We’ve written a lot on Digital SLR Guru about the Canon 50mm f1.8 lens. In fact for about two years it was my go to lens that rarely got taken off my camera. All this changed however when I decided to upgrade to it’s older brother the Canon EF f1.4 50mm….
Differences between the 50mm f1.8 and f1.4?
Well the obvious and main difference between these two lenses is the extra f stop you get with the f1.4 version. If like me you tend to shoot indoors a lot (in poor light conditions) having that extra stop will make a big difference.
On top of the extra f stop the f1.4 has everything that the f1.8 gets criticised for not having;
- Faster & Less Noisy USM Focus Motor
- Solid All Round Build Quality
- Usable Manual Focus Ring
- Metal Mount Ring
In our review of the 50mm f1.8 we dismissed these features as worth sacrificing for the wonderful image quality. Well the 50mm gives you both the image quality plus all of the above.
Build Quality
One of the main criticisms levelled at the 50mm f1.8 is the cheap, plastic build quality. For the price and image quality of the f1.8 this can be forgiven in our opinion. The 50mm f1.4 on the other hand is build much more like the rest of Canons range of lenses. The f1.4 feels like a “proper lens”, one that is built to last and one that belongs on your expensive digital slr, and will last for many years to come.
The f1.8 version was often accused of feeling like a toy, this f1.4 version doesn’t have the same problem. The f1.4 is built using much more robust materials, including a solid metal mount ring. Overall when mounted on the camera this version feels much more balanced with the weight of you slr.
Usability
One of the big advantages of the f1.4 is the fast ad quiet USM motor that powers the auto focus. The 50mm f1.8 often tended to hunt about for focus in very low light. With the 1.4 this is much less of a problem with focusing being much faster and quieter.
The USM Focus on the 50mm f1.4 lens is impressive
The focus ring on the f1.4 is on the middle of the lens barrel (like most other Canon lenses) and has a smooth action allowing fine adjustments by using the ridged rubber grip. This is much better than the barely usable end mounted ring on the f1.8 that made manual focus virtually impossible.
Unlike the f1.8, the f1.4 comes with a focus distance window, again very useful for manual focusing. Also this lens incorporates manual override feature allowing you to over ride the autofocus by simply twisting the focus ring.
Image Quality of the 50mm f1.4
The image quality if very similar to the f1.8 version in out tests. Unless you look very closely it is very hard to detect much improvement in the quality of images the two lenses produce.
You may expect to see a massive improvement baring in mind this lens costs over twice the price of the f1.8 however most of the extra money goes on the features discussed above. It just proves that the f1.8 was built with only image quality in mind, at the expense of everything else!
What this lens does is excel in low light. The extra f stop and USM focus motor mean sharp shots i very low light are possible. The shot blow was hand held at f1.4 on a very low light street.
50mm f1.4 Low Light Performance
The quality of images is still great even for a lens at this price. Colours are vivid and the lens is tack sharp about a stop and a half from maximum aperture.
Another benefit of this lens over the f1.8 is the bokeh it produces. The f1.4 has an 8 blade aperture (compared to 6 in the f1.8) which gives it a softer, more rounded bokeh effect when shooting at big apertures.
Summary
Whether you choose the 50mm f1.8 or the f1.4 version will depend both on your budget and expected use required from a 50mm lens.
If like me you are regularly shoot in poor light (and like to avoid using the flash) we’d recommend you opt for the 50mm f1.4. The big aperture of this lens allows you to shoot fast shutter speeds using lower ISOs.
Don’t get us wrong the f1.8 is a great lens however we feel the better build quality, extra f stop and faster/quieter USM focus motor make the f1.4 a better long term purchase.
Click here to check out the latest prices of the Canon 50mm f1.4 lens.
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