Customer Ratings & Reviews

This is an awesome lens. I've been using it as my primary walk around for a few weeks now and its great. The bokeh is great and the wide open shots get a LOT of light in, particularly in low light settings where you want to avoid using a flash (ie indoor shots). This is an awesome addition albeit with a high price. I think its important to say that this isn't a beginner lens, particularly if you are heavily (or blindly) dependent upon auto-focus as shooting wide open (f/1.2) requires regular review to ensure that your primary subject is in sharp focus. The depth of field is so shallow at f/1.2 and f/1.4 that you need to be certain that you're sharp on your subject. The lens does have a tendency to front and back focus when you are not careful. While I am by no means an expert, I've got enough of an understand of the technical aspects of shooting that this lens requires a solid grip of aperture, distance/focal-length and focus to ensure that you get the shot you want. Now if I can just improve my composition!

A very versatile lens. Love it especially in portrait shots. Excellent piece of glass. Creamy bokeh and very shrp image even in low light.

I used this lens to capture Details in antique flint glass pieces that had no color just crystal. Once I achieved what I thought was the perfect lighting I proceeded to capture 200 photos with my Canon - EF 50mm f/1.2L USM Standard Lens - Black and my Cannon 5D macIII.

This is such a great lens. I put it on my 5D mark 4 right away and did an engagement shoot with this lens only. The images came out very sharp even while shooting at 1.2. Highly recommend this lens!

This is my new favorite lens. Tack sharp, super fast, and just overall incredible. Don't hesitate if you are deterred by old model back focusing issues- I've had none. This lens is amazing and you can't go wrong

I was hoping this wasn’t as good as I heard, but it is. This was a somewhat spontaneous purchase although backed by plenty of time and research. This with my Canon 80d truly brings my photos to life, adds so much depth and character and I feel like it will stay glued to my body.

I was saving for a long time to get this lens and I’m very happy to finally have it , is a little be slow for sports but for weddings and portrait is one of the best lenses that I got and I will recommend this lens to anybody to like photography

Perfect lens that should be carried in every professional camera bag.

Love to Portrait with this lens so much, It’s very perfect especially for low light. You pay what you get.

I like the quality of the images quick autofocus Just perfect for what I do

My main camera is the Canon 7D Mark II 50mm f/1.2 is the cream de la crème of lens. All of my lens are L lens and this is my first prime. If you read other reviews, the issue people talk about is how it loses focus or refocusing issues. In my experience, the lens only lose focus when attempting to take a picture from closer than 18 inches from the subject. At this distance the lens attempts to refocus itself and has a hard time focusing in on the subject. If you wants to take a picture that close, you should purchase a macro lens instead. It’s a great lens and the fast speed takes a little while to get use to because the depth of field is very shallow. Shooting below f2.8, I can focus on the subjects eyes and their noise is out of focus. If shooting outside on a sunny day at ISO 100, f/1.2 the shutter speed is set at f/4000 because of the amount of light coming through the lens. Overall, it is a very beautiful lens, well built, look impressive on any camera body, and if used correctly it performs marvelously. The bokeh is very dreamy…

Great lens, I had difficulty deciding on this particular lens after reading several negative reviews. But. the good ones convinced me. I'm not sorry... The quality is superb and the images are flawless. The depth-of-field is amazing as is the bokeh. Keep in mind that the narrow depth of field can be finicky as can the auto focus. Great for low light shooting. Highly recommended!

First let me say that if money is an issue, turn back around. I've used the 50mm f/1.4 and 50mm f/1.8 STM extensively and they are superb lenses. I actually own the 50mm f/1.8 STM if I'm just casually shooting or weight is an issue. Second, for anyone who is worried about focus issues please read AF section below. That said, if you are looking for top quality glass, Zeiss comparable glass, and money is not that important, BUY THIS BEAST. Paired on my 5D Mark IV this lens has produced some of the sharpest images I've captured to date. See sample images. Build quality is excellent, color reproduction is outstanding and its hard to say what it is exactly but this lens produces images that just look like they were straight out of a high fashion catalog. Weather sealing is really nice since I like to take my gear out in New England blizzards :). Important things to note: -This lens requires photography skill. Auto-mode (green A+ mode) should be forgotten about when using this lens. Av mode or M mode I recommend depending on what you are looking to do. -Below f/2.8 I recommend manually setting one single focus point for AF. Below f/2.0 manually setting a single AF point on your camera is absolutely crucial. Focusing on someone's nose for example by accident would cause the majority of the individual's face to be out of focus. Yes, it is that sensitive. The small change in depth from nose to face below f/2.0 can have that big of an impact, so AF is not a problem, it needs to be managed. Yes, it is expensive but at f/1.2 there is a tremendous amount of high quality glass on this beast. See attached photos.

In 2016 I found myself shooting a lot of weddings and then decided to switch from zooms to primes (crazy, right?). I had the Canon 50mm f/1.4 version (purchased from Best Buy) and used it for a short time until I soon figured out that for my professional work to really shine, I needed the best of the best tools to do it. There's a lot varying reviews around the internet about the Canon 50mm f/1.2 but I'm telling you, after moving from the 1.4 to the 1.2, there is a BIG difference in the sharpness and contrast in the 1.2 version. Shooting from f1.2 to f1.8 is tricky, you can't be lazy, move the focus points, manually focus if you have to, but if you're careful you can pull it off for insane DOF and creamy bokeh. Shooting at f/2.0 to f/2.5 though, IMO, is where this lens blows away all others. The f1.4 version you had to stop down to f/2.8 for sharpness. However, during the reception when the lights are low and it's dark outside, the difference between f2 and f2.8 is huge. Is it worth 4 times the price of the 1.4 version? If you're a professional, the answer is clearly yes. If you're a hobbyist, then probably not. However, I'm happy I finally bit the bullet and went with the 1.2. It is simply an incredible lens and worth every penny.

I am not a professional photographer. This lens is going to take some serious practice to master. Shooting in 1.2 is difficult to say the least, and I'm not sure I'm good enough to do so. I would have been fine with the 1.4 and saved about $1g. It is pretty amazing how narrow a depth of field you can achieve. I took a profile picture of my wife in appeture priority with f1.2 and her ear was in focus, her nose was out of focus...that's pretty crazy! I'm looking forward to the challenge though...I will figure this thing out, it's just gonna take a few decades. One real upside, this lens does perform extremely well in low light settings as would be expected, and the quality and sharpness of the photos is outstanding!

Used via an adaptor on a Sony A7R II. Very fast autofocus, sharp corner to corner, incredible bokeh, Not as heavy or as large as I though it would be. This is a true pro lens and does portraits with ease. Clients and models are very happy with the results.

Great lens, but exchange it for the 24-70 because it wasn’t practical with the photography we do. But would buy again if I have the extra money

I went into this purchase understanding the incredibly thin depth of field and knowing how hard that can be to work with. I've worked with f1.4 before, which is close enough. However, the real issue with this lens lies in how prone it is to back or front focus issues, which of course, my copy had, in some cases, severely. If I was ever close to an object, it was very likely to focus behind what I was trying to focus on, well beyond the minimum focusing distance, too. Its construction is admirable and like any Canon L lens, I cannot fault it. It feels incredibly solid, though I do wish it was fully weather-sealed straight out of the box, no filter needed... At this pricepoint it amazes me that Canon can't manage that for their customers. The other main con is the price and this ultimately is what makes me unable to recommend this lens. Reviewers have shown that in some cases the far cheaper Canon 50mm f1.4 is, oddly so, sharper and has less chromatic aberration! This should not be the case, as the 1.4 is even older than the L 1.2! See Christopher Frost's comparison on YouTube for what I am talking about. Tony and Chelsea Northrup also compare this to the Sigma 50mm f1.4 Art (new lens) and it basically loses. Is, what, a third of an f stop truly worth $900 more in the case of the Canon 1.4 comparison, or $400 more in the case of the Sigma 1.4 Art comparison? You be the judge. I've made my decision and no longer own it for these reasons.

This lens works great out of the box. I was a little concerned about the learning curve in regards to getting sharp images based on some customer reviews, however, either I got lucky, or it really is just a matter of knowing what you are doing. So if you are not an amateur you should be pretty happy with this lens. One thing to note, if you are used to the nifty 50 1.8 lens, this one feels much heavier/more substantial. I actually consider that a good thing though. Great lens!

Love this lens. Great bokeh. Super light. Sharp. Canon makes the best lenses.