Duff lens?

C

Chris O

Messages
84
Edit My Images
No
Hi all,
I am not sure if I have a bad 50 1.8 or not, has anyone had similar experience to me?
I got the 50 1.8 to go on my 450D almost a year ago but was never happy with its focus ( I assumed it was DOF as I was shooting close people indoors) so it didn't come out of the bag much & I was a little disappointed with it.
I have now upgraded to a 7D, 17-55 2.8, 10-20 & 24-105 f4L and was shooting an indoor handbell concert in a very dark room a couple of nights ago. The 17-55 and the 10-20 nailed the focus 95% of the time, the other 5% I just re composed to focus on the tiny lights over the music scores & it had enough light to get focus.
These 2 lenses were 2.8 & 3.5 but performed brilliantly, however when I tried the 1.8 (expecting big things on the 7D) it was awful, not even getting focus on the lights! :bang:
Is it a bad copy or am I faulty in my logic?
Any help would be appreciated!
 
I owned the Canon 50/1.8 twice and both times I sold it due to its unreliable focusing. I never tried it on a 7D, however.
 
If it is a regular front or back focus issue.You may be able to adjust it out. Useing the micro af adjust on the 7d.
 
Chris O said:
Hi all,
I am not sure if I have a bad 50 1.8 or not, has anyone had similar experience to me?
I got the 50 1.8 to go on my 450D almost a year ago but was never happy with its focus ( I assumed it was DOF as I was shooting close people indoors) so it didn't come out of the bag much & I was a little disappointed with it.
I have now upgraded to a 7D, 17-55 2.8, 10-20 & 24-105 f4L and was shooting an indoor handbell concert in a very dark room a couple of nights ago. The 17-55 and the 10-20 nailed the focus 95% of the time, the other 5% I just re composed to focus on the tiny lights over the music scores & it had enough light to get focus.
These 2 lenses were 2.8 & 3.5 but performed brilliantly, however when I tried the 1.8 (expecting big things on the 7D) it was awful, not even getting focus on the lights! :bang:
Is it a bad copy or am I faulty in my logic?Any help would be appreciated!
Click to expand...

Sounds entirely normal. Seriously.
 
Ste Manns said:
When you sold them did you also warn the buyers that what they were buying from you was seemingly defective and therefore pretty much useless? Did you sell them as 'spares or repair' etc?
Click to expand...

Not necessary, as the lens is simply working as designed.

Unfortunatly, it is a 'feature' of this lens that it is not very good at achieving solid focus in poor lighting conditions.
 
Ste Manns said:
When you sold them did you also warn the buyers that what they were buying from you was seemingly defective and therefore pretty much useless? Did you sell them as 'spares or repair' etc?
Click to expand...

The lenses were not defective, it's just the nature of that model. It's hardly surprising, given the price they sell for.
 
I used my nifty on my 7D ... once!

Even in relatively good light its focus was, shall we say "iffy."

It now lies in the deepest darkest corner of my bag. I can't even bring myself to sell it. I wouldn't want to offload it to another photographer.
 
I am going to go against the grain of this thread. I have the 50 1.8 and regularly use it on both a 7d and 5d in poor light. Yes, it takes a while to lock focus, it's noisy and clunky while it does so, but locks on eventually.
I've even just tried it in my lounge, ISO 3200, f2.0 and resulting shutter speed was 1/20, so pretty dark and it worked fine.
As with most things, more people will complain about the negatives of something then praise the positives.
Does sound like a few duffers out there though......
Maybe try taking a few shot in good light with a tripod etc to see if it really is out?
 
Thanks for the input guys, I have had a fiddle on the af micro adjust & got better results (+13!) but it's still not great in poor light. I will keep looking at it & see what I get. It's ok now but it will never be L glass though!
 
Same kind of experience I had except the 50mm work brilliantly on my 450D, upgraded to 7D and 1 out of 3 shots would be sharp (I did all kinds of focus test to see if it was just me)...I assumed it might be down to the new release of Body to Old lens....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top