Canon 50mm 1.4 softness

tattywelshie

tattywelshie

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Ian
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Hi guys! I have the good olde 50mm 1.4 and am getting REALLY ****ed with the softness of it!

Ive had it now for 8 months, and it seems to be getting softer and softer as the weeks wear on. When i first had it, it would knock out sharp results, but now, every shot that comes off it is soft! Even at high shutter speeds with a static target its soft.

I sent it back to Canon and sent it back to me saying they couldnt find anything wrong with it. So wondered, has anyone else's 50mm started to go soft and what shall i do about it?
 
Can you get sharp images if you manual focus? It could be that the focus is slightly out and this is causing your softness...
 
arad85 said:
Can you get sharp images if you manual focus? It could be that the focus is slightly out and this is causing your softness...
Click to expand...

Ah, duh, havent even tried this, i never have time to manually focus with dogs normally lol. I shall try it on my hound tonight, its doing my head in though! Canon are saying there is nothing wrong with it though, so what can i do, its still under warranty.
 
Have a google on back focus tests. Easy to do with a chart, or set of batteries. Basically makes sure it's focusing on the right point.

Someone posted an interesting article the other day about the tolerances of lenses and cameras alike, how the lens can be within a specified tolerance (and in which case would be approved by Canon), but the tolerances of your camera (that could still be within the specified limit) combined with those of the lens could throw it out. In other words, the lens could be perfect on another camera..
 
Is it the only lens you've got that's getting softer?

I've heard people saying that sensors can build up a thin film of oil from over a long time that makes pictures softer, and a wet sensor clean will sort it out.
Obviously though this would happen with whatever lens you put on it, so if it's just the 50 then it must be the either the lens or the focus calibration.
 
Not sure what body you have this on as I'm on my iPhone, but if you have micro adjust, have you tried tweaking this?
 
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