Canon 50mm Prime, need advice on selection.

[Crabs]

Hello Everyone,

I am looking to purchase a 50mm prime lense, I have a Canon 500D EOS.

I have been looking around a bit, I thought I would ask your advice on a few options.

The two I am looking at are the:
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Which is going for around $423
and
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 Mk II-digitalrev which is on sale for $130 (Digital Rev)

I know the f stop difference is there but considering I am really on a budget what are your thoughts on going with the f/1.8 mk2? Or any other suggestions, your help would be awesome!

Is the cost diference worth paying for to gain the large app.?

Cheers

[inkista]

Optically, they're very similar. And on a crop-body, the 50/1.8 II is actually a little better (on full-frame, it flips the other way around). So if cost is a big deal to you, then the 50/1.8 II can certainly hold its own.

However, the build quality and usability features of the 50/1.4 are definitely better. The 1.8 has a plastic mount, a very thin manual focus ring on the end of the lens (tough to use), no focus scale, a noisy micromotor, and a tendency to wonky autofocus in very low light. The 1.4 has a metal mount, a USM focus motor, can do full-time manual focus, has a focus scale, and a well-placed and good width manual focus ring in the middle of the lens barrel. Overall, it's nicer to use, and more solidly built.

One more thing to keep in mind--some folks find a 50mm lens to be a little too long for some types of shooting, particularly in smaller spaces. The field of view of a 50mm is considered to be "normal" on a full-frame, so to get an equivalent field of view on a crop body, you want a lens closer to 30mm. So, you may also want to consider the Sigma 30mm f/1.4, or the EF 35mm f/2.

[Crabs]

Thanks inkista,

That advice is very helpfull...

Given me somethings to think about, Think I will check out the sigma and the EF as well.

Cheers