is the 50 1.2 as sharp as the 85 1.2?

I have an 85 f/1.2 and love it. I sold my 16-35 2.8 II and got the 50 1.2L. I ca not get a shot that's in focus. Eye lashes are blurry and it just lacks the punch that the 85 has. I went through the lens archive and looked at some samples and I think I git a bad copy of the lens. I tried micro adjusting twice now and no difference. So I'm asking just so I can compare apples to apples is the 50 as sharp as the 85?

Thanks,

I have used 2 copies of the 50L. One was soft wide open until about f/5.6. Usable, but not going to win any sharpness prizes. The other one was better and usable at f/1.2

I have used 3 copies of the 85L II. All are sharp wide open. f/1.2 is almost as good as f/2 onwards, but it just has a slight decrease in contrast, and more CA which hurts sharpness (which can be compensated for with sharpening)

All 3 85L II are sharper than the 2 50L's I've tried. The 85L II's tend to be as sharp at f/1.2 as the 50 f/1.2L are at f/2.8

I would suggest trying to get some shots with MF using 10X Magnification in Live view before making any conclusions about sharpness

I also should have said that I can't get anything to look good wide open using autofocus. I need it to be good wide open, if it's not why get it right?

I would only suggest you have the 50L calibrated to your body.

I had a soft 35L and was initially disappointed, got it calibrated at Canon to my 5d II and couldn't be happier.

The first step is determining if you have a dud, or it just isn't calibrated well with your camera

To determine that, use 10X magnification and manually focus

If the images are sharp, then you can take action by using MA or getting service

If the images are still soft, then you have a dud, and again can refund, exchange or get a service. MA won't help in this case

Do they (Canon) calibrate the lens to the body? I'll use it on two different bodies 5D II and 1D IV. Everything I'm shooting even on MF is looking like dog _ _ _ _ on both bodies. It doesn't look any better at f/4 or higher either.


Just frustrating....

Try a test with manual focus and liveview at 10x magnification and see if you can get better focus that way. Maybe microadjustment will be all you need. With that said, my 50L is not as sharp as the 85L at f1.2 or until about f1.8 or so. But from that point on, my 50L is sharp. You also have to be wary of the distance from your subject with the 50L wide open. Mine has an easier time achieving focus when there's more distance from the subject. When I tried to microadjust my 50L, I found that I got different results at f1.2, depending on the distance from the focus point.

I've tried it and even changed my focal distances and apertures and I'm getting the same results. The 24-105L that I had a while ago was sharper than this. Are your images as sharp as the ones in the lens archive on this forum? If it was producing images like those ones I would have no issue!! My 45mm tilt shift produces a much better image than this.

BrianMc3 wrote in post #10355316
I've tried it and even changed my focal distances and apertures and I'm getting the same results. The 24-105L that I had a while ago was sharper than this. Are your images as sharp as the ones in the lens archive on this forum? If it was producing images like those ones I would have no issue!! My 45mm tilt shift produces a much better image than this.

The 24-105 is a slow zoom. The 50L is an ultra-fast prime. An ultra-fast prime won't be as sharp as a (quality) slow zoom wide-open. Comparing it to a tilt-shift is a false comparison, too - might as well complain how poor the 35L and 24L are compared to the 24 TS-E.

The 50L is not as sharp as the 85L wide-open. If it's not good enough, you should try another one or look at another lens, like a Sigma 50/1.4.

I personally didn't buy the 50L for "sharpness". I didn't even bother seeing if it's sharper than the Sigma 50 I had before. There are many other qualities that make a lens unique.

@ Toxic I heard good things about the Sigma 50/1.4 and will look into it. I cant even get close to the images in the lens archive on this forum though, even after running it through some sharpening software.

I understand that the 24-105 is a slow zoom and that the 50/1.2 is very fast. I wasn't aware that I would be sacrificing what I consider to be image quality wide open through f/5.6 when buying this lens. I will try another copy.

Are you getting images like the ones posted in the Lens Sample Archive? Care to post if you have some time?

BrianMc3 wrote in post #10356515
@ Toxic I heard good things about the Sigma 50/1.4 and will look into it. I cant even get close to the images in the lens archive on this forum though, even after running it through some sharpening software.

I understand that the 24-105 is a slow zoom and that the 50/1.2 is very fast. I wasn't aware that I would be sacrificing what I consider to be image quality wide open through f/5.6 when buying this lens. I will try another copy.

Are you getting images like the ones posted in the Lens Sample Archive? Care to post if you have some time?

I have some images in the sample archive. If you search the thread with my name, you should find some... The thing is, you really can't judge sharpness based on web-sized images. The images are too small, so how much you sharpen makes more of a difference than how sharp the original is.

It shouldn't be terrible all the way to f/5.6...all fast 50's jump in sharpness around f/2.8 as a side effect of their design. I think f/1.4 on the 50L is good enough for a half-body or wider portrait (putting the face near the border), though by no means stellar. By f/2 I'm pretty happy.

I have seen copies of the 50L that are soft till f/5.6, but my friend's copy is sharper than a Sigma 50 f/1.4 display copy we tested

Would consider getting an exchange. Calibration won't help for lenses which are soft even when MF'ing, but Canon service may do a collimation which may help

IMO, the 50L is as sharp as the 85L, but the 85L wide open wins at the edges and corners. By F/2.8 it is much of a muchness.

However the strong point of the 50L is that both its foreground and background bokeh are very good, and that it is extremely flare resistant. The good fore- and background bokeh make this a lens with extreme pop (check some of the photographs in the 50L sample thread, especially those by Wem), provided you have something in the fore- and background that is OOF. With the 85L the background is especially nice, the foreground less so. Also, the 85L has an interesting feature, namely a halo around the subject, which becomes (clearly) visible under specific lighting conditions. If you do any fancy PP, it becomes very visible, and this is not necessarily a good thing.

However, I use both, and like both very much, although the 50L spends most time on camera .

Oh, BTW, both lenses do have focus shift issues. On a good and well calibrated copy this is within the AF constraints of a fast lens (1/3 of DoF accuracy), so not a field relevant problem. My 50L has focus shift between F/1.6 and F/2.8, reaching its maximum at F/2 of approximately 1/6 of DoF, and the 85L II is similar, with a maximum shift of 1/4 of DoF at F/2, in both cases at close focusing ranges.

Kind regards, Wim

Wim is the resident expert on 50L as iirc he has tested 5+?

But Wim, I think the 50L sample variation issue must be quite significant though, because the 2 copies I have tested (using MF) have not even come close to the 85L at equivalent apertures (all the 85L's I have used all perform similarly I have found).

OK I just got back from the not so local camera shop and explained everything, even showed them on a macbook that I brought. Seeing id believing. Switched for a different copy. The original copy's date code was UX and this one was a UY (not that this has anything to do with it....or does it?) And the 2nd copy was spot on from 1.8 up at close focusing distances. The 50/1.2 will not compete with the 85/1.2 II at a close focusing distance wide open and that's OK with me. I'm able to get those sharp images from it now and extremely happy with it. I have a wedding this weekend and can't wait to use it.

Thanks for all your help!!