Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM Lens

Review Date
September 30, 2009

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Reviewed by
yesimaddicted , Intermediate

Price Paid
$0.00 at Amazon

Photography Experience
2-5 years , Outdoor

Summary
Such a sharp lens. my first high quality lens that i have owned and it blows all other cheap glass out of the water. It brings the quality up with such beautiful focus. Has hard time with autofocus

Strengths
Clear, clean, beautiful

Weaknesses
not good with auto focus. In general its hard to get it perfect focus wit auto. Not fast for sure and with moving objects its just hit or miss.

Similar Products Used
Nikkon version

Report this review >>

Review Date
December 29, 2006

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
4.33 of 5, 6 votes

Reviewed by
dlinney , Intermediate

Price Paid
$0.00

Photography Experience
21+ years , Outdoor

Summary
Great handling lens. Not the fastest autofocus but pretty good considering the amount of glass in this lens. Accurate focusing on my EOS 5D. Superb bokeh. Heavy, but not nearly as heavy as the 85mm f1.2 and it handles very comfortably on the 5D.

Too early to comment on overall performance at all f-stops, but I have no complaints about the sharpness wide open. The only reason to have a f1.2 lens is its wide open performance, otherwise save megabucks and get an f1.4 or f1.8. There is some vignetting at f1.2 but not a problem and I can't really judge absolute corner sharpness since in real world shots the subject is within the central 75% of the frame and eveything else is beautifully out of focus.

I am going to love using this lens in the same way that I love the 85mm f1.2 L for its creative possibilities.

Incidentally, the focusing is a linear movement - the whole optical lens group moves during focusing - but this is contained within the lens barrel and so if a filter is attached then the lens is effectively weather sealed at the front.

I suspect this lens will dissapoint those who want to shoot test charts and pixel peep all day but will delight those who want to use it for real world picture taking. BUT like the 85mm f1.2 one has to learn how to get the best out of this lens and exploit the unique benefits of its extremely narrow depth of field wide open.

Strengths
Creative capabilities of f1.2 aperture
Solid build
Great bokeh

Weaknesses
Expensive

Similar Products Used
Canon 50mmm f1.4 L
Canon 85mm f1.2 L
Canon 35mm f1.4 L

Report this review >>