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04/20/2006 05:28:48 PM · #1 |
Me and a friend pooled our lens together and did a 50mm lens shoot out. he had the Canon 1.4, the other two are mine. The results are pretty surprising.
the lens:
Canon 50mm F1.4 about $350-400
Canon 50mm F1.8 about $80
Pentax Super Takumar 50mm F1.4 (lens from the 70's with an EOS adapter, manual focus and aperture only) about $50 on ebay
Photos were taken full frame with a 5D. The composite photo linked below has a 100% crop from the lower left corner, center, and upper right corner. I had to re-size and I sharpened a little, but the comparison remains the same.
Canon 1.4 is on top, 1.8 in the middle and the Takumar 1.4 is on the bottom in case you can't figure out the photo. Lower left is on the left, center is in the center, upper right is on the right.
50mm shoot out
Notes:
All three lens were tested wide open, not at F1.8, so we are not really comparing apples to apples.
We took about 30 shots with each lens and picked the best one from each.
The Takumar is manual focus.
Results:
All three lens are tack sharp in the center. The canon and takumar F1.4 are very close in quality over all, slight edge to the canon in sharpness, but the Canon F1.8 was the easily sharpest throughout the frame of all three lens (which shocked me based on what I've heard about it). However, keep in mind we are comparing F1.4 to F1.8. I'd like to re-do it comparing all at F1.8. Also keep in mind we only compared the lens we have. We may have good or bad copies of these lens... So take this with a grain of salt.
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04/20/2006 05:37:13 PM · #2 |
Originally posted by LoudDog:
keep in mind we are comparing F1.4 to F1.8 |
I think that's the key. But it is great that the cheap 1.8 can hold its own! I'd love to see a 1.8 comparison.
-Chad |
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04/20/2006 11:52:08 PM · #3 |
| bump, I thought more people would be interested in this. |
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04/21/2006 01:14:15 AM · #4 |
I've got a Takumar and the Canon 1.4, and I'd say my copies of those two are similar, with an edge to the Canon, so my "anecdotal" results mirror yours. Interesting that the 50/1.8 @ 1.8 came out best. I too would like to know how a straight f/1.8 test would have turned out...
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04/21/2006 04:32:01 AM · #5 |
we did the same test on owr nikon cameras at work and the Nikkor 1,8 won it too.
As for Canon, we tried Canon 1,4 and 1,8 but in portraiture n pure light conditions, and the 1,4 was the best.
Those two lenses we use now: and yes, I work on both systems: bisexual :)
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04/21/2006 07:11:00 AM · #6 |
nice test results. didnt really expect an $80 lens to outperform a more expensive one. but then again, the 1.8 and 1.4 are kinda different.
how do they compare at f/4? |
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04/21/2006 08:00:52 AM · #7 |
Remember that this test only addresses one aspect of image quaoity: sharpness. there's also contrast, bokeh, color, flare resistance/ghosting, etc., and it's also quite posible that part of the difference in the corners was a combination of the wider aperture and some field curvature (though I *know* the 50/1.4 has some corner issues at wide aperture on FF).
The 50/1.4 does hve quite superior bokeh, quite nice in fact. Still the 1.4 falls somewhat short, IMO, in total value/performance for the price, especially on FF.
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04/21/2006 09:36:56 AM · #8 |
This isn't much of a surprise, given the posted MTF charts for the two canon lenses - the 50 1.8 at 1.8 will be sharper than the 50 1.4 at 1.4
However, try them all at f8 or similar and you should see the improvement of the 1.4 over the 1.8
That 50 1.8 is still one of the sharpest lenses that Canon makes though.
You can see the MTF charts for the 50/1.4 at 1.4 & f8 here, as well as the same charts for the 50/1.8 at 1.8 & f8
photodo MTF charts |
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04/21/2006 12:55:48 PM · #9 |
I'd prefer to see a Comparison between 50's from Nikon, Canon, and the new Zeiss ZF mount ones.
You could do all with Canon 5D with a Nikon to EOS adapter.
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04/21/2006 01:04:37 PM · #10 |
Photozone agrees with you:
1.4 sharper in center than 1.8 (even at 1.4 vs 1.8)
1.8 much sharper outside edges
I still want the 1.4 - it's just more badass. |
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04/21/2006 02:40:17 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by hopper:
...I still want the 1.4 - it's just more badass. |
Hee hee, that's the first time I ever saw "badass" used to describe the 50/1.4! Now a 50/1.2L with sharpness like the 35/1.4L, great build, circular aperture and true ring USM, now THAT would be badass. I'd trade up in a second.
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04/25/2006 09:13:31 AM · #12 |
I´m huge impressed with results.
I´m looking for a 50mm to use it in weeding photography.
A search for lens reviews I´ve done give no results of pictures, only opinions.
Now I´m inclined to the 1.8 gives it´s low price.
May you can compare more lenses? It´s nice to see it. Other interesting way to compare is to give us a link to download full size JPG.
Great job!
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