RF50/1.4 Reports from Everyone

SwissFrank

1N 3 1V 1Ds I II III R R5
Dec 9, 2018
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If you've got thoughts on the 50/1.4, please share them.

Today was the first day of sale in Japan and mine showed up from Bic Camera. JPY212,850 or USD1,359 after points, including tax and shipping.

After an hour just running errands I'm pretty sure it's too big and heavy to always have in the backpack, unlike the 50/1.8. I was prepared for the size but not for the weight.

I won't have time for a week or two, but I will do a second generation of my old "SHOOTOUT" tests. (Search this forum for that word to see them.) The tests are just 55lp/mm, the limit of what can be captured given the R5's resolution. I test all exposure lengths stop by stop and wrote software that automatically grades contrast and sorts the images so you can actually see what the results look like, what the hit rate of keepers is, how good the keepers are, how good the ones that aren't keepers are, decide for yourself which are keepers, etc. etc. As for being second generation, I'll add corner test and tripod test, instead of merely testing hand-holding for the center.

I'm happy to admit it if I'm wrong, but my GUESS is that PROBABLY, despite the much higher MTF results, in practice it may not actually deliver significantly more sharpness handheld than the 50/1.8 We shall see. If I'm right about that, then the decision to keep only amounts to a question of having 67% more bokeh (me likey) and 60% the ISO (I don't think most shooters benefit here, given the outstandingly low-noise sensors).

But I can already predict that no-one with the 50/1.8 is going to sell the 1.8 when they get the 1.4, due to the weight and size. I can carry the 1.8 on the R5 and not even know it's in the backpack. With the 1.4 I can't seem to forget that it is.
 
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I think this is absolutely wild. At some point the gear has to weigh something. I just don't get how we got here. My two cents on your though process as well is that the 50 1.8 in my opinion takes the joy out of using Canon's great mirrorless bodies. It just feels too much like you're back on a DSLR, waiting for focus, issues with softness. Obviously if its all you can afford its great, but to say anyone would take this over the 1.4 or the 1. 2 is questionable to me. The 1.2 is large and heavy, but at this point the 1.4 is that alternative they've provided.
 
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It just feels too much like you're back on a DSLR, waiting for focus, issues with softness
I had the EF 50/1.8 MkI (the pro-build not the consumer-build, though the optics were identical), 1.0, 1.4, and 1.2. The first three not only on DSLR but also FSLR :-D

I shot the 1N, 1V, 1Ds series, so on the R5 the body is so much smaller and lighter that I feel it's a lot, hmmm, sportier. Handier. So I'd say it's a lot better than the SLR era just on those grounds.

The RF50/1.8 also gives HUGELY better results than ANY of the EF 50's. I'm not sure exactly why. My theory is that I relied too much on focus-recompose-shoot and the plane of focus was far enough from spherical that even if you don't move and the subject doesn't move, the camera focused at say 4m in the center of the photo might be at 4.5 or 3.5 at the edge. In contrast the R bodies focus anywhere in the scene to the millimeter. So if you have an off-center subject at 4m, the camera still focuses exactly on that. Also, auto-focusing on the eyes is critical when shooting at f/1.4 or f/1.8. I'd do my best on the SLR's but not good enough.

Obviously if its all you can afford its great

It's not a budget problem for me. I had the RF50/1.2 the day I got my R, as soon as they went on sale. It was so heavy that it never left the house. I sold it after like 3 years because I had only used it like twice.

In contrast I hardly ever leave the house WITHOUT the RF50/1.8.
 
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So far I'm pretty happy with the results, the AF gets completely out of the way and I get sharper results at f/1.4 than with the STM at f/2.2. I suspect a part of that is because I'm holding the 50VCM less 'wrong', since I sometimes get very sharp out of the 50STM as well.

It is nicely sized for an R8 as well, it doesn't look out of place or wrongly proportioned.

The only downside so far is that DxO doesn't have profiles for it yet, but LR has and it's mostly for fixing vignetting, so I can live without those for the time being.
 
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