Pros: Good Sharpness, Great Bokeh and good for portraits and product photography.

Cons: AF hunts A LOT. Soft at f/1.4 but corrects at f/1.6 and up. even though its USM it is still very noisy in my opinion and doesnt seem to be able to focus at the 1.5' as advertised the closest I can get is 3'. I might have gotten a bad copy, stil testing it may send it to Canon.

Other Thoughts: Overall good for the money. Honestly can't say its worth the extra 150 or so dollars over the f/1.8 version.

Pros: Quick focus, sturdy construction. Excellent every day lens. Highly recommended.

Shipping was fast and painless. Boxed and sent safely an securely.

Cons: N/A

Pros: Good build quality, much quieter than 1.8, nice bokeh.

Cons: Sluggish autofocus system, surprisingly bad color fringing.

Other Thoughts: The Canon 50mm 1.8 was the first prime lens I ever owned, and I think it spoiled me a little bit. Not in it's build quality, obviously as I think it's made out of the same plastic cracker jacks use, but in it's value for money. I still, to this day, with a bag full of L series glass, call the 1.8 the best buy lens you can get. Hands down.
So when money started to come in a little more, I looked at an upgrade from my little 1.8. Because spending more means better right? 1.4 or even 1.2 are better! Well, I'm here to tell you no. The 1.2 is an amazing piece of glass at an amazingly high price. If you can afford the 1.2, buy it.. buy it several times so you can have a family of 1.2 lenses.. it's that good. But the 1.4? I simply don't get it. At close to $400, it's 4 times the price of the glorious plastic nifty 50 (1. but as best as I can tell, isn't even twice as good. The extra depth is nice SOMETIMES, but it's auto focus is nowhere near that of the 1.2 so you'll have a hard time putting it to use without a tripod or exceptionally steady hands. Realistically, how often to you shoot at 1.4 anyway? I seldom go below 1.8. Sure, it has more blades than a 1.8, but outside of photographers, don't assume anyone is trying to count the edges on your bokeh.
As ridiculous as it sounds, the upgrade from your awesome $100 50mm 1.8 is the $1600 50mm 1.2. The 1.4 has the right ingredients on paper, but in the real world it will simply frustrate your wallet to the tune of $349

Pros: I've had this lens for a couple of years now and every time I use it I still get amazed at the bokeh and colors that I am able to get. The f/1.4 is a life saver in certain light conditions and I wouldn't trade this lens for anything. Can't leave home without it.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: Invest in glass, not bodies. :)

Pros: This is a fantastic little lens. The ability to use F/1.4 opens up a world of shallow DOF, and some very interesting pictures. It also handles lowlight conditions much easier than any 'kit' lens or even an excellent F/2.8. It's light and compact, and has great construction. Very good fit on my T3i, with no complaints. Excellent bokeh, particularly in the F/1.4-2.8 range.

Cons: You need to buy a separate lens cap for this lens. Because the focus mechanism protrudes in front of the lens, it is necessary to protect it. I bought the canon brand, but I suppose an aftermarket piece would work as well. Using the lens at F/1.4 requires much practice as the DOF is very, very shallow. That's not a problem, but be aware if you've not used something that shallow before.

Other Thoughts: I would spend the extra if you are riding the fence between the F/1.8 or this one. Construction is better, and the results are fantastic.

Pros: Worked well on canon T3i but since its cropped sensor it does make more then 50 mm. Great in low light for both video and picture taking. fast focusing compared to the 1.8 version and feel well made.

Cons: Not 50mm on any cropped sensor like Canon Ti series which like 1.5 x larger then normal

Pros: You get what you pay for. After using this lens I will never recommend the cheap 50mm 1.8. The build quality is great. Auto focus is better. Very sharp at around F4. Makes a decent portrait lens. Great image quality. It has great bokeh too. Buy it.

Cons: It's soft at F1.4 and sometimes it will not focus at all. Canon should include the lens hood with the lens. I hate how they try to be like Apple. Right now, Nikon is king so they better do something about it like releasing some more primes with IS at a cheaper price like Nikon. I know Canon just released 2 new primes with IS, but they are just too expensive.

Other Thoughts: I shoot with a 5Dmii. On a FF body, this lens is very good. On a crop, not so much but is still a very good lens. I recommend buying the Canon lens hood for it. It's a pretty steep price for a lens hood, but well worth it for the Canon quality.

Pros: 1.4 Aperture
- Shallow DOF (Depth of Field) = great background blur
- Low Light
USM (Ultra-sonic focus Motor)
- Fast and good AF
- Micro-Motor USM is inferior to Ring USM, but it's still good
FTM (Full-Time Manual Focus)
- So you manually adjust focus even when AF is enabled.

Cons: IS (Image Stabilization) would be nice, but I haven't seen any lens this fast (F/1.4) with IS.
Focus is not internal, so the front actually moves in and out with focus.
Some CA (purple or green) definitely noticeable on test charts (but not in my real images)

Other Thoughts: I recommend buying the Canon hood (5%-10% of lens cost) with this lens (and also a quality filter like Hoya or B&W (~10% of lens cost)).

This will extend the length of the lens by a little, and allow you to stabilize the lens by holding the hood against your hand.

More importantly, it will prevent you from inadvertently interfering with the focusing element in front as it moves in and out.

The shallow DOF is stunning. No point-and shoot I've seen can deliver this, BTW. You can easily create some pretty cool effects with this.

I much prefer having IS, which allows you to use a slower shutter because of the IS of course, and IS would be nice.

However, although I do have other lenses that have IS, that only works up to a point. In a dimly-lit restaurant, for example, my excellent EF-S 15-85 zoom lens could not go faster than F/5.0 at 50 mm, and there was no shutter speed that could give me a clear hand-held shot. But with this lens I was able to shoot at F/1.4 at 1/15 of

Pros: Great optical performance
Good build quality
Excellent low light performance
Outstanding bokeh (8 diaphragm blades)
Compact and light

Cons: Nothing significant

Other Thoughts: Very sharp and produces exquisite bokeh. It produces great colors and contrast and almost “L” quality images, particularly stopped down to f/2.8 and beyond. The more I use it, the more I’ve come to appreciate the capabilities of this lens.

Pros: Classic lens that stays on my Canon 5D Mark II. Who needs a flash with this lens. Perfect carry size. Images are sharp with great color and contrast

Cons: Must be careful not to bump or put too much pressure on the protruding front inner lens barrel. Recommend a lens hood to protect this only physical weak link with this lens.

Other Thoughts: Great product from the finest retailer in the country. Thanks Newegg!