This is a sweet little lens that really has no middle ground. You either love it or hate it. Most of the haters really either expect too much from this lens such as focusing in no light or on objects with no contrast and marginal light. The other reason there are detractors come from focus issues.
This seems to be a user problem in my opinion. When you shoot at f 1.4, the area in focus can be pretty shallow. An example is at f1.4 and at a distance of 5 feet, the areas in focus is just .45 feet. If you have a DSLR with multiple focus points, you might find what you want in focus is not selected by the camera. This gives the impression of a focus issue with the lens which it is not.
If you move into close focusing such as 2 feet using f1.4, the focus area becomes less than ¾ of an inch. Even the slightest movement by you or the subject can blow the focus. Again, this is not a lens problem but a user issue.
However, don't be discouraged by the above comments. This lens has so many possibilities from creative images to group portraits to low light photography. You just need to put in a little effort to learn the lens (and your DSLR). Also remember that stopped down to f4 at 10' gives you 5.45 feet in focus.
The 30mm lens also is about as close to a 50mm lens on a 35mm film SLR as there is. A 50mm lens was considered the de facto standard for an SLR in the old days and many people never had anything else. This is a very versatile lens.
The lens itself has an excellent build quality and includes extras such as a lens hood and case. It is sharp and offers great contrast and compares well against such a well regarded lens as the Canon 35mm f1.4L which is about 3 times the price.
You will not be disappointed in this lens at all and I highly recommend it. It is one of my favorite everyday lenses for my Canon 20D. (My everyday kit includs the Canon 17-40mm f4L, 70-200mm f4L, and a Canon 580ex flash.)
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