| Customer Reviews Collected from usa.canon.com |
Canon - EF 50mm f/1.2L USM Standard Lens - Black
Average Customer Rating:
4.5
Rating breakdown 81 reviews
5 Stars
65
4 Stars
4
3 Stars
2
2 Stars
6
1 Star
4
84%of customers recommend this product.
(
62 out of
74)
Customer Reviews for Canon - EF 50mm f/1.2L USM Standard Lens - Black
Posted by: Tquigs
from Oregon
Verified Purchase:Yes
I absolutely love this lens. Crisp, vivid photos every time. Use it mostly for portraits and it hardly ever comes off my camera body! The small details in the shot are beautiful and the images are again vivid and sharp and clean!
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
2
A specialist lens
on December 23, 2010
Posted by: Melo
This lens is a specialist lens, perhaps good for scientific applications but its size and weight as a 50mm lens makes it impractical as a "standard" lens.
I decided to try this expensive lens as a replacement for my faulty 50/1.4 after the AF motor stopped working. Having used it for a month I am afraid to say that this is certainly the Canon lens that I am least satisfied with. With the 1.2L's powerful ring USM it should, in theory, focuses much faster than the 1.4's micro USM. In practice, the difference in AF speed is not that obvious at all, it seems to me that the more refined focusing distance ring (compared to the 1.4's) makes the 1.2L travels much farther to hunt from infinity to 0.45m.
Also, the image quality improvement over the 1.4 (at comparable aperture setting) is only very slight.
Its much bigger and heavier than the 1.4 so even that 1/2 stop aperture difference doesn't really help with hand-held shooting in the dark. In summary, I don't find any practical advantage for "general purpose" photography and considering the practicality and price difference I have decided to give the 50/1.4 another go.
Having owned all three 50mm f/1.8 II, 1.4 and the 1.2L, I personally think the 1.4 offers best compromise in terms of image quality, practicality, price, and focusing performance.
I decided to try this expensive lens as a replacement for my faulty 50/1.4 after the AF motor stopped working. Having used it for a month I am afraid to say that this is certainly the Canon lens that I am least satisfied with. With the 1.2L's powerful ring USM it should, in theory, focuses much faster than the 1.4's micro USM. In practice, the difference in AF speed is not that obvious at all, it seems to me that the more refined focusing distance ring (compared to the 1.4's) makes the 1.2L travels much farther to hunt from infinity to 0.45m.
Also, the image quality improvement over the 1.4 (at comparable aperture setting) is only very slight.
Its much bigger and heavier than the 1.4 so even that 1/2 stop aperture difference doesn't really help with hand-held shooting in the dark. In summary, I don't find any practical advantage for "general purpose" photography and considering the practicality and price difference I have decided to give the 50/1.4 another go.
Having owned all three 50mm f/1.8 II, 1.4 and the 1.2L, I personally think the 1.4 offers best compromise in terms of image quality, practicality, price, and focusing performance.
Pros: Superior build quality
Cons: Slow auto-focus, Semi-sharp images, over priced, too bulky
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
2
Disappointment
on July 7, 2009
Posted by: Stuart
from Greenwood, IN
Out of the box, back-focused by approximately 3 mm on my 5D II, which is fixable with either micro-adjustment or sending it in for re-calibration. Compared to my 50mm f/1.4, it had superior bokeh, less vignette, and about the same autofocus speed. But, it was softer than the 50mm f/1.4 all around. Wide open, it had about 3 out of 10 autofocus misses in good light, which was suprisingly bad. Had noticeable purple fringe on the edges under f/2.0, getting better stopped down. I thought it would be like my 85 mm f/1.2, but it was not.
Pros: Superior build quality, Fast auto-focus, less vignette than the 50mm f/1.4 wide open, creamy smooth bokeh
Cons: Semi-sharp images, high miss rate in good light, my copy back-focused by about 3 mm, noticeable fringing under f/2.0, softer than both the 50mm f/1.4 and the 85mm f/1.2
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
My Favorite
on November 16, 2009
Posted by: J_M_R
from Orange County, CA
I couldn't be happier with this lens. This was clearly my best lens decision and would purchase again in a heart beat if it was ever lost or stolen. Can't say I would do the same with some of my other L glass.
Pros: Super-sharp images, Superior build quality, Fast auto-focus, bokeh
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
Best lens
on March 30, 2016
Posted by: Rich Man
from New York, NY, United States
I bought it several days ago, and it's definitely excellent when shooting a person. F/1.2 Lens is undoubtedly better than F/1.8 lens I used before. It's worth buying!
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
5
just as expected!
on March 29, 2013
Posted by: rl
from greenwich,CT
love this lens.
i have a 5D mark 1 w/ came with the 24-105L as a kit so im used to the vivid colors of the L lens. been using it for awhile but got tired of shooting indoors! so i bought a 1.8 just to try out, love the result, no stalling , quick focus etc.
since using this for a awile i decided the 50mm is all i need for what i use the camera for so then i sold the 24-105 and the 50 to get this.
im so glad and happier eversince! plus love how it dwarfs the camera, this thing is huge! but i love it!
i have a 5D mark 1 w/ came with the 24-105L as a kit so im used to the vivid colors of the L lens. been using it for awhile but got tired of shooting indoors! so i bought a 1.8 just to try out, love the result, no stalling , quick focus etc.
since using this for a awile i decided the 50mm is all i need for what i use the camera for so then i sold the 24-105 and the 50 to get this.
im so glad and happier eversince! plus love how it dwarfs the camera, this thing is huge! but i love it!
Pros: Fast auto-focus, Superior build quality, Super-sharp images
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
2
Followup to first review
on January 8, 2011
Posted by: Stuart
from Greenwood, IN
This is a followup to my first review on July 7, 2009 titled "Disappointment". I returned the 50mm f/1.2 lens that I had reviewed for a full refund. Several months later I purchased a second copy, which I am reviewing here. In the same manner as I had evaluated the first copy, I used the second copy with my 5D II for a day. I snapped about 400 images of my kids and objects inside and outside the house. What I liked about the 50/1.2 was a 1/2 stop light advantage over the 50/1.4, creamy bokeh, and less vignette than the 50/1.4 when shot wide open. The biggest problem with the second copy, which was the same problem I had with the first copy, was that autofocus was inaccurate. When I focused on a person's eyes, for example, something else would be in focus in front of or behind the person's eyes. Not all the time, but often enough, like about 30%. When I encountered these problems, I would immediately switch to the 50/1.4 and shoot the same settings and conditions. I didn't have any autofocus problems with the 50/1.4. And, the images that were in focus with the 50/1.2 generally weren't as sharp as those from the 50/1.4. I eventually returned the second 50/1.2 for a refund and decided that the 50/1.4 was good enough. For reference, the autofocus method I used was center point AF with recompose. Also, the 5D II camera I used has no autofocus problems with my other lenses, including the 85/1.2, 35/1.4, 24/1.4, 70-200/2.8 IS Mk II, etc.
Pros: Superior build quality, less vignette wide open than the 50/1.4, creamy smooth bokeh
Cons: Semi-sharp images, inaccurate autofocus, fringing under f/2.0
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com
Customer Rating
3
Poor Build
on April 24, 2010
Posted by: Chris
from Jacksonville
This lens has been loose around the hood and and outside frame. I love the shallow depth of field and super low light photography for indoor photography, especially weddings. Would not buy this 50 mm L f1.2 go with the less expensive 50 mm.
Pros: Fast auto-focus, Super-sharp images
Cons: Poor build quality
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting usa.canon.com