Focus issue - 1Ds mk3 & 50mm f1.2L

[horrgakx]

Hi all - I hired a Canon 50mm f1.2L USM for a wedding yesterday (with a view to trying before buying) but I had a bit of a 'mare with it. Quite a lot of my images are a mile off focus wise and I wanted some advice.

Here are the images, this is just a random selection and they're unedited / un-cropped.
(Edit - I can only post 8 images, but I haev 9 in total so I've had to drop one from the third batch.

Full size, unedited image. f1.2, 1/3,200th, ISO 100
(Images removed by OP as this thread has been answered).

Screenshot of DPP showing focus lock point
(Images removed by OP as this thread has been answered).

100% crop
(Images removed by OP as this thread has been answered).

Next...........

Full size, unedited image. f1.2, 1/40th, ISO 100. Although this is a slow shutter speed the issue is with focus and not motion blur.
(Images removed by OP as this thread has been answered).

Screenshot of DPP showing focus lock point
(Images removed by OP as this thread has been answered).

100% crop
(Images removed by OP as this thread has been answered).

Next...........

Full size, unedited image. f1.2, 1/640th, ISO 50
(Images removed by OP as this thread has been answered).

Screenshot of DPP showing focus lock point
(Images removed by OP as this thread has been answered).

100% crop
(Images removed by OP as this thread has been answered).

[skater911]

Your images are way too big for the forum, but looking at them it looks like it is really really front focusing. Have you tried to ma it yet. Mine had to be set to -12, and now that it is, it is very sharp. (at least for the 50L is capable of).

[bigcountry]

It looks like it could have the front element out of alignment.

[GuitarDTO]

Not to thread hijack, but what do you do/how do you micro adjust? Obviously OP has some problems with his lens here, would this be a case where you just send in the lens for another one, or can it be fixed easily?

[skater911]

Certain bodies have the ability to micro adjust the lenses. If it is a minor issue can be corrected in camera. You have to go to the af menus in your camera and find thr ma feature and then adjust, test, adjust and etc. I use the focal program which basically takes all of the manual work out if it. Really nice but ended up costing about 80.00.

Now if your lens is too far out of focus or if there is a lens alignment issue it will need to take a trip to canon.

[Saint728]

The Canon 50mm f/1.2 has a razor thin DoF. Not only that your lens is front focusing as well. You can tell because what you are trying to focus on, in most cases the brides face, you can see the bouquet is in focus or the railing or the door frame. MA your camera to that lens and you will be fine. You should have checked that before you took the wedding pictures.

Take Care,
Cheers, Patrick

[Ouessant]

This lens has a severe front focus issue and I doubt it can be fixed with a simple micro adjustment.

[Saint728]

Originally Posted by Ouessant

This lens has a severe front focus issue and I doubt it can be fixed with a simple micro adjustment.

The front focus isn't that far off. The OP is focusing on her face and you can see his shoulder and arm are in focus. That is only 4 inches apart. MA will work to fix this. Not sure why the OP would shoot this at f/1.2 and 1/3,200 sec in the middle of the afternoon? Stomp down a bit and get both of them in focus. At f/1.2 your pushing it to get both of their faces in focus, especially if they are not on the same focal plane.

I always look at the first couple pictures I am shooting on the LCD screen. If it was front focusing I would have switched over to MF and shot the rest like that. At lease I would have gotten all the shots for the wedding in focus.

Take Care,
Cheers, Patrick

[tohara]

Not sure why you would shoot at 1.2 with a couple?
But in any case it is clearly front focussing.

I wouldn't want to be a fly on the wall when you show/explain the issue to the bride.

[FlyingPhotog]

Given that it was rented, did you test the lens at all before your scheduled shoot?

[horrgakx]

Thanks for the replies!
I've removed the IMG tags from the large images making them clickable instead of displaying.

> Saint728 Not sure why the OP would shoot this at f/1.2
I'd have just used the 24-70 f2.8L for a lesser aperture. Also I worked out that at 5m subject distance the DOF should be nearly 70cm at f1.2 which I thought would give a little margin.

> FlyingPhotog did you test the lens at all before your scheduled shoot?
I didn't test the lens before the shoot, I've learned to do that next time.

> Tohara I wouldn't want to be a fly on the wall
I wanted to add to my post that only some images were like this. I've got several images that are sharp using this combination which is why I'm struggling to understand why only SOME images are this far out... I'd expect it to be consistent and either all of them way off or all of them spot on. Anyway, I'm very pleased with the other sharper images so if you were a fly on the wall you'd not get excited

Given the random nature of the focus hit rate in my pictures I'm very hesitant about buying the lens - as some images were spot on I don't know if micro adjustments are the answer.

[Canon Bob]

I suspect that it's the body and not the lens if my experiences are anything to go by. I've frequently found my Ds3 and 50L produced more than the normal number of missed focussed shots and not always close up. I bought Reikan's Focal earlier this year and the Ds3/50L combination elicited inconsistency warnings whilst the lens was good on both my 1D4's....other lenses on the Ds3 were also fine.
I replaced the 50L with a new one but get just the same results...good on the 1D4's and inconsistent on the Ds3

Bob

[FlyingPhotog]

Something of interest regarding the 50mm f/1.2L from the folks at LensRentals:
http://www.lensrentals.com/rent/cano...non-50mm-f1.2l

[Lowner]

I am intrigued about why a 50mm lens would be hired. Doen't everyone own something in this focal length?

I can well imagine hired kit gets punished. It is not cared for in the same way as ones own kit.

[horrgakx]

> FlyingPhotog Something of interest regarding the 50mm f/1.2L from the folks at LensRentals:
Well that is an interesting read. The bottom line says "when this lens is right, the shots are spectacular and the background blur is awesome [...] but it’s more finicky and more difficult to get those shots with this lens". I DID use focus-recompose quite a lot but obviously its a trait with this lens it's not a good idea to do so.

> Lowner Doen't everyone own something in this focal length?
I've managed to get to be a Gold CPS member without primes. I have to say I prefer the flexibility of zooms; for example these were also in my kit bag; 16-35 f2.8L USM, 24-70 f2.8L USM, 70-200 f2.8L II IS USM (among others)... but I'm wanting a faster-than-f2.8 which is why I tried the 50mm f1.2.
If I end up buying it I'll need to be very careful. Maybe I need to look instead at the 85mm f1.2L (which has its own idiosyncrasies) or the 35mm f1.4L. Its a shame as I think the field of view with the 50mm more suits my style.