Features:

  • Standard focal length 50mm lens is effective in a multitude of shooting situations and ideal for day-to-day shooting
  • Elements/Groups: 7/6; Diaphragm: Blades 8; Filter Thread: Font 58mm
  • An f/1.4 maximum aperture provides clear imaging in low light situations and shallow depth of field
  • Ultrasonic autofocus motor (USM) operation is fast, smooth and virtually silent
  • Two high-refraction lens elements and new Gaussian optics eliminate astigmatism and suppress astigmatic difference
  • Minimum focusing distance: 17.8 inch
  • This large aperture standard prime lens has superior peripheral brightness even at the maximum aperture
  • Lens construction: 8 elements in 6 groups, Filter size: 77mm
  • Optimized for Digital – super multi-layer coating minimizes flare and ghosting – a common problem of digital cameras
  • The optimum optical design and molded glass aspherical lens elements provide excellent correction for all types of aberrations, including coma aberration, resulting in superior optical performance
  • The Hypersonic Motor (HSM) ensures silent, high speed auto-focusing as well as full time manual focusing capability
Awesome lens for beginners!!!

Amazing Quality lens!!! I am a newbie to the photography world and was told by my professional photographer friends that this was the lens to get. I have both the 50mm F/1.8 and the 50mm F/1.4 and I really like this one best. I have captured some very nice shots of both animals and people using this lens. The clarity is awesome when using this lens and once you fully understand the lighting triangle when shooting the possibilities with this lens are endless. It's not a zoom lens so get ready to move those feet :) This is a very nice prime lens and if you are a beginner like me, this lens should definitely be in your collection.

Don't accept a defective copy. A good one is well worth the wait.

After reading through the reviews here on Amazon and the Canon website there was a clear trend. People either totally loved the lens or thought it was complete junk. I got to feel both sides of that. The first copy I received was blurry out of the box. Attempting to micro adjust on my 7DII I needed a very large + 16 adjustment just to get it to focus. Was going to live with it but worse than that in AI servo mode of a still object and a 5 frame shot it could not find focus for 3 of the 5 images. Threw in the towel on that lens and returned it back to Amazon. Fast forward to today and WOW ! What a difference in the second lens. Crisp focus with zero adjustment needed and AI servo through 10 frame run and all spot on in focus. Did the same test with large camera movement and still spot on. Haven't got to run it through all the motions yet but am very impressed so far with the image quality at this price point with a good copy of the lens. Would definitely recommend this lens.

Stunning clarity for the price but beware tight spaces

I've owned this lens now for about four months and it continues to blow my mind with each use, regardless of the price (which only makes it more mind boggling). From portraits of my family to action shots of my dog and wildlife/nature photography, this lens does it all and makes the rest of my kit look like a waste of space. The f/1.4 setting takes simply beautiful photos but it's a bit prohibitive due to the extremely shallow depth of field. If I focus the lens on my dog's nose, her eyes are totally blurred out. This makes it a great setting for artistic use (especially awesome when capturing insects, flowers and other macro images) but not as useful when taking photos of people or scenery. Crank it up to around f/2.5 or so - still below almost any other stock lens available - and the options explode. Kids, animals, bugs, flowers, wildlife - the photos are beautiful, the depth of field is still dramatic enough to assist with making your photo's subject stand out clearly against the fore/background and the lens still lets in enough light to take crisp, low-noise photos in low-light environments. It also has very little lens and color distortion compared to the lenses that came with my camera. I strongly, strongly recommend this lens and shooting exclusively in RAW. The photos you get after a bit of post processing will be suitable for 3-5' wide canvas prints. For the price, there's no excuse not to own this lens. Buy it and you're guaranteed to love photography even more than you already do. FYI I have a Canon T3i body and until this lens used a stock/kit 18-55mm zoom and 55-250mm zoom lenses. Neither compare to this one, though I still have to use the 18-55mm when I need the wider angle (family shots indoors mostly). That's the only real "con" with this lens - which you know you're getting if you know what a 50mm lens is - it is very difficult to get complete shots indoors. This is not the lens you want if you're taking photos at a party or taking a lot of family photos indoors.

sharp images and perfect for portraits and everyday stuff really

A must have lens!! sharp images and perfect for portraits and everyday stuff really. LOVE!!! The quality is amazing.

Great Value lens.

I recently upgraded my gear from consumer to pro-grade (5D Mark III &100mm f/2.8L IS) and opted against the kit zoom for my camera. Honestly, I regret it; I would have loved to have a nice "walk around" lens. I love the setup I have, but I find myself still wanting that Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS , having to pay a premium since I missed the kit discount (which is substantial). So, a "nice prime" seemed a viable alternative. And it was; the 50mm f/1.4 is not a lens I regret purchasing. Pictures are soft wide open, but that's supposed to happen. And honestly, it's a beautiful effect. Pictures are sharp when focused (albeit narrowly focused at 1.4). This lens doesn't replace a good quality wide zoom (I'm looking at you 17-40mm f/4L), and it would probably be replaced as a "walk around" with the standard kit lenses (24-105mm f/4 L IS or 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS for those on a budget). But if you want the 1.4 aperture and good overall image quality in a fixed length, this is a good decision all around. I recommend it. The difference in image quality between this and my L series is not as great as I would have imagined - which is to say, the image quality is quite good.

Very nice fast 50 for the price

I've only just begun to use this lens but I like it a lot so far. I considered buying the much more expensive Canon 1.2L 50mm, but decided to try this 1.4 lens at one-third the price first. I'm impressed. Autofocus is slower than the L lenses I've used but fast enough for portraits and general use. The included image is at f1.4 using ISO 100, and a shutter speed of 1/8000 on a Canon 7D Mk II. The soft bokeh is very pleasing, so I'm sure this lens and I will get along just fine.

Better than the 1.2f

For the past three years, I've been doing a project (World Dream Atlas) that involves taking close-up portraits in a variety of conditions around the globe. I bought both the Canon 50mm 1.2f and the 50mm 1.4f in order to test them before committing. Ultimately, I found the focus of the 1.2f to be more unreliable. That lens back-focused constantly, and I lost great shots because of it. The 1.4f is much more accurate for the kind of work I do. It is baffling that the focus on this relatively inexpensive lens outperforms the L version, but I've seen the proof first-hand. One final note - I'm often pretty abusive with my lenses - taking them to dusty and wet places. I was concerned that the lack of weather-sealing would be an issue. Three years on though, this lens has survived the rains of India and the dust of Afghanistan without an issue. Highly recommended.

First Lens Purchase for Newby

I am not a professional photographer. However I have always had a knack for taking pictures. I was out to dinner with friends and one of them was taking closeup photographs of his tiramisu and candid shots of individuals in our group. Later he texted me one of them and I couldn't believe how great it was. I asked him about the lens he was using and it was this one, the Canon EF 50mm. We are both medical residents, too poor to buy expensive lenses, but it seems the expensive lenses are not necessary for great results--for the amateur or hobbyist photographer anyway. I purchased this lens and asked my daughters to prepare for a photoshoot outdoors at sundown. The results were amazing! I highly recommend this lens for beginners.

Artsy shallow depth of field: CHECK!

I'm a new dad and wanted a camera so that I could take better shots of my baby than what is available on my phone, despite it being a great phone (use it for 4K video). I'm a noobie without the slightest clue about photography at all. Didn't even read the manual on my camera OR the lens. My sister in law has a canon and a canon lens with great shallow depth of field (something I can do in Adobe but it is time consuming and not as natural looking). She let me use her Canon t2i camera when we were in the hospital, and that's why I got my camera. When I realized I couldn't get my much more expensive t6i camera to do what hers did, I realized I needed a better lens than the kit lenses I had. People said in order get that bokeh look, (shallow depth of field), look for a low f-stop and 50mm. Okay. I don't know what that means, but I know it was how to get that artsy look I wanted for my daughter. So I got this lens. It doesn't zoom, it just does bokeh and does it well. Sharp enough for my general purpose. Got this with a clear circular polarized lens filter at 58mm diameter. Again, don't know what that means. Don't care. I know what it does. It's a picture gooderizer. It gives me much more natural contrast without being harsh. I notice it especially in my custom black and white settings. If you're a sound guy, it's like adding air to a mix with a clariphonic or Maag eq. That's how I took the picture below. I'm now mad that I didn't do this years ago. I love taking pictures but I always used point and shoot cameras. Good ones, but there is no comparison. You can spend more, but if you are a noob with an ASC sensor camera like the canon t series, this is your lane. If you are a pro, it's not a bad lens to have. Not too big or small, well built, and not so expensive you're scared to use if out doors or leave it on your camera around your neck. There's a smaller one, but splurge a little. Expect to become addicted to buying lenses and filters and budget accordingly.

Two thumbs up

I had the canon 50mm 1.8 before this lens, which worked good and I had gotten used to all of it's problems. This lens though is way better! It did take some getting used to, but I am very happy with it. This lens pretty much lives on my camera. Things that I had to get used to: It's AF is a tad slower then I would like, especially when I am taking pictures of little ones. It also isn't very sharp past 2.0, which for little ones or anything that could move on me I usually keep it over 2.8 anyways. Once you get used to any little things with this lens it will end up being one of your favorites.

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