Canon 50mm 1.4 lens too soft under f/2?

I’m trying to understand the merits of a Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens. I got that lens because of the low f-stop; however, when I took pictures yesterday using f stops below 2 (Canon T2i, shutter 1/80-1/150, cloudy, but during the day, 20ft and 2 ft from objects), the objects come out to be extremely soft, almost full of noise and unusable. Am I doing something wrong or can this lens not produce sharp photos below f/2.8? I tried the very same photos with f-stops above 3 and they came out much sharper, but still no sharper than my kit lens of 18-55mm. Any clarification would be appreciated.

I do find my 50/1.4 to be a bit soft under f/2 but noise is a factor of the ISO and exposure, not the lens. Mine's pretty sharp at f/2 and very sharp when stopped down even more. Are you sure you're seeing actual softness and not just slightly missed focus? Its easy to miss focus at f/1.4 and 2' to the subject since the DOF is so thin.

I might have missed focus at 2' since the DOF is 0.02ft, but the tree I photographed was about 20 ft or more away and I did spot focusing on the trunk. I'll see if I can post the pictures here later.

yes post some samples with exif intact...

Yeah mine is sharp wide open but does better at larger distances. Images closer than ~4 feet or so are just a tiny bit softer but I have to be little more careful with focusing.

What's the best way to post photos here?

Excelisus wrote in post #15097298
What's the best way to post photos here?

You can attach pictures to a post or upload them somewhere (I use Photobucket) and post a link.

That's the lens I shoot with the most, and it's always been sharp for me wide open. Curious to see your examples.

PS I know you said it was cloudy, but why were you shooting at 1/80 and f/1.4?

The problem is that this site has a 150kb limit. I have to edit the photos to post them later. I was using f/2 and 1/400 actually. ISO 100, full resolution. I see the extreme softness when I zoom 100%.

Excelisus wrote in post #15097298
What's the best way to post photos here?

most people use flickr. Then copy and paste the BB code.

I find halation and CA's can be problematic any wider than f/2.. outdoors. Indoors or when not in strong sun, i can get away with 1.8 and 1.6. F/1.4 (for me)is only reserved for specific situations(when i must have shallowest DOF).. and focus is ultra-important when wide open.

Maybe you can try MF with LV, and eliminate the possibility of front/back focus, or missed focus on your part? Let's see some examples first though.

Edit: Yes, use Flickr or Photobucket, for hosting.

See the attached. These are only at 50% zoom.

Whoa.. those are really bad. How long have you had the lens / has it always been like this? Might be worthwhile to get it recalibrated.

Just bought it online a week ago. A friend of mine was trying to explain that it was me who did something wrong maybe with the shots. I thought these are unacceptable too. And what do you mean by recalibration?

These same shots done with f/3 look fine, comparable to my kit lens, but at 2 or below, they're like that.