Lousy focusing with nifty fifty

The23rdman

The23rdman

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Dean
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I love my nifty fifty...when it works. Is it a known issue that it's lousy in anything other than optimal lighting conditions?

Did a shoot today and ended up having to use hyperfocal to set focus for small group shots under low tungsten lighting.

Is the f/1.4 any better?
 
Hmmm, no focusing problems on mine, even in very low light and as far as I know its not a general issue with the lens. Maybe you have a duff one?
 
Mine isn't very good in low light, maybe it's the 40D combination. I have never tried the f1.4 so can't help.
 
Mine is pants in low light, even worse if what you're trying to focus on has very little contrast. It also sounds similar to my coffee bean grinder :(
 
The nifty is well known for having imprecise AF, which is often not a big problem, but can become one if shooting with very shallow DOF, such as headshots and eyeball portraits. If you're shooting groups and are at maybe f/5.6 or f/8, and shooting from some way back, then minor focus errors should not matter.

How did you set hyperfocal distance? There is no focus distance scale. Did you AF or MF on a target at the correct distance away? If so, how would that be any more reliable than focusing on your intended subject in the first place? I'm afraid I'm rather confused. Do you have a pic you can share?
 
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the f/1.4 isn't much better, trust me. Great as an 'arty' lens but don't be mislead into thinking that it focusses well because it's a fast lens - I've come across f/4-5.6 lenses that are much faster and more accurate.



BandyQuill said:
same here, the sound is horrible on AF and the focusing has to be on a contrasting edge to lock on
Click to expand...

To be fair, any lens needs contrast to focus on.
 
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