Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L USM Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
by Canon
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Category: Digital Camera
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: CanonRelease Date: 2006-12-05
Model: 1236B004
Product features:
- High-performance, weather-resistant standard lens
- AF with full-time manual focus
- 50mm focal length
- f1.2 Maximum aperture; 72mm filter size
- UltraSonic Motor (USM)
- The focal length is 50mm
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L USM Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
Customer Review: Excellent sharp lens with serious focus shift you can learn to live with
Summary: 2 Stars
I am revising my review after ordering a second one and learning much more about these lenses.
The first one I got was soft. I sent it to Canon twice and it was still soft, so I returned it for a refund. Recently, I bought a new copy and tested it and it was also soft in certain circumstances and brutally sharp under others. I was wrong. It's not soft. The lens, in fact, is extremely sharp and renders color almost magically. The problem in 2 nutshells is: 1. spherical aberation, and 2. focus shift, which is caused by spherical aberation.
1. Spherical aberation. This lens, like almost all other lenses, isn't as sharp wide open as it is down a few stops. It is sort of sharp at f/1.2, but it is not as sharp as it is at 2.8. Anyone shooting this lens at f/1.2 is getting creamy bokeh and creamy faces as well. Don't kid yourself - you can't take razor sharp images at f/1.2 because of spherical aberation, but you can take photos where the background is SO blurred that the difference is what makes the photo. At f/1.4 I believe it is MUCH sharper than the 50mm 1.4 and it takes wonderful photos. Shoot this lens at 1.4 and you won't get winners every time, but the keepers are killer. I shoot it at f/1.4 and f/1.8 often and love the results.
2. Focus shift. This lens is aspherical but does NOT have a floating element, unlike the 35mm and 85mm L lenses. That's why this lens is smaller than the 35. Canon *could* design this lens with a floating element, but it would be bigger, heavier, more expensive, and probably would be a smart move. But they didn't. So this one has much more focus shift, while the other two have very little. Focus shift is complicated. (Lloyd Chambers explains: [...] ) The bottom line is that this is clearly the best autofocus lens you can get for shooting at 1.4 and SHOOTING THIS LENS IN THE 1.2 - 2.8 RANGE INSIDE OF ABOUT 2.5 METERS IS TRICKY!! You'll have to learn to compensate for focus shift, and still you'll throw away a lot of shots. It's a tradeoff between the focus shift of this lens vs the manual focus of a Zeiss (no focus shift). Once you are at 4.0 the focusing is back on track.
Please keep in mind that soft images do NOT mean the lens is soft. It means that focus shift causes the focal plane to go back behind where you focused, and it's dependent on APERTURE, so setting the microadjustment won't work.
Canon refuses to acknowledge focus shift, which is a bit strange. As others have noted, they could fix this in firmware by allowing the user to take test shots and dial in the back-focus at each aperture and distance, but they don't show any signs of doing that. Perhaps some clever person will hack it and we'll all be happy. Or perhaps Canon will release a II version with a floating element and then we'll all sell our I versions and buy that.
After trying a series of about 200 portrait photos with this lens under controlled conditions with a child as a subject, I got one razor-sharp keeper. The rest had too much focus shift to make the eyes sharp. Sadly, I'm returning it. I could learn how to compensate, but I prefer to wait until Canon acknowledges the problem and makes a 50mm lens with a floating element.
Description of Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L USM Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
The EF 50mm f/1.2L USM is a peerless new standard lens featuring an ultra-large aperture for a narrow depth of field and soft background blur so loved by photographers everywhere. The EF 50mm f/1.2L USM is suitable for any shooting situation; its lens coating and construction are optimized to minimize the ghosting and flare that frequently occurs when lenses are used with digital cameras. This high-performance, weather-resistant lens delivers all the superb image resolution and contrast you expect in a Canon L Series Lens. Sample Image MTF ChartLenses
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