Canon EF 50 Prime Ongoing Dire Need Confirmed

[Loswr]

Maybe Canon should make a 50 1.4 IS (Ring or Nano USM)


Just an idea.

I don't know that anyone would even want one.

Just a thought.

I might if someone could come up with some graphics and charts to compel me.

Or start a new thread to convince you?

 

[Michael Clark]

Hope Canon also update the 50mm f/1,2L . The optics is magical....

I think the reason they're keeping both the 85mm 1.2 and the 85mm 1.4 IS is because those 1.2 lenses can't really be improved without totally changing how they look. So they make 1.4 IS versions instead. That way the people who just want optical quality can get the 1.4 IS version and the people who want the nice rendering can get the 1.2 version. The way I understand it, the 1.2s have that 'look' because they're not designed for total sharpness and clarity. If you make a lens which is sharper and clearer then it has a less pleasing rendering and vice-versa. That's why Sigma and Tamron lenses are super sharp but have crappier bokeh. At least that's how I understand it.
So I don't think the 50mm f/1.2L could be updated without ruining it's look. Putting IS in would change the optical formula and any attempt to make it sharper or clearer would change the rest of the rendering too. They could probably update the AF but that's about it.

It's due to the same field curvature that gives the 50/1.2 such wonderful rendering of the out of focus highlights.

It's not that such lenses are as soft as everyone thinks they are on the edges, it's just that when imaging a flat subject (like a test chart), the point of sharpest focus is slightly in front of the edges of the flat test chart when the center of the frame is perfectly focused. You can adjust the focus slightly to make the edges sharper, but of course that makes the center look soft because now it is slightly out of focus.

As far as having a lens with a flat field goes, it's not really relevant to portraiture unless you're doing a straight on mug shot of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Unfortunately, average MTF across the entire field has replaced MP as "the number" upon which everything seems to revolve for too many gearheads. They base the quality of every lens that is introduced, regardless of whether or not the intended purpose of said lens is to do reproduction work of flat objects, upon the average MTF for the entire field.

As a result, the lens makers have sold their souls to the gods of the flat test chart and abandoned any consideration for how a lens renders scenes that aren't perfectly flat from one side of the frame to the other.

Flat field lenses do not make the best portraits, but they do get the best scores at DxO.

 

[ahsanford]

Flat field lenses do not make the best portraits, but they do get the best scores at DxO.

Completely agree.

But not everyone is buying a fast 50 for portraiture.

Some folks just want a do-everything workhorse tool that doesn't give you fits with AF performance.

Besides a generally sharper lens that doesn't prioritize out of focus transitions over sharpness, I would like a 50 with fire-and-forget AF confidence like the recent 85 f/1.4L IS. I've rented the 50L twice and wanted to smash it with a hammer at times. I'm tired of stopping down and overshooting/chimping to get an in-focus result with a professional instrument that costs north of $1k.

My 85 f/1.4L IS rental was the exact opposite experience -- the AF nailed it every time and I could enjoy capturing images without the fear of missing the moment, having to reshoot, etc. I want that in a 50, and in all candor, that's not an extravagant technical ask in 2018.

Respect your position, of course, but my needs are not your needs -- and I'm pretty dug in on what I want.

- A

 

[sanj]

By now when they do come out with new 50mm, I really doubt if it will much above the IQ of competition.

 

[ahsanford]

By now when they do come out with new 50mm, I really doubt if it will much above the IQ of competition.

Don't care. (It may not even outresolve the Sigma 50 Art -- a very high bar!)

But:

• The AF will be a first party Canon routine.
• It'll be sharper than every autofocusing Canon 50mm offering we've had before.
• The AF simply must be better on the wide open end than the 50L, not hunt/stutter/fail like the f/1.4 USM, and run circles speed-wise around the f/1.8 STM.

Sold. (If it's not a huge pickle jar.)

- A

 

[slclick]

Maybe Canon should make a 50 1.4 IS (Ring or Nano USM)


Just an idea.

I don't know that anyone would even want one.

Just a thought.

I might if someone could come up with some graphics and charts to compel me.

Or start a new thread to convince you?

Oh that was good.