David Israel wrote:
That being said, I never felt that the 50L rose to the level of performance that my 35L did (a lens that I frequently see the 50L compared to).
In the end, I sold all of my 50's and am very happy with the results that I get from my 24-70. My needs just do not call for such wide aperatures at that focal length.
Also, I am suspicious that many (if not most) of the complaints about soft results or front/back focusing have more to do with user error (afterall, the DOF is very narrow at these aperatures) than any inherent fault of the lenses themselves. That isn't to say that some of the lenses don't have some issues, just that all of the complaints which are laid at the feet of the hardware may not be justified....Show more →
50L vs 35L
The 35L is a better allrounder, but it is only f/1.4 which is a different ballpark (my canon 50/1.4 is solid).
50 vs 24-70L
Sure, stopped down the zoom competes in terms of IQ.
complaints
I disagree completely, at least if I look the experience with my 50/1.2L
Although I am not a pro, my experience with my other lenses shows that the 50 is a breed apart. I'll accept that it is only part design flaw, the other is a QC and "servicing quality" issue.
The tendency to shout user error should be tempered...
KKFung wrote:
I bought the EF50L for several months, so far so good, I reviewed ton of photos from 50mm (135 format) before bought this lens. I know the scientific test on this lens is not good but I really love the effect come out from this lens, color is shiny, king at night , no regret. Some recent shots, all wide open @ f/1.2, 5D2
mttran wrote:
KKFung, your 50L seems sharp wide open
Yes, my copy give me some suprise (my 1st copy), I saw many people debate about 50s and there were so many negative on this lens like bad CA, focus shit, bad sharpness ..... etc. Here is what I found after using ths len for 2 months:
1. CA - look at the test chart it is quiet terrible, but actually after the PP it nearly doesn't matter. By the way I found that the resolution is very good even in wide open
2. Bad sharpness - found it is beacuse of super thin DOF when wide open plus its low contrast picture style, that make the picture looks not sharp. But it is the big aperture picture style, a design characteristic, I like this style for creating some different picture that the super sharp lens like 100L or 70-200 II cannot.
3. Focus shift - honestly even manual focus through the VF by our eyes, there is still have problem on focus shift in such a big aperture When I use my 5D2 I always use the center point and recompose, if I want to put my son's eyes on the side of the picture in wide open when he is within 3 meters range I will step back a little bit after the focus lock, this way can pull back the focus panel to his eyes after recompose. Of course the amount of move/step back need practice but not difficult. This may not the best solution but the keeper rate is >80% in my practice and result is very consistence
These are all 50L@ f/1.2 wide open, I have the sharpness in DPP set to 5/10 (my default setting)