Canon 50mm 1.4 question

[Officer196]

Ive run a search and was unable to locate a thread in regards to this topic. So tonight after looking at them for the couple of weeks and reading rave reviews, I took the leap and bought the canon 50mm 1.4. After playing with it for a bit I started looking for some images to get some inspiration on some new things to shoot with this lens when I came across some disturbing reviews about many people having problems with the AF system with this lens. Anyone have any problems with this? I know I was initially concerned when I was playing with it because it seemed to hunt when I was trying to get it to lock onto something, but I attributed this to the fact I was playing in my apt which at night with my lamp on is still horribly lit. Any thoughts?

[sk66]

Not a Canon person, but I'm willing to bet that "your issue" was the lighting.

[Officer196]

Thanks for the response. I agree after trying some different lighting, the lens seems to respond as it should. I will say the bad reviews still concern me. Wish I would have seen them before. Oh well hopefully I didnt pull one of the lemons.

[Hill Country Hack]

Once you get comfortable with this new lens I'm sure you will fall in love with it. Why not start off in favorable conditions and work your way to the difficult.

Keep a small flashlight in your bag to use as additional light on your subject when focussing in low light.

Have fun with your new lens. Post some shots.

[Officer196]

Thanks HCH.. Ill be taking it for its official test drive tomorrow.

[ajax_andy]

Haven't used mine in low light but I've been impressed with its performance in good lighting conditions. Also the pics are soooo sharp!

[andrewdt]

I would say that one of the big risks of getting a "low light" lens is that we expect it not to hunt around for focus in that same low light. Agreed with the others - test drive it in good light first. I don't own one, I have just borrowed one and found this to be something that I kept cursing the lens for, and then rebuking myself for expecting miracles from it.

[gturner]

Low ligt doesnt mean no ligt. The af system needs to pick up contrasts to work.

If a still subject, then the flashlight works well, if moving, then switch to manual focus.