Canon 50 mm f1.8 v. f1.4 - how big of a difference?

[olgabe]

Hi all,
I'm thinking about upgrading my 50 mm f1.8 .. wish I could upgrade all the way to 1.2, but that's out of question due to budget reasons!

I'm actually pretty happy with 1.8 except for somewhat slow autofocus - I just got my first L lens and now the entry level focusing speed does not cut the mustard as well as before.. so...

Has anyone used both of these? is the difference in quality between 1.8. and 1.4 (apart from wider apreture, of course..) noticeable - in terms of focusing speed, motor silence, etc? Also - filter size is the same for both, but 1.8 has a fairly small glass diameter - is 1.4 bigger?

Thanks a lot for your advice.. I don't have a place to borrow one for comparison
Olga

[mattdm]

Originally Posted by olgabe

Hi all,
I'm thinking about upgrading my 50 mm f1.8 .. wish I could upgrade all the way to 1.2, but that's out of question due to budget reasons!

I'm actually pretty happy with 1.8 except for somewhat slow autofocus - I just got my first L lens and now the entry level focusing speed does not cut the mustard as well as before.. so...

Has anyone used both of these? is the difference in quality between 1.8. and 1.4 (apart from wider apreture, of course..) noticeable - in terms of focusing speed, motor silence, etc? Also - filter size is the same for both, but 1.8 has a fairly small glass diameter - is 1.4 bigger?

Thanks a lot for your advice.. I don't have a place to borrow one for comparison
Olga

I've used both. The f/1.4 is definitely noticeably bigger, and has a much more solid build. It's also USM rather than micro-motor, which is particularly nice because you can tweak the focus manually without switching to manual focus mode.

It also has, in my subjective opinion, much nicer rendering wide open. It's not really sharp at f/1.4, but gives a kind of dreamy appearance. (Much less surreal and distorted than something like a Lensbaby, but, really, on the same continuum.) And stopped down, the five aperture blades of the cheaper lens give busier bokeh (although that shouldn't matter if you stop down even further).

This was all with a friend's equipment, so I don't have extensive testing or anything, but there ya go.

[olgabe]

Thank you, Matt! Very helpful.. will let you know what I think once I purchase mine!