Canon 50mm 1.8 vs 1.4?

[trencheel303]

no longer required

 

[Gold]

I was told by a user of the 1.4 model that a shot that may normally take 3 or 4 seconds to expose well could be done at roughly 1/30 on the nifty fifty - is it really that good? If so, I'm not surprised it's the urban explorer's dream.

I don't quite grasp what you're saying but the 1.4 should take less time for a shot with it's wider aperture allowing faster shutter speeds (although the difference is fractions of a second)

The main problem with the 1.8 is the build quality and the awful focussing speed. Having said that I wouldn't get rid of mine

 

[Danger_Mouse]

because of the large aperture the 1.8 and 1.4 will take shots faster than say a F4 lens.

much like it will if you set a f$ lens to F22 it will be a faster shutter speed at F4 than F22.

the difference with the 1.8 vs the 1.4 is the build quality, the 1.8 is the nifty fifty because its cheap and cheerful but made of plastic and can be noisy to focus.

the 1.4 is a very nice and well build lens, but you pay the premium for that

 

[Scarecrow]

I imagine that a fair bit of the price difference is in the build quality - the nifty is quite plasticky which puts some people off. However, given how well it performs it is certainly great value for money.

I'm not an advocate of throwaway consumerism, but the nifty is the sort of lens you could replace on a yearly basis and it wouldn't hurt your pocket too much.

 

[mr_pants]

If it's your first go with a 50mm prime lens, I would suggest the 1.8. As far as I could tell, the 1.4 is not a massive amount faster at focussing and I, for one, cannot see a massive difference in the IQ.

 

[dod]

First, the difference between the two lenses is considerable. The F1.4 is far more solid, has a metal mount, produces a better bokeh, and of course offers an extra 2/3 of a stop in terms of aperture. The F1.4 is a better lens but the F1.8 is extremely popular due to price and the results it produces. It'snot a bad lens, just not as good as the F1.4

It sounds a bit like the user of the F1.4 was exagerating a bit. Very roughly if you took a shot for a given ISO at F1.8 at 1/30 the shot would be taken at about 1/60 at F1.4.

 

[Mano_X]

Examples of the 50mm f/1.8 at f/2.8 (Canon 1000D+430EX II fill in flash)

 

[trencheel303]

Were any of those sharpened? Or altered?

 

[Huss1100]

I was going to buy a Canon 50mm f1.4 lens, but ended up buying a Sigma 50mm f1.4, it felt a lot better than the Canon lens and I am very happy with it.

 

[Mano_X]

Were any of those sharpened? Or altered?

Yep, RGB Sharpness and WB set to 7200K and that's it, no tripod used.

File name
IMG_4500.CR2
Camera Model Name
Canon EOS 1000D
Firmware
Firmware Version 1.0.5
Shooting Date/Time
05-09-2009 13:40:17
Tv(Shutter Speed)
1/200Sec.
Av(Aperture Value)
F2.8
Metering Modes
Evaluative metering
Exposure Compensation
0
ISO Speed
100
Lens
EF50mm f/1.8 II
Focal Length
50,0 mm
Image size
3888 x 2592
Image Quality
RAW
Flash
On
White Balance
Auto
AF mode
One-Shot AF
Picture Style
Standard
Parameters
Tone Curve : Standard
Sharpness level : -
Pattern Sharpness : -
Contrast : 0
Sharpness : 3
Color saturation : 0
Color tone : 0
Long exposure noise reduction : Enable
High ISO speed noise reduction : Disable
Highlight tone priority : -
Color matrix
-
Color Space
sRGB
File Size
10065 KB
Dust Delete Data
Yes
Drive Mode
Single-frame shooting
GPS Data
Satellite signal status : -
Date(UTC) : -
Latitude : -
Longitude : -
Altitude : -
Geographic coordinate system : -
Owner's Name
Paulo Miguel
Camera Body No.
7802*****