Canon 50mm 1.4 vs 1.8 for night photography

<p>I'm new to photography and recently I bought the 450D. I'm interested in doing a lot of night photography and I was wondering if you guys thought the Canon 50mm 1.4 would be worth the extra money over the 1.8 for night shots.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

 

<p>What type of night shots?</p>

<p>With landscapes (i.e. full moon) and cityscapes you will not be using the lenses wide open anyway. You'll be using a tripod, stopping down for DoF, and using long exposures.</p>

<p>With street shooting you might use the lenses wide open to get hand holdable speeds, but 1.4 is only 1/2 stop better than 1.8. That said, the bokeh on the 50 f/1.4 is superior. The f/1.8 version gives you pentagon shaped OOF highlights due to the 5 blade aperture.</p>

<p>With portraits you might shoot wide open for DoF. Again, 1.4 vs. 1.8 isn't a big deal, but the bokeh is much better on the f/1.4.</p>

<p>In my experience the 50 f/1.8 has fast and sure (if noisy) AF, so that's not a big deal either way.</p>

<p>One vote for the 50/1.4. Here is a night photo taken with a 5D with the 50/1.4 at f/1.4, 1/30s, ISO 400 hand held. The bokeh is smooth. The water drops on the vehicle's mirror is sharp.</p><div></div>

<p>I do use the said Canon lens for street/night photography, but am hard-pressed to find many images where I actually used f/1.4 .... except for the odd 'let-me-show-you-this-great-DOF-effect' type images.</p>

<p>It will be mainly for street photography, portraits, live gigs and parties (which might be in low light situations).</p>

<p>Hopefully to appease Mike Stemberg, here is another one of a night street performance taken again with a 5D and the 50/1.4 at f/1.6, 1/80s and ISO 800 hand held. Sharp.</p><div></div>

<p>As far as image quality, there will be no difference. Getting your shot in focus in low light, the 1.4 will be a better performer.</p>

<p>LOL at Peter :=)<br>

Have a Great New Year ALL!</p>

<p>The big advantage of the 1.4 is the focussing.</p>

<p>1. It has a nice wide focusring compared to the 1.8.</p>

<p>2. It has FTM so you can prefocus by hand and that use AF.</p>

<p>The small advantage is more light on the sensor.</p>

<p>if you were going to use it a lot for street stuff and parties I would get the Sigma 30mm 1.4 otherwise the cheap "nifty fifty" would work</p>

<p> </p>

<p>recommend 1.4. IQ wide open far better -- the 1.8 doesn't sharpen in corners until you stop to 2.8 or so. bokeh of the 1.4 much better. personally, i like the color balance of the 1.4 better. the extra speed will serve you well</p>

<p>Both lenses are optically very good but soft wide open. I find my 1.4 gets sharp by F2, whereas the F1.8 needs f2.8. The big differences between the two are construction (the F1.4 is much better built), AF speed (the F1.4 is USM) and probably most important Bokeh where the F1.4 justifies it higher price.</p>

<p>Neither. I would heighly recommended the Sigma 50 F1.4 is much better wide open and has a better focusing motor.</p>

<p>Some people report that their Canon 50/1.4 is sharp wide open. Some report that it is not. I'm one of the latter; even on a tripod, with mirror lockup and a remote shutter release, with a stationary subject right in the centre of the frame where most lenses are at their sharpest, <em>nothing</em> in the frame is perfectly sharp at f/1.4. At f/1.8, things are quite a bit better, but I'd still use that only for emergencies. At f/2, it's fairly sharp; if there's a reason I need that fast an aperture, I'd use it without being too worried about how the picture will turn out. By f/2.8, it's <em>very</em> sharp.</p>

 

<p>Never having used the 50/1.8, I can't tell you anything about it that I haven't read on the Web, and your research has probably turned up the same information I've seen.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I was wondering if you guys thought the Canon 50mm 1.4 would be worth the extra money over the 1.8 for night shots.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>IMHO no. Have a look <a href="http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/717198/">here</a>.</p>

<p>Happy shooting,<br>

Yakim.</p>