was so hesitant about buying this lens at first, I have a friend who owns the 50mm F1.8 and at first I thought there wouldn't be much of a difference in quality between the two, I guess I was wrong for the following reasons... 1-This one is metal and glass...not like the F1.8 version, in my first week I smashed my lens against a black wall in the dark and guess what.. .I scratched the wall badly (note: I had a Canon UV filter which helped in this situation) but what I'm saying is that others have complained about how flimsy the F1.8 is and yes. .. this f.14 lens is really robust. 2 - The blurriness of the images is a bit better, you can compare the quality and see the difference. (I put about 7 pics online, check them out) 3-USM...very nice, rather than hissing with every single focus in or out, the silence makes a difference. 4-The thing has been mounted on my camera since the day I bought it, it's hard to get rid of it...:D 5-Very good for indoor shots, if you don't want to use a flash this is it correct lens...very good quality of the pictures. 6 portraits are fantastic with this lens, background blur is superb. 7-The only flaw I see is that I don't think it's the sharpest lens on the market...but overall...A+++