# HERE COMES THE BRAND NEW EF 50mm f/1.4



## Goldename (Sep 25, 2014)

...the knockoff one from China, I mean 







First Chinese-built AF Lens with Extra-large Aperture YONGNUO LENS EF

Specification：

Focal Length	50mm

Lens Structure	6 sets; 7 pieces

Aperture Blade	8 pieces

Minimum Aperture	22

Minimum Focus Distance	Approx. 0.45m

Maximum Magnification	Approx. 0.15x

Driving System	DC motor

Filter Diameter	58mm

Maximum Diameter & Length	Approx. Φ75×58mm

Weight	Approx. 239g



Features:

First Chinese-built auto focusing lens;

This lens is equipped with 1.4 extra-large apertures which makes the subject delicate and soft; meanwhile, easily blurring out the background and brings you more fun in photography. 

Supports AF (Auto Focus) mode and MF (Manual Focus) mode;

This lens carries full-time manual focus function, which makes it easily to fix focus position even in automatically focusing. 

This lens supports M/AV/TV/P and other camera shooting modes. The aperture data will be displayed in EXIF;

Supports full frame camera and APS-C frame camera;

This lens adopts 2 pieces of high refractive lenses which can effectively reduce the dispersion. 

http://www.hkyongnuo.com/e-detaily.php?ID=353


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## Antono Refa (Sep 25, 2014)

That is the sound of inevitability.
- A Smith


That is a 20 years old lens. Any relevant patents have expired, some Chinese are adept in making knockoffs, and some of the parts were probably made in China to begin with.

My guess is (a) Canon was aware this is going to happen well in advance, (b) it played a part in upgrading some of the older primes, and (c) is at least one of the reasons Canon is working on a new mount.


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## Chosenbydestiny (Sep 25, 2014)

I wonder if it will be cheaper than the 50 1.8 ^^


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## jthomson (Sep 25, 2014)

The year of the lens! :-[


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## Maximilian (Sep 25, 2014)

WOW!

At first glance I was thinking about a someting photoshoped. 

I wonder how that "_DC motor_" for the AF will sound and perfom. :

And at least the plastic mount and the position of the screws is different. ;D


Edit: Hopefully this will push Canon a little bit further to bring a new 50/1.4. Who knows...


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## Marsu42 (Sep 25, 2014)

Goldename said:


> ...the knockoff one from China, I mean



I had to check it isn't april yet, but thanks for the link! This thing has even full time manual - take that, Canon 50mm/1.8 :-o

Probably I even might even end up buying one for far in between low light situations when my f4 gear cannot cope. If the Yn is as cheap as such a the "first Chinese-built auto focusing lens" should be and usable wide open, the lens will be a success given the mediocre or overpriced Canon versions.


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## AvTvM (Sep 25, 2014)

YES, YES, YES! Good on ya, Canon! 
Highly likely that even the Yongnuo AF drive will be better than the medieval, fickle, prone to break Original Canon AF in the EF 50/1.4.
And luckily I sold my 50/1.4 two months ago. 
Will be interesting to see how cheap and good the Yongnuo is. And when it will really become available. ;-)


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## Maximilian (Sep 25, 2014)

AvTvM said:


> ... Yongnuo AF drive will be better than the medieval, fickle, prone to break Original ...


Will be interesting to see if they'd copy that, too. ;D ;D ;D


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## AvTvM (Sep 25, 2014)

Maximilian said:


> AvTvM said:
> 
> 
> > ... Yongnuo AF drive will be better than the medieval, fickle, prone to break Original ...
> ...



from the sounds of it .. YES. ;D



> Supports AF (Auto Focus) mode and MF (Manual Focus) mode;
> This lens carries full-time manual focus function, which makes it easily to fix focus position even in automatically focusing.


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## infared (Sep 25, 2014)

I wonder how much melamine it contains? 8)


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## AvTvM (Sep 25, 2014)

btw: is the Yongnuo EXTENDER EF 2x III also new or already well-known?

http://www.hkyongnuo.com/e-detaily.php?ID=350


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## Bullwye (Sep 25, 2014)

And they also have Speedlites: http://www.hkyongnuo.com/e-ourproduct.php?category=1.Flash

Looks familiar...


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## AvTvM (Sep 25, 2014)

Bullwye said:


> And they also have Speedlites: http://www.hkyongnuo.com/e-ourproduct.php?category=1.Flash
> 
> Looks familiar...



wow .. they've put it on the website! The YN600EX-RT is overdue for more than 6 months by now. Wonder, whether it will finally become available. ANd wehter they've been able to get their copycat RT-radio system to work at last. Reliably, that is.


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## Antono Refa (Sep 25, 2014)

dilbert said:


> They have a lot of flash stuff...
> 
> http://yongnuo.photography/



Yongnuo is known for it's flashes in Israel.


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## AvTvM (Sep 25, 2014)

dilbert said:


> They have a lot of flash stuff...
> 
> http://http://yongnuo.photography/



yes. all of that is known. News are the 50/1.4, possibly the TC 2x III and certainly the YN600EX-RT, shich was announced first in October 2013, but has been delayed forever. 

So far, Yongnuo is the only chinese company I know of, that dares to copycat the Canon RT radio wireless flash system and seems to get away with it. Their YN-ST-E3RT has been available sind late last year, but did not prove to be reliable enough at roughly 2/3 of the cost of original Canon gear.


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## Sporgon (Sep 25, 2014)

I wonder if Canon have sold them the rights/tooling for this lens because Canon are about to introduce a new one, which will be much more expensive of course.


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## ajfotofilmagem (Sep 25, 2014)

I even gave up long wait for Canon and bought Sigma 50mm Art. :
Canon, move your ass out of the chair now! :-[


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## Marsu42 (Sep 25, 2014)

Bullwye said:


> Looks familiar...



Wrong thread (this is about the 50mm/1.4), but anyway - interesting they finally added this product to their site. Let's see when it'll be actually available and how the radio reliability will be. After so many people forcing to beta-test their rt controller, they've probably improved now esp. since a large flash can incorporate a bigger antenna...


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## AvTvM (Sep 25, 2014)

btw. on a german camera forum I found a posting dated 09/17 http://www.dslr-forum.de/showthread.php?t=1481973 including photos showing Yongnuo displayed the following lenses at their Photokina stall:
* 50/1.4
* 50/1.8
* 35/2.0
* Extender EF 2x III

According to the german poster all three lenses shown were apparently very close copies of the respective original Canon EF lenses and did even register as such when attached to a Canon camera ... and DXO software automatically used the respective Canon lens correction profiles. 

Some dealer lists the Yongnuo 50/1.4 at USD 299,- ... I don't think it will become a sales success at that price. 
http://www.135shot.com/lens-accessories/standard-medium-telephoto-lens/yongnuo-yn-ef-50mm-f-1-4-usm-standard-medium-telephoto-lens-for-canon-slr-cameras.html


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## AcutancePhotography (Sep 25, 2014)

Be interesting to see images and data from this lens.


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## Maximilian (Sep 25, 2014)

AvTvM said:


> Some dealer lists the Yongnuo 50/1.4 at USD 299,- ... I don't think it will become a sales success at that price.


Same to me. 
With the original actually at USD 399,- at amazon I think it has to be at half of that price. But the 299,- is just the preorder, so I suppose it will come down. 
I would't buy one at more than half of the Canon price, but I suppose, others would...

Most interesting question IMHO: How good is their quality control? (And therefore the variation between copies)

But I want a new Canon and not a new copy of an old lens design


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## sgs8r (Sep 25, 2014)

I gave up waiting for Canon to update the 50mm 1.4 and bought the Sigma Art. 

The Canon 50s (1.4 and 1.8) are not that expensive (esp the 1.8), so I'm not sure how cheap these can be to get someone to risk an off-brand...


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## Steve (Sep 25, 2014)

AvTvM said:


> Their YN-ST-E3RT has been available sind late last year, but did not prove to be reliable enough at roughly 2/3 of the cost of original Canon gear.



I haven't tried the YN-ST-E3RT but I can vouch for the YN622 wireless TTL triggers. They're pretty awesome for what they are and what they cost. Since using those, I've been somewhat looking forward to the near-mythical-at-this-point YN600RT as a low cost alternative to the Canon 600RT.



AvTvM said:


> Yongnuo displayed the following lenses at their Photokina stall:
> * 50/1.4
> * 50/1.8
> * 35/2.0
> * Extender EF 2x III



Reading this list I'm like "Sure, yep, makes sense, wait...what?" Why did they make a knock off of the 2x Extender? Who is that for? The person who bought a multi-thousand dollar fast telephoto but just can't bear to part with a few hundred dollars extra for a TC? And why the 2x? Why not the 1.4x? I mean, that just kind of blows my mind. Unless they made it just as a showcase for optical quality in which case it better be really damn good.


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## AvTvM (Sep 25, 2014)

while a TC without any moving elements is probably a lot easier to copy than regular lenses with focussing elements [MF, AF or possibly even IS). Yongnuo might be able to offer a TC at only 1/3 of the cost of the original item, whereas this might not be possible for a regular lens. 

BUT it am also really wondering, why Yongnuo chose the 2x TC, rather than the 1.4x. 

Anyway, really interested to see what price and quality will be like. I'll definitely NOT pre-order. ;D


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## NancyP (Sep 25, 2014)

There's a ton of counterfeit stuff coming from China, I give Yongnuo credit for at least putting its own name on the barrel. China make a lot of low end for its own population as well. The company may want to sell to those Chinese consumers who can't afford "the real thing" and the attendant status. For credibility's sake, they need to give it a fancy Western price, but I doubt that is the price it will sell for (in RM equivalents) internally.

In other interesting news, some Chinese consumer electronics factories (laptops, mostly) assembly lines are staffed 50% by unpaid or otherwise illegally and coercively employed student interns. Want your degree in hotel management? Work a year at 80 hours a week on the computer assembly line, your wages all going to your school - otherwise, no diploma for you!


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## Marsu42 (Sep 25, 2014)

Steve said:


> Since using those, I've been somewhat looking forward to the near-mythical-at-this-point YN600RT as a low cost alternative to the Canon 600RT.



It won't be as Canon isn't dumb - if a budget competition with the same level of functionality and build quality appears, they'll lower the price of their 600rt and/or even at last release a 430ex2 successor that might appeal to many as a radio slave flash.



NancyP said:


> There's a ton of counterfeit stuff coming from China, I give Yongnuo credit for at least putting its own name on the barrel.



Did anyone compare the detailed Canon 50/1.4 vs Yn 50/1.4 specs? Is it really just a 1:1 copy?



NancyP said:


> In other interesting news, some Chinese consumer electronics factories (laptops, mostly) assembly lines are staffed 50% by unpaid or otherwise illegally and coercively employed student interns.



I understand China is even rising to the countries with better working conditions because they've got to take care of their image - we cannot have workers commit suicide by jumping off Apple-contractor factory roofs all the time, can we? The real cheap labor is found elsewhere in the meantime like in Vietnam or similar.

Sad fact - if everyone of us would strip their homes of products with cheap-labor parts or raw materials mined in horrible circumstances, our homes would be bare :-o


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## Steve (Sep 26, 2014)

NancyP said:


> In other interesting news, some Chinese consumer electronics factories (laptops, mostly) assembly lines are staffed 50% by unpaid or otherwise illegally and coercively employed student interns. Want your degree in hotel management? Work a year at 80 hours a week on the computer assembly line, your wages all going to your school - otherwise, no diploma for you!



This just in - capitalism is horrible and exploitative! Now back to our regularly scheduled programming - being comfortably ignorant on our giant pile of wealth.



Marsu42 said:


> It won't be as Canon isn't dumb - if a budget competition with the same level of functionality and build quality appears, they'll lower the price of their 600rt and/or even at last release a 430ex2 successor that might appeal to many as a radio slave flash.



Pssh. When has Canon ever lowered prices because of competition from third party manufacturers?


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## Marsu42 (Sep 26, 2014)

Steve said:


> Pssh. When has Canon ever lowered prices because of competition from third party manufacturers?



Take their rt controller which is available for a much lower price now than on initial introduction, while the rt flash keeps its price except for cashback and other promotions. Other examples: 24-70L2 has dropped in price (Tamron 24-70 competition), so have the 6d and 5d3 (Nikon competition) and if you really look into price curve and introduction of 3rd party lenses, esp. ef-s, I'm positive you'll find more.

In their premium segments, Canon places a great importance on customer investment protection, so they'll never lower a price by 1/3 of the price in one step. But even here I remember vaguely a recent price reduction across a whole range of L lenses.


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## Gareththomasjones (Sep 27, 2014)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eym57WWWmqM Some video of all the new lenses. A 50mm 1.8? they would only be able to sell that for £35 if they followed their half price business model that they follow with their flashes.


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## ejenner (Oct 3, 2014)

Shame they can't copy some nice Nikon lenses instead and make them in Canon mount. I could do with a range of decent 1.8 primes.


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## Dantana (Oct 3, 2014)

AvTvM said:


> while a TC without any moving elements is probably a lot easier to copy than regular lenses with focussing elements [MF, AF or possibly even IS). Yongnuo might be able to offer a TC at only 1/3 of the cost of the original item, whereas this might not be possible for a regular lens.
> 
> BUT it am also really wondering, why Yongnuo chose the 2x TC, rather than the 1.4x.
> 
> Anyway, really interested to see what price and quality will be like. I'll definitely NOT pre-order. ;D



I get it about a 2x rather than a 1.4, but my biggest wonder is why it's labeled as version III. I mean, they haven't made one before, so why would it be a third version just because the Canon is version III. Strange.


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## Bennymiata (Oct 3, 2014)

I'm surprised they didn't put a red ring around them!

I have a couple of Yongi flashes, and they very reliable and work well, so it will be interesting to see how they perform and what their final pricing will be.
That large ring flash looks interesting too.


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## Ivan Muller (Oct 3, 2014)

They make kickass 'speedlights' too. Cheap powerful easy buttons and best of all a audible beep when flash is ready. Bought two manual ones for the price of one 430ex2, but with same power as 580ex2. China rules!


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## verysimplejason (Oct 3, 2014)

Ivan Muller said:


> They make kickass 'speedlights' too. Cheap powerful easy buttons and best of all a audible beep when flash is ready. Bought two manual ones for the price of one 430ex2, but with same power as 580ex2. China rules!



Same here. YN-560II. I should have got the YN-560III instead but it's not available last time I bought. They are working flawlessly since I got them.


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## Jamesy (Oct 3, 2014)

The Shifty-Fifty ;D


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## lintoni (Oct 3, 2014)

Jamesy said:


> The Shifty-Fifty ;D


Well played sir!


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## MickDK (Oct 3, 2014)

Dantana said:


> I get it about a 2x rather than a 1.4, but my biggest wonder is why it's labeled as version III. I mean, they haven't made one before, so why would it be a third version just because the Canon is version III. Strange.


Yongnuo do have a 2x version II (which is black btw).


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## AvTvM (Oct 3, 2014)

ejenner said:


> Shame they can't copy some nice Nikon lenses instead and make them in Canon mount. I could do with a range of decent 1.8 primes.



hehe ... I'd definitely consider a Yongnuo exact copy of the Nikon 14-24/2.8 with EF mount priced at 299 USD. ;D


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## andrewflo (Oct 3, 2014)

lintoni said:


> Jamesy said:
> 
> 
> > The Shifty-Fifty ;D
> ...



Genius.


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## Khalai (Oct 3, 2014)

AvTvM said:


> ejenner said:
> 
> 
> > Shame they can't copy some nice Nikon lenses instead and make them in Canon mount. I could do with a range of decent 1.8 primes.
> ...



Well, in that case, the queue for that lens would span the oceans


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