Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Standard & Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

I use this on my 40D- it's awesome. sharp. very bright, vibrant colors. creamy bokeh. shoots in low light. fast. puts my kit lens to shame. can't imagine what an L lens will be like when I win the lottery one day and can afford one :) LOVE THIS LENS!

I'm new to the DSLR world. I use this lens with my Canon T1i which I bought at Christmas. All I can say at this point is the just like moving from point-and-shoot to DSLR was a significant jump in quality of even the most basic picture, this lens was a similar jump over the 18-55 kit lens in terms of picture quality. The first picture that I quickly took without a lot of thought looked like a magazine cover. I'm still trying to work on my skills with the narrow depth of field which is both awesome and dangerous at the same time. I bought the 1.4 over the 1.8 for quality and I'm glad that I did. The lens is sturdy and I'm sure it will serve me well as I improve with it for years to come.

Bought this lens for the Canon 7d. I've loved it so far. For me, the price and quality represented a good midpoint between the 50mm 1.8 and 1.2 (which I suppose was Canon's goal). The lens is a bit soft at its widest, but I really only use that for extremely low light, and shoot mostly at 4.0 or 4.5 if the light allows, where the lens seems to be sharpest. As this is mounted on my 7d, the focal length is closer to 80mm (78mm to be exact, I think), so it's not exactly wide, but I knew this before purchasing, so no complaints there. Build, for the most part, seems very solid. It's got some heft, and no plasticy feel to it, still would really want to put its durability to any stress test unless necessary though. Overall, it's a great lens. If I had the money, I would of course go top of the line with the "L" series lenses, but I don't, so this made for an excellent compromise. Recommended.

I bought this lens after being frustrated with the 50mm f/1.8 lens. I purchased the 50mm f/1.8 last year to get pictures of our newborn in low light. This was my first digital SLR (XSi) and first lens purchase. I saw all of the reviews of the f/1.8 and thought it was a no-brainer for the price. Initially I thought the pictures looked great, but then I really started getting into taking pictures and editing them. I notice that the images were inconsistently sharp. Being new I thought maybe the inconstancies were due to camera shake, but after several tests I realized that it was not. I sent the lens back to Canon just to make sure that there was nothing wrong with it. They said that everything was working according to the specs.

After getting frustrated with the soft images I decided to buy the 50mm f/1.4 lens. After receiving the 50mm f/1.4 lens all of my pictures are consistently tack sharp. I did several tests with the same settings using both lenses and about 60% of the f/1.8 images were not sharp, but 98% of the f/1.4 were tack sharp. If you have the money I would definitely recommend the 50mm 1.4 lens. I still think that the f/1.8 is a bargain for the money, but to avoid any frustration I would suggest the f/1.4. I agonized over whether or not the f/1.4 would be that much better for the price, but it is! I missed tons of shots of my baby over the last 7 months. Don't make the same mistake.

I've never used a prime lens before, but I've read for years that using one will take your photography to whole new level, and this lens has. I absolutely love this lens - so much so, in fact, that I took off the 24-80mm zoom lens I had been using (that is double its price) and I'm now using the 50mm f/1.4 as my primary lens.

It takes a little getting used to if you've never shot with a prime lens before because you actually have to move backward or forward to reframe a shot (zoom with your feet). But you quickly get used to this and I've found myself automatically getting into shooting range.

A friend of mine bought the Canon 50mm f/1.8 at the same time I bought my f/1.4, and I shot some side by side comparison shot with it. There is a slight difference in picture quality (the f1.4 being better), but the real difference is in build quality, speed of focus and noise output. The f/1.4 is super-quiet, and it feels built like a tank, especially compared to the cheap, plastic feeling of the f/1.8.

But what I love about this lens is its sharpness and its ability to get great shots in very low light. I've been able to shoot indoors without a flash and capture some beautiful, natural light. At the same time, I'm amazed at the clarity of the f/1.4. I haven't used the L-series f/1.2 version of this lens yet, but I don't see how it could get much better than this.

I shot a friend's daughter's birthday party with the 50mm f/1.4 and the shots aI got were simply amazing. That really low f-stop really opened up a lot of shot possibilities.

I highly recommend this lens.