70-200f4 IS is so soft at wide open, is this normal?

i just bought the f4 70200 IS.
am i expecting too much on it? the sharpness on wide open was so soft @100% crop (even my 50 1.8II can beat it...... lol)
posible this was a bad copy? or is this was normal when using with a cheap 550d? :blush:
any owner of this lens can give some comment, b4 i ask canon to check it?
the sharpness was ok @f8 but even 5.6 also blur blur 1.....

heres the test on ruler:
it was back focus abit too.... (the red cube is the center focus point, focus on the 5 horizon line)
my 50mm is abit front focus too
indoor using flash bounce (it just next to window and the sun light is main light)
70200 @f4:
its so blur...

some outdoor test
70-200 @f8

This lens should be very sharp wide open. However, it does have one weakness - it's not very good at the minimum focus distance. How close were you to the subjects?

Also, I wouldn't recommend shooting leaves outdoors because there's always a chance of a bit of wind to blow them around a bit.

Finally, if you are using a filter take it off the lens and try again.

ok well most of the shoot r very closed to mfd.... man i didnt know it has weakness point
anyway i will try out tomorow (its getting dark here now) and few more step back!

thanks for the heads up, will let u know how its goes after

What were your shutter speeds? Seems alot like motionblur to me.. and de ruler @ f8 shows some backfocus, did you use a tripod?

Indeed softer than what it should be , you wouldnt be having a dirty filter on eh ?

MFD and wide open doesnt leave much depth for shooting 3d subjects, especially if you are getting any motion blur in the mix. I've generally gotten much sharper results than that however, but I havent delved that deeply into pixel peeping.

I would test much farther from the MFD for a telephoto lens. It's definitely unusually soft for that lens. Do you have any kind of a filter on?

muusers wrote in post #10287394
What were your shutter speeds? Seems alot like motionblur to me.. and de ruler @ f8 shows some backfocus, did you use a tripod?

Yup, the ruler at f4 shows nothing in focus - so it's not a back/front focussing issue. Sure does look like too slow a shutter speed handheld.

The back focus on the f8 shot could also be down to unconcious recomposing after focussing (I had a friend who could never get anything sharp close-up; she was focussing, then moving a little closer to get the composition right).

A tripod will help enormously with both problems.

brownbugger wrote in post #10287410
Indeed softer than what it should be , you wouldnt be having a dirty filter on eh ?

Or a clean, cheap, one?

Motion blur from a slow shutter speed. IS is only so good you know.

the ruler test was mount on a tripod, it was at the closest mfd 1.2m (i remembered it coz i tired to move the tripod infront 1mm it wouldnt focus at all even i using MF. :P
and yes it was back focusing as u can see when its at f8.

im using hoya HD, i think this filter will be fine
i did removed it at indoor test.


here a newer test indoor using flash

that's sharper than the other photos...

Is the face of the box parallel with the focusing plane? Is it just me, or do the 0s on the right look sharper than the 7 on the left?

The new sample you posted looks absolutely fine to me.

well i couldnt remember which side the box was facing but its is slightly facing to the side.
the focus point is slightly off too, i remembered i focus on the - (due to hand shake and thanks to IS it still looks fine)

thanks JoYork for pointing the light to me.
cant wait till tomorow and test it with sunlight

Simple answer is No.

Mine is super sharp (sharper than my f2.8 IS @ f4) when pixel peeping!