50mm f1.8 II Focusing frustration...

I've had my "nifty" for about a week, and I've been going out a shooting quite a bit with it. I went out yesterday and shot for almost 4 hours. As I'm going through the pics in Lightoom, I'm noticing that it's not focusing where I tell it to. For example, in the pic below, I had the red dot squarely on her eyes. But it looks like it focused a bit behind her on the railing.

Exif: 50mm, f2.2, 1/1000 sec, iso 400

What am I doing wrong???

Thanks in advance for any help.

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It may just be the lense. Next time try to stay above f2.8 and see how well they turn out. All three of mine shoot differently but none are worth a darn opened up past f2.8.

Don

The lens is actually opened up all the way for focusing - the aperture closes when you take the shot. The 50 f/1.8 can be finicky in lower light, just have to work with it. It's great in terms of IQ though. I really enjoyed mine.

Yeah, the more I go through the pictures, some look really awesome (even at 1.8) and others... not so much, lol.

I did shoot a few yesterday at 2.8 or above just playing around with it. I'm going to try to find those and see what they look like.

Thanks for the tips!

Does the phrase: You get what you pay for come to mind?

gasrocks wrote in post #8727539
Does the phrase: You get what you pay for come to mind?

Yes but looking at MTF tests for the thrifty fifty show that it's pretty DAMN good. It definitely beats out my 28/1.8 wide open.

In terms of sharpness the 50/1.8 excels. It's just got ugly focusing motor, ugly bokeh, and terrible build quality.

Never I thought I'd here 50/1.8 and excels in the same sentence, except during a bang for buck discussion. Boy, if you think the 50/1.8 excels at sharpness, I have some lenses to sell you.

gasrocks wrote in post #8728762
Never I thought I'd here 50/1.8 and excels in the same sentence, except during a bang for buck discussion. Boy, if you think the 50/1.8 excels at sharpness, I have some lenses to sell you.

Oh, another 50mm Gasrocks fire sale coming....

Hm, by the look of the picture, it looks like it was taken at around 400 ISO, and with like... I'd guess 1/1000 shutter speed. Is that a 20D you shot that with? Looks like it to me.

gasrocks wrote in post #8728762
Never I thought I'd here 50/1.8 and excels in the same sentence, except during a bang for buck discussion. Boy, if you think the 50/1.8 excels at sharpness, I have some lenses to sell you.

Whether the 50mm 1.8 is a sharp lens or not doesn't really help the OP with his/her journey on becoming a better photographer now does it.

mcobb533 wrote in post #8727240
Yeah, the more I go through the pictures, some look really awesome (even at 1.8) and others... not so much, lol.

I did shoot a few yesterday at 2.8 or above just playing around with it. I'm going to try to find those and see what they look like.

Thanks for the tips!

If you're getting satisfactory results with your lens even at f/1.8 then I think the above photo probably had some user error when you shot that picture at f/2.2. When you focus on the eye, make sure you don't recompose or move around too much (focus standing up, then squatting to take the picture) because that will effect your subject sharpness. Also if the subject moved forward between the time you focused and took the picture, that will do it too. You probably already know and do these things but I even catch myself doing silly mistakes when focusing. It's hard to tell what you did or didn't do while focusing just from the picture--except like you said, the focus point is a little beyond her eye.

As for the picture, what a wonderful capture! Great job, I'm sure the subject was well pleased.

Mt Olympus wrote in post #8729449
Whether the 50mm 1.8 is a sharp lens or not doesn't really help the OP with his/her journey on becoming a better photographer now does it.

Thank you. This post had nothing to do with whether the 50mm 1.8 is sharp or not. I bought the 1.8 to practice and play around with before I spent the money on a 1.4 or an 85mm variant.

Mt Olympus wrote in post #8729449
If you're getting satisfactory results with your lens even at f/1.8 then I think the above photo probably had some user error when you shot that picture at f/2.2. When you focus on the eye, make sure you don't recompose or move around too much (focus standing up, then squatting to take the picture) because that will effect your subject sharpness. Also if the subject moved forward between the time you focused and took the picture, that will do it too. You probably already know and do these things but I even catch myself doing silly mistakes when focusing. It's hard to tell what you did or didn't do while focusing just from the picture--except like you said, the focus point is a little beyond her eye.

I think you may be spot on (pun intended). I'm going to more conscious of it when I go out and shoot tomorrow.

Mt Olympus wrote in post #8729449
As for the picture, what a wonderful capture! Great job, I'm sure the subject was well pleased.

Yes, she is thrilled with the shots I took. We only spent 45 minutes, but easily got 15-20 different shots she wants to add to her portfolio.

I had a 1.8 a few months back and it really took great shots, but I was tired of it always focus hunting in lower light and sometimes in good light. I picked up a 50mm 1.4 a couple of weeks back and love it.

If the subject is happy, that says a lot.

Hi,

Am having focusing issues also with the nifty on a 450D. At aperture settings of 2.8 or below I just can't focus on the eyes when doing portraits. I'm using a tripod, the light is good, I shoot RAW, I'm shooting centre point - one shot auto focus and am pointing straight in the eye, locking focus then shooting. ( i'm not even recomposing the shot ) but all of over 100 shots taken in a session with my friend had his nose in focus and not the eyes. This was my first run out with this new lens. Am sure if I stop the aperture to f4 or higher it'll make focusing the eyes easier but i'd dearly love to be able to shoot at 2.8 for DOF fun. Does my version of the nifty need calibrating? or do I just have to stop it up a bit? Here's some examples ... thanks in advance for any feedback and apologies for a double post ;p

http://picasaweb.googl​e.com …PmH07j-Mg&feat=directlink

It definitely takes some practice! After a little practice, I'm happy with my results fairly consistently now.

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