[cps_goodbuy]

I am trying to decide between the two and would like peoples advice on their general use (as in, jack of all trades) hopefully someone has tried both over a period of time and kept one of the two.

[Danny Delcambre]

FA 50 f1.7 are rare. It is hard to find.

[yeatzee]

Im not sure how one could possibly compare them

The macro lens if you want to do closeups and need max sharpness and dont need fast AF or larger F-stops and the FA for more normal use with faster AF and much faster speed.

[kjao]

Apart from having same focal length, I find both lenses quite different (to use) from one another. FA50/2.8 is a macro lens, metal body and weighs 385g (ie relatively heavy). It is sharp wide open already and gets even better stopped down. Being a macro lens, it has a very long throw focusing ring. So if you use AF and miss, it will travel all the way down before coming back, ie AF can be slow.

FA50/1.4, on the other hand, not very sharp wide open but very good by about 2.0~2.8. It is lighter (220g) and smaller. AF feels faster.

Due to weight and size issue alone, I usually bring FA50/1.4 out with me, not to mention it is a f1.4 that come in very handy for low light shots. That said, the few times that I have brought my FA50/2.8 with me, it has never failed me either =)

[cps_goodbuy]

thanks for the replies guys. I will go for the 50mm 1.7 and see how i go

[bdery]

I own the Fa 50 macro and the F50 f1,7. They are completely different animals. The f1,7 is useful for low light, portraits and travel, as it's light. sometimes I only bring it and the DA21 when I want to move lightly. It's similar to the FA50 f1,7.

The FA macro (or DFA) is my sharpest lens. Amazingly well built. Perfect for macros. Not as useful as the f1,7 for general use, as it's larger, heavier, and slower to focus.

The two lenses serve two different purposes, they're not meant to be compared, really.

[axl]

As others have pointed out these are two different beasts. I used to own F50/1.7 and I have to say I think you made the right choice. Opticaly it's the same to it's FA cousin and it's a gem of a lens. Great sharpness, great colours & contrast, very fast AF and all in very light and pocketable package. Unless you don't need the macro function you made right choice IMO

[Youngster]

I actually have both the FA50/1.7 and the DFA50/2.8Macro. They are both very excellent lenses but in their own way.

For pure sharpness, the edge would go to the Macro, nothing compares. I use it for almost all my product shots, (look through the sold items sections and you'll find many samples). However, the DFA lens is much bigger than the FA and that doesn't even include the hood. Also it doesn't have a focus limiter which may result in long autofocus times. It is also much slower. On the other hand the DFA is pretty easy to find and sometimes you can get one for under $300 used. (BTW. The gentlemen who said the macro was heavy was confused, he was talking about the FA50 macro which has a metal body and is heavy, not the DFA50 macro you are referring to which is light and plastic.)

The FA50/1.7 is my favorite regular 50. It is sharper than all the others wide open (which is not to say it couldn't benefit from stopping down). I like the hexagonal bokeh (although many do not). I like the fact that the front element is recessed which makes for a natural "hood" and it helps noticably. Unfortunately, the FA50/1.7 is hard to find. It performs differently than the FA50/1.4 which is warmer by the way. In case you decide to get a F50/1.7 which has the same optical formula, keep in mind the F version does not have the MTF data on the chip which is only useful on P mode.

Good luck with that, I hoped this helped.