Brand new Canon 50 / 1.4 front focusing, anyhting to do but send it back?

[LookSharp]

Recently purchased a Canon 50mm F/1.4 from B&H, and it is front-focusing badly on a majority of AF shots unless I preset the focus ring to MFD. Is the best option simply to send it back to B&H for another copy?

Sample - http://imgur.com/M4OVH.jpg

F/4, ISO 400, 1/100, Rebel XS, center focus on the duck's body

[bkdc]

If you have a tripod, I'd try it on a focus test chart first. But if it continues to front focus, send it back.

http://focustestchart.com/chart.html

[LookSharp]

Thanks for the link, but I'm afraid I don't own a tripod. Any substitute ideas? I don't think the problem is so much with close focus distances anyway, it seems to happen more in the 5-10 foot range. Haven't really shot anything farther than that yet as I just received the lens two days ago.

[Dekun]

Thanks for the link, but I'm afraid I don't own a tripod. Any substitute ideas? I don't think the problem is so much with close focus distances anyway, it seems to happen more in the 5-10 foot range. Haven't really shot anything farther than that yet as I just received the lens two days ago.

That's odd, because DOF increases with distance in general, so it should be more apparent focusing on close object. Maybe trying taking picture of something on a wall (say something article printed on a piece of paper) at various distance at the maximum aperture. If your lens is front focusing, it should be quite apparent. Although you'd need a pretty long room to reproduce the error seen in the duck picture (something like 20 feet away? But if you dont have a tripod, make sure do this is a well lit room.
Is the duck pictures only kind you found front focusing (like similar composition)? From looking at your picture, the duck body is much darker than the pond of water in front, if you hand shakes a bit, you can misfocus on the pond of water instead (easier for the AF to lock). So try taking something well lit or bright I guess?

[Dekun]

And if you must, exchange with B&H is a breeze, if you want to have peace of mind. Do it.

[Rsyx]

A substitute to a tripod is to just put your camera on the table, and use a remote or timer to take a sample image.

Honestly though, if you take images at f/1.4 you might very well just have to get used to it. Just take the lens out for a day, take dozens of photos, and then judge whether or not you received a bad copy.

I personally think a lot of people here are so afraid to have a bad lens that they attribute every single error to the lens - while it may very well be user error. Not saying this is you by the way, but I would suggest you to try it out a bit more.

[LookSharp]

Oh I'm completely open to the possibility that it's user error - some aspect of the AF system I'm not quite understanding, perhas - I've had this camera for 18 months and am still learning new things all the time. I just don't want to end up with a lens that sits in the bag all the time because I can't trust it. All suggestions to help separate user error from lens error are quite welcome.

[LookSharp]

Here's a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Both shots auto-focused. On the left, I started with infinity, on the right I started with MFD. Shot from about 10 feet away with the camera held firmly in place between shots.

http://imgur.com/RdHH8.png

[Rsyx]

By 'held firmly in place', do you mean that you handheld the camera or put it down somewhere? If you handheld it, I would suggest you to place the camera on - for example - a table and try again. Did you also try to manually focus the lens?

If you're not comfortable with using the lens because you think there's something wrong, consider sending it in or returning it if possible. Not because something is wrong necessarily, but also to give you peace of mind.

[LookSharp]

It was sitting on the opposite ledge held in place while I adjusted the focus between shots. I'd have to be pretty amazing to get the focus square that close both times hand-held ;)

If/once I'm convinced the lens is behaving outside of typical parameters, I will certainly return it, I'm just trying to determine if there are other factors at play that perhaps I'm not aware of, or if this is a common behavior for this lens. Oddly, the above shots look almost identical when taken at F/1.4.

[KRUSH]

Sending it back would've been my first move.

[LookSharp]

Decided to send it back for an exchange. Will post up when I get the new copy. Thanks to all for the input.

[jeff3821]

I had a similar 50 f/1/4. It was dead on at 2-3ft but front-focusing about a foot from ~15ft. I am guessing it is the lens because the same thing happened on 7D and T2i.

I am sending it back to J&R.