Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM lens review with samples (full frame and APS-C)

Today I'm re-visiting a lens I reviewed years ago, a lens which I've probably used more than any other for so much of my photography. There's no doubt than any fast 50mm lens will be versatile, and get you great pictures...but is this older Canon lens design technically any good? My mission: to be as objective as I can!

Find it here (Amazon affiliate link):

Links:
50mm lens battle:
Canon 50mm 'L' lens challenge:
Guinea pig's bathtime:
Busan aquarium:
Aberystwyth storm:

All pictures and footage taken by me on Canon 6D and 60D cameras.

Music:
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

[tim]

I've watched a few of your reviews over the last couple of days, they're all great. Non-distracting background music, concise and to the point. Thanks

[petersim]

Great video!! Just bought this lens for my 6D.

[Mrcschilder]

This is the first time I heard you say God bless. It's weird but refreshing. BIG fan of your channel. I can watch for hours.

[loucoffee]

Christopher thank you so much I'm going to look into both of those God bless

[donnalowe]

I just purchased this lens so am very excited to see how it performs with my 6D and my 1500D in low light - I love both of my cameras but I have too many lenses so now have to get the bag down to 3 or 4 instead of 8 lenses

[ntstudio]

thanks for the video! love your voice man!

[Seeitmove]

Superb review, please keep it coming. Thank you

[superdynamite]

Great review. Extremely thorough. Answers all questions with beautiful visual examples.

[lyndonmendoza]

Chris is an excellent reviewer and his methodology is acceptable. He doesn't even lace his reviews with smart sounding terms. He just tells it like a layman. No pretense. It's hilarious to see some of the negative comments here. Chris, keep it up man. You are doing are tremendous job!

[avarmadillo]

Christopher, what an excellent review---clear, concise, and to the point. 
I've enjoyed using this lens, but I only shoot video, and I think a lot of the important details for photographers are of less significance to video people. 

Anyway, I wish every review was as informative and excellent as yours. I'm subscribing to your channel--even though I have almost no interest in photography (as opposed to video)--though I know there is much common ground. 

I think you most certainly succeeded in being objective. 

And God bless you!

[buyaport]

Thanks for this and all your other videos. And while you apparently have been lucky enough to be able to use this lens for years, here is a word of warning for all who are considering to buy this lens: Apparently the focus motor of this lens has a unique design, which seems to make it Canon's mechanically weakest lens. Just search for the lens' name and "focus problem" or "focus issue" on the internet, and you'll understand what I mean. There are even some videos on YouTube that show you how to fix this (for some time) - you shouldn't consider the repair unless you are very experienced in fine mechanics, though. Unfortunately I only found out about this problem, when my own lens began to show this problem (which Canon has not fixed since the lens came on the market in 1993).

[cjoe]

I had this lens for my EOS 5 for a few years and enjoyed its performance a lot, particularly its colour rendition. Unfortunate the motor broke down and after repairs, it went under completely. I am considering getting it used. I really miss its rendering of colours even in low light conditions.

[mmadmic]

This lens is amazingly versatile, I use it as my default lens on my Canon 5DIV, as portrait on my 700D and also on with an EF(AF)-MFT my Olympus OMD1III as a fantastic 100mm 1.4, and color rendering is very nice, as I don't make video and come from film cameras, I don't really care about image stab (and on Oly it's in-body stab), this lens is a real bargain for its perfs.


It isn't my favorite 50mm but it's one of the best in terms of price vs quality, especially used.

[dps]

My research of the nifty fifty shows that since 1946 to roughly thr mid 1980s the 50mm was THE standard lens on all its cameras.

Those lenses had a variety of max aperture but they were all 50mm.

When you look at the amazing images that were shot with the 50mm I wonder why we think we need anything else.

I have some serious Canon L lenses and a few non-L primes as well. However, I find myself returning to the EF 50mm f/1.4 USM and the EF 35mm f/2 IS while leaving the others behind.

Out of those two I lean heavily on the 35mm. It has become my favorite lens on my EOS R with the adapter, the EOS 5D MkII and an EOS-1N.

I feel like lightening the load of the camera bag permanently and selling the other lenses.

[dangernba]

Nice video. Light gathering is 16x more, but bokeh is 4x because it has a linear relation. Greetings from Brazil.

[thatwolffe]

Would you say this is a lesser lens to the 50mm 1.8 STM then? it appears that way after watching both of your reviews, I have used the 50mm 1.4 USM and I found it really had a lot of issues so I am thinking of going for the cheaper 1.8 STM over the 1.4 USM and saving the rest of the money for a Sigma 30mm 1.4 DC

I am currently using the 700D I don't have much plan to upgrade to full frame unless canon release the 6D II

[bringmeknitting]

Such a shame this lens isn't much cop - especially now it's unlikely Canon will ever do an updated version given the rush to mirrorless. I was really hoping for a new version similar to the EF 35mm f2 IS, which is a cracking little lens as you say.

[WernerKvalstad]

my focus ring became quite sensitive after a year of usage. it's quite annoying, but I still love the lens!

[kanadiou]

Hello, i really like your reviews !
Please will you do a review and compare this 50mm 1.4 with the new 50mm 1.8 stm ? thank you !

[TaxiRED]

Just bought this lens today.. Can't wait to play with it :)