EF 50mm lens

[Jon pixs]

Hi,

I bought the EF 50mm lens recently to go with my EOS 20d and EOS 30. I used this lens for some portraits with 20d. The photos looked sharp and in focus when viewed at about 30-40% in Photoshop, but when I zoomed in on the sitter's eyes they appeared to be everso slightly out of focus, almost like a soft-focus lens had been used to take the image. However, when I went back and looked at an image taken with the EF-S 18-55mm the camera came with it was pin sharp at the same magnification.

Has anyone here noticed or experienced this problem? All thoughts and suggestions are much appreciated.

[Carzee]

welcome jon. I also have a 50, and only a 50 at this stage. The fifty is reasonably sharp for me. Luckily, I have had no experience of the kit ef-s.

I think you need to post a sample image and crop shot here, or least do some test shots at home. Do a search of the POTN and you'll find threads about it.

[Cadwell]

Which EF 50mm lens? There are four (five if you count the versions) Canon EF 50mm lenses out there and they all have different characteristics. Also, provide a little more information. What aperture were the shots taken at, what shutter speed?

[schmoelzel]

DoF is very narrow with a 50mm lens at a wide aperature. What aperture were yu using? How far away from subject were you? These will all affect the sharpness even when focussing on the eyes.....even recomposing might cause what you describe. As mentioned above, provide a sample and let people see what you are converned about...............

[Jon pixs]

Thanks for posting replies so quickly.

I should have said that it is the EF 50mm f1.4 lens. Yes the photos were taken at a very wide aperture, about f1.4 to f1.8, and as such much of the photos were blurred (the background and foreground blur looked fantastic) as a result of the narrow depth of field. There was about 60 or so shots and all seemed to have a soft-focus effect when zoomed in over the small area that I would expect to in focus. I then compared the images with some I had taken with the EF-S 18-55mm lens that came with the 20d and these did not appear to have the same problem. I then compared then with some other photos I had taken using an EF 28-105mm F3.5-4 USM2 (i think specs are correct) and again the photos appeared to be soft-focus when zoomed in using Photoshop, but not to the same degree as the 50mm lens, and was much less noticeable.

I have also had a google and it seems that I am not alone in this, but I have not found a definite cause or a solution.

If you can bear with for a few days I will post some test shots taken with the different lens to show the results I am getting.

Thanks for taking your time to reply, I know that it's not a life or death situation as the photos were still useable after a little tweaking in Photoshop mainly by using the Sharpen filter.

[blue_max]

The focus point is a somewhat blunt tool. You may be focussing on the bridge of the nose or forehead/eyebrow or cheek. You could try manual focussing and then practice with fixed, hard subjects to see if it is the camera.

Graham

[blue_max]

Did a quick test with my 50mm 1.4 at f1.4 and f2. The f2 is much sharper as you might expect, but I do think they are in focus. This was just a table top experiment which you might like to try.

Graham

at 1.4 and then 2

[Sean-Mcr]

I was in a poorly lit church yesterday taking shots of a friends baptism, had to use 1.8 on my 85 most of the time and it's pretty hard to get more then one person in focus at times or even both eyes. The kit lens starts at 3.5 i recall, so cant really compare it to anything taken on the 50mm unless at the same aperture.

My 50mm is pretty sharp i have to say, much more so then the kit lens. But it's easy to get one part out of focus wide open.

[Jon Foster]

I can take some great shots with my 50mm 1.4 but it's also very easy to loose area's of the shot I want from the shallow DOF at 1.4. You might want to play around with the lens a bit. If I take a picture of my kids, standing at an angle to the camera and focus on their eye, there nose and other eye will be out of focus a bit. I swear, the DOF at 1.4 from about 10 feet away must be less than 1/4 inch...

Jon.

[gasrocks]

That is a good thing! Now you have discovered one nice thing about that great lens. Use it correctly for some wonderful pix. And, it will help make you a better photographer (now that you are more aware of how critical focus can be.)