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A comprehensive review of the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens is not my intention here, as there are fantastic in-depth reviews with lab tests at places such as The Digital Picture and DPReview. Rather, this review illustrates my personal thoughts on using this lens, what I use it for, and how it fits into a photographer’s kit. Hopefully, there will be some value in helping you choose a lens.
Keep in mind that I’ve always shot Canon and so naturally gravitate towards it. However, Nikon is just as good (in some ways better), and they have some truly fantastic offerings for the entry-level DSLR market. There are also many excellent and competitive options from Fujifilm, Panasonic, Sony, Leica, and others. The quality of your photos is less about the equipment and more about the photographer; choosing your equipment is a matter of personal preference. I encourage you to experiment with different cameras and lenses until you find the ones that you like.
Quite possibly my favorite lens to shoot with, the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM is a very popular lens and an awesome choice for a variety of options, especially for low-light conditions. With one of the widest apertures available from Canon, this is an ideal lens for stopping motion in low-light, portraits (especially on a crop sensor), close-ups of various subjects, and many other applications. The major drawback in terms of versatility is its fixed focal length. However, because of that you can get a fast lens in a small and light package, making it my lens of choice for street photography. The 50mm primes from Canon are pretty much their sharpest lenses available. More importantly, prime lenses force you to “zoom” with your feet and think much more about framing and composition. The 50mm f/1.4 uses micro USM which is better than the standard noisy autofocus systems on the cheaper lenses but not as quiet and smooth as ring-type USM. However, it is the only non-ring USM Canon lens that supports full-time manual focusing.
So what is the Canon 50mm f/1.4 good for? Glad you asked!
Low-Light / Stopping Motion
The prime use(s) for this prime lens – with nearly the widest aperture available throughout the entire range of Canon’s lenses – is being able to shoot photos in low-light without flash and without cranking the ISO up too much, producing great properly-exposed shots while limiting the amount of digital noise. Although this lens doesn’t have IS, I can still shoot at relatively low shutter speeds with very little or no camera shake blur (in part due to the small size and weight of the lens).
Shutter Speed 1/13, Aperture f/2, ISO 500
Shutter Speed 1/15, Aperture f/2, ISO 1250
Shutter Speed 1/5, Aperture f/2, ISO 800
Shutter Speed 1/5, Aperture f/2.8, ISO 640
The wide aperture also allows higher shutter speeds to stop motion when in low-light.
Shutter Speed 1/800, Aperture f/2, ISO 100
Portraits / Isolating Subjects
The other main benefit of the wide aperture is the fantastic bokeh. Coupled with its ability to isolate subjects very well, this lens excels at portraits and other types of photography that involve isolating a subject against a blurred background. As an EF lens that mounts on both crop and full frame bodies, it is versatile lens for portraits. On a crop body, it nearly the equivalent of the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM on full frame, the quintessential portrait lens. On a full frame camera, the 50mm f/1.4 is great for larger group pictures and full-body portraits.
Shutter Speed 1/60, Aperture f/2.8, ISO 400
Shutter Speed 1/800, Aperture f/2, ISO 100
Shutter Speed 1/1600, Aperture f/2, ISO 100
It’s a great lens for “non-people portraits” as well, such as close-ups of flowers and various other inanimate objects.
Shutter Speed 1/320, Aperture f/2.0, ISO 100
Shutter Speed 1/160, Aperture f/2, ISO 100
Shutter Speed 1/125, Aperture f/2.8, ISO 500
Images are soft wide open from f/1.4-2, which users and readers of many reviews will be familiar with. On both crop-sensor and full frame, you will get truly sharp starting at f/2.8 (though 1.6x crop bodies can get away with f/2-2.8). While the softness (halation) is bad for photos that you want to be tack-sharp, the soft and dreamy quality can be a great effect for various types of images (see below). However, getting depth of field right can be tricky when so shallow.
Shutter Speed 1/500, Aperture f/1.4, ISO 100
Food
The same qualities that make this lens good for portraits also make it good for food photography: both for subject isolation and to fill the frame with varied subjects.
Shutter Speed 1/50, Aperture f/2.8, ISO 400
Shutter Speed 1/250, Aperture f/2.8, ISO 100
Shutter Speed 1/80, Aperture f/2.8, ISO 1250
Shutter Speed 1/500, Aperture f/1.4, ISO 100
Shutter Speed 0.5, Aperture f/2.8, ISO 100
Street Photography
The 50mm f/1.4 is my favorite lens for one of my favorite forms of photography – street photography. Since this involves you being mobile, the gear you take must allow you to move around easily and quickly.
I love the f/1.4 for street photography. It’s light and small, even with the protective lens hood. It has a wide aperture, allowing me to shoot in low-light / night-time while providing awesome control over depth of field. Most importantly, it has a fixed focal length, which forces me to “zoom” with my feet and think much more about framing and composition.
Shutter Speed 1/160, Aperture f/2.8, ISO 100
Shutter Speed 1/200, Aperture f/5.6, ISO 100
Shutter Speed 1/320, Aperture f/2.8, ISO 100
For those on a budget, the 50mm f/1.8 is the cheapest Canon EF lens you can find (often on Craigslist / eBay for $50-100). This makes street photography very accessible to amateurs, hobbyists, and enthusiasts who aren’t able or willing to spend a lot on gear. Personally I prefer the f/1.4 because of its better build quality, superior handling, and its faster & quieter USM focusing which increases my keeper rate. But for pure image quality, the f/1.8 works just as well. These same points about the f/1.8 hold true for all the other types of photography mentioned above.
Video Shooting
The 50mm f/1.4 is a great lens for DSLR video precisely because it is a prime. In general, zooming in the middle of video should be used quite sparingly unless you have a particular rig that is built to make it smooth, and you know it won’t automatically change the f-stop value of the lens you are using. As with all the 50mm lenses, the image quality and fixed wide aperture are high points, but here the f/1.4 shines over the f/1.8 because of the dedicated manual focus ring and full-time manual focusing, which are huge benefits in video.
Although the outside segments were filmed using my Promaster 17-50mm f/2.8 XR EDO, the middle portion from 2:10-4:25 was filmed using the prime: 1080p, 24fps, Aperture f/2.8, ISO 800
General Purpose Lens?
Does the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM fit as a general purpose lens? Usually this category is reserved for medium-range zooms, which usually cover the range of wide-angle to short or medium-telephoto. However, I absolutely believe the 50mm f/1.4 can be a general purpose lens.
In fact, I would argue that a 50mm prime is an ideal starting lens.
As I’ve mentioned, having a fixed focal length lens forces you to think much more thoroughly about framing and composition. You develop more of your skill as a photographer than you would with a standard zoom lens, where the convenience factor often wins out. Plus, the image quality of the 50mm primes dwarf any medium-range zoom, often at a lower price point.
While you will inevitably reach limitations with a 50mm prime, you have a greater opportunity to learn the part of photography that matters most: the part that happens in your head rather than in the camera.
As a very light and small lens, I’m tempted to say that this is a great sole general-purpose lens while traveling. However, this might be best suited on a full frame camera body. On a crop-sensor body you will be more limited in terms of field of view when in indoor and more cramped spaces. Since you cannot predict what situations you will encounter while traveling, this is perhaps better as a second lens if you are traveling with a 1.6x crop body.
With exceptional image quality and decent build at a fantastic price, the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM is a must-have in any photographer’s kit.
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