Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

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Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrat...

Sneakyracer
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p.1 #1 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

I just got a new 50L from B&H, put it on my 5D3 and started taking a few snaps around the house. Focus was spot on. (I used it at f1.2~f2) Image quality was just awesome. Images have a nice look to it with a nice combination of color/contrast sharpness and depth. Where as the 50 1.4 is basically unusable at f1.4 and doesnt improve above f2 the 50L is quite usable at f1.2! I know the lens does not test well when shooting image quality charts but in the real world it seems to do great. The AF feels MUCH better than the one in the 1.4 and of course the manual focus is just superb with a nice feel and long travel between min and max focus distance.

2013 © Sneakyracer

Nov 18, 2012 at 01:12 AM

Gunzorro
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p.1 #2 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

Congrats! No argument here.

Nov 18, 2012 at 01:25 AM

mttran
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p.1 #3 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

Like Jim said as well

Nov 18, 2012 at 01:39 AM

snapsy
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p.1 #4 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

My 50 f/1.4 is usable at f/1.4 but only if the focus is right. What typically makes the lens unusable at large apertures is its inconsistent focus. Here's a landscape with it at f/1.4: Photo

Nov 18, 2012 at 02:09 AM

Tom K.
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p.1 #5 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

The 50L is a great lens. There is so much mythology perpetuated on the web that it boggles the mind.

Check out Pete Zelewski's work with the 50L. It's incredible: http://www.flickr.com/photos/petezelewski/

Nov 18, 2012 at 02:26 AM

Gochugogi
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p.1 #6 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

snapsy wrote:
My 50 f/1.4 is usable at f/1.4 but only if the focus is right. What typically makes the lens unusable at large apertures is its inconsistent focus. Here's a landscape with it at f/1.4: Photo

You are a lucky man and got a good one. My EF 50 1.4 USM was pretty terrible wide open from close up to infinity. It also suffered heavy barrel distortion at 2 meters or closer. It sharpened up nicely by F 2.8 but focus was very inconsistent in even moderately low light, light my slow F4 zooms would always nail. I replaced the 50 1.4 in 2008 with the 50 1.2L and have been a happy camper as all the apertures are good and focus is very consistent.

My 50 1.2L review:

http://emedia.leeward.hawaii.edu/frary/canon_ef50_1.2usm.htm

Nov 18, 2012 at 02:41 AM

Sneakyracer
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p.1 #7 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

Thx for the links! I am finding the 50L stunning. I was expecting bad optical performance from some of the lens tests but there is one thing I am noticing, those tests are performed by shooting a test chart at somewhat close distances so edge to edge performance is not so good in those tests but usually what happens at those distances when shooting for real is that you have your subject in focus near the center and everything else is blurred by the shallow dof anyway so it does not matter. Just took some night landscape shots at infinity and f8 and the sucker is very sharp pretty much across the whole image in the exact situation I might need it to be. So all is good. I am finding that the color is a bit more saturated and the contrast a bit higher even wide open. It is comparable to my 35L in that regard.

Nov 18, 2012 at 05:09 AM

snapsy
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p.1 #8 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

Sneakyracer wrote:
Thx for the links! I am finding the 50L stunning. I was expecting bad optical performance from some of the lens tests but there is one thing I am noticing, those tests are performed by shooting a test chart at somewhat close distances so edge to edge performance is not so good in those tests but usually what happens at those distances when shooting for real is that you have your subject in focus near the center and everything else is blurred by the shallow dof anyway so it does not matter. Just took some night landscape shots at infinity and f8 and the sucker is very sharp pretty much across the whole image in the exact situation I might need it to be. So all is good. I am finding that the color is a bit more saturated and the contrast a bit higher even wide open. It is comparable to my 35L in that regard.

I agree, for compositions where the subject is in the center it doesn't matter, the 50L's center sharpness at f/1.2 is sufficient with careful sharpening. But wouldn't it be great to have that same sharpness at the edges for off-center compositions?

Nov 18, 2012 at 05:36 AM

Tom Dix
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p.1 #9 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

Where is Stan??

Nov 18, 2012 at 06:50 AM

Gochugogi
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p.1 #10 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

I find off-center compositions plenty sharp at large apertures as I normally place points of interest in the left or right third of the frame and not on the extreme edge or corner where it is softest. In fact, I almost never center anything save for the rare subject of repeated symmetrical patterns.

Nov 18, 2012 at 07:10 AM

jerbear00
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p.1 #11 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

Love mine. Most used lens

Nov 18, 2012 at 07:10 AM

Gust
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p.1 #12 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

Gochugogi wrote:
snapsy wrote:
My 50 f/1.4 is usable at f/1.4 but only if the focus is right. What typically makes the lens unusable at large apertures is its inconsistent focus. Here's a landscape with it at f/1.4: Photo

You are a lucky man and got a good one. My EF 50 1.4 USM was pretty terrible wide open from close up to infinity. It also suffered heavy barrel distortion at 2 meters or closer. It sharpened up nicely by F 2.8 but focus was very inconsistent in even moderately low light, light my slow F4 zooms would always nail. I replaced the 50 1.4 in 2008 with the 50 1.2L and have been a happy camper as all the apertures are good and focus is very consistent.

My 50 1.2L review:

http://emedia.leeward.hawaii.edu/frary/canon_ef50_1.2usm.htm

It looks all great and I'm jealous , I own my 2e 50/1.2 [ the 1e sold because the backfocus problems], I keep struggling with the back focus 1.4- 2.4.

few weeks ago, again to CPS for justing the lens: result he is exact in focus.
but the back focus, how do I work with it?
anyone have suggestions?
1D X - 50/1.2

thnx

here a back focus image at 100% 2.0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zt42oo7m3d07zcl/50%201.2%20backfocus.jpg

Nov 18, 2012 at 10:40 AM

RichardLavigne
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p.1 #13 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

There are some people that only decide if a lens is good based on how well it performs while shooting charts.... and then, there are other people.

Nov 18, 2012 at 03:10 PM

Mike Tuomey
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p.1 #14 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

Misunderstood? If it works for you, it works. If it doesn't work for you, then it doesn't work. Not trying to be a smart-a$$ here, just pointing out that what other people think doesn't matter much when it comes to one's own picture-taking, obviously.

Nov 18, 2012 at 03:39 PM

Sneakyracer
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p.1 #15 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

I know but a lot of reviews really steer people away from the lens. I know I know, a lot of reviews must be taken with a grain of salt. I really like the graphs these guys publish: HERE and they give pretty good no non-sense technical reviews.

Nov 18, 2012 at 03:50 PM

AGeoJO
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p.1 #16 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

I do believe that there are under performers, AF-wise or otherwise, of this lens that circulate around. And then there are folks that had "legitimate" focus shift issues at smaller aperture than f/2.0 at a certain focusing distance. That's enough for the lens to garner a bad reputation. I do believe that mine performs better, AF-wise that is using my 5D Mark III than it did on the Mark II but maybe because I just want to believe it to be that way

.

BTW, the bokeh this lens can produce is really gorgeous and that makes it a keeper for me and yes, the center sharpness, even at wide apertures is just fine.

Nov 18, 2012 at 04:05 PM

Beni
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p.1 #17 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

The 50mm 1.4 is unuseable wide open? Or you don't know how to use it wide open? Here's the trick, keep it away from specular highlights and embrace rather than hate the halation which gives it its look.

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Nov 18, 2012 at 05:41 PM

Gochugogi
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p.1 #18 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

Perhaps I just got a subpar 50 1.4 but poor optical performance was merely one of its problems. The AF searching in modestly low light--light even my 28-135 IS would nail in a heartbeat--was probably its greatest downfall. The barrel distortion was especially bad at 5 or 6 feet (moderate at 10') and no amount of wishful thinking or avoidance of straight lines could heal it. Of course that was a few years back. Maybe QC and design has improved. Lens correction plugins (& DPP correction) now work well for barrel distortion. The 50 1.4 did do one thing really well for me: harbor reflections. Light was bright so AF never missed and distortion was not apparent:

Nov 18, 2012 at 06:03 PM

stebesplace
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p.1 #19 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

I'd love a 50 1.2 on my 1D2. Would allow me to do some more "creative" 1.2 portraits. While I feel my 70-200 2.8 IS II is the go-to for portraits for me, in and out of a studio, that 1.2 really captures something different, and as a result, I qualify the 50 1.2 as a "specialty" lens, like a TS-E, or Macro lens. In other words, it's not a staple, but more something you whip out when the moment is right, and you want that 1.2 blur. That and if you're shooting in lower light and don't want to crank your ISO if you can help it.

Nov 18, 2012 at 10:04 PM

saneproduction
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p.1 #20 · Is the Canon 50L f1.2 the most misunderstood and underrated Canon lens?

I was always steered away from the 50L by the negative comments. I went though the other canon 50s, 3 sigmas as well as Leica and other alt glass. I wish with I had just bought the 50L and been done. My favorite lens.

Nov 18, 2012 at 10:20 PM

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