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Canon - EF 50mm f/1.2L USM Review

What's Hot: Ultra fast aperture, sharp and high contrast, beefy construction, weather sealing and smooth manual focus ring.

What's Not: Large, heavy and expensive. The lens tests AF accuracy when shooting at f/1.2.

Review: A perfect walk around optic for my EOS 5D, this lens is fast, sharp and offers a natural perspective. I rarely remove it from the camera. This is best for photographers who plan on using f/1.2 extensively. The creamy bokeh and razor thin depth of field are amazing, but make both the camera's AF and the photographer's skill more important. Specifically, depth of field is so tiny at f/1.2 that it's easy to miss focus. The slightest twitch or shift backwards or forward after locking AF renders your image out of focus. A tripod is a must for close ups but isn’t necessary at infinity.

It's pretty amazing to shoot low light photos at ISO 100 and f/1.2. This lens offers a lot of possibilities over my f/2.8 zoom.

Compared to a ring-USM optic with internal focus, AF is on the slow side, but about the same as my old EF 50 f/1.4 USM, which is fast enough. AF is good but not as surefooted in low light as my EF 24-105 f/4L IS USM zoom. However, it's much better than my old EF 50 f/1.4 USM and EF 50 f/1.8 lenses, so I'm happy.

This is a great optic if you can afford it and need the fast aperture and beefy build.