If I am doing any serious portrait work, this is the lens I use. It is one of Canon’s current widest aperture lens at 1.2, which means it performs very well in low light.

Granted your DOF is about as thick as a sheet of paper at 1.2, once you get the technique down, it is tack sharp. Canon’s new touch screen monitors will make focusing with this lens even easier. Plays very well on 1.6x crop cameras.

It is expensive, much bigger and heavier than the 1.4, but for serious portrait work, you won’t find much of a better lens anywhere. Highly recommended for pros that can afford it, if you are not a pro, stick with the Canon 50mm 1.4