens renders sharp frames and cost only a Benjamin. Be sure to check out the EF 50mm f/1.8 II group on Flickr to see what this recession priced lens can do for you.

Canon’s premium 50mm lens is the EF 50mm f /1.2L USM. The EF 50mm f /1.2L scoops up light like a bucket and places that light accurately on the sensor. Focus is achieved via a super silent USM type motor. As nice as these things are the 50mm f/1.2L does have two issues. Some focus shift is exhibited throughout the aperture range. This is a fairly uncommon problem these days but it has happened with similar lenses before. I will explain this phenomenon in more detail at a later date. The second issue is not technical but financial. The amount of money that one must part with to obtain this gem is substantial.

Canon’s “Honda Accord” of standard lenses is the very respectable EF 50mm f/1.4 USM. The 50mm f/1.4 lens features the silent USM motor and has a fast f/1.4 aperture. This 50mm lens hits a sweet spot in price vs performance and was my choice when selecting a lens for the EOS 5D camera. The 50mm f/1.4 is more compact than the 5omm f/1.2L and resolves as much detail at similar apertures. While the build quality of the 50mm f/1.4 is better than the 50mm f/1.8 II it is not nearly as robust as the 50mm f/1.2L.

All three of Canon’s “nifty fifty” lenses will get you were you need to be. They all offer fast apertures, sharp photographs and a normal perspective on the world. Which 50mm lens you choose will depend mainly on your particular photographic needs.