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Sample images wanted: 20D, 50mm, f/1.4 AF

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Peter Dhaeze

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Hi,

I have some trouble with my new EF 50mm 1.4 on my 20D. At f/1.4 using AF the autofocus is not reliable (especially in bright daylight). Images are sometimes totally OOF and I always see a lot of CA. Canon Service Center says nothing is wrong with the lens.

I have nothing to compare, so my question is if anyone can post pictures of a sign or licenseplate at 150 ft with a 20D and EF 50mm at f/1.4 in daylight.

This is my sample picture:



Thanks,

Peter
 
here's a guy that was maybe 35-40 feet away

canon 20d and 50 f/1.4 @ f/4.5

 
You have serious ghosting here. It looks like either your lens has fungus infection, water condensation (from air-con) or very cheapo protection filter.

My newly bought EF50 f1.4 USM really performing amazingly.
Peter Dhaeze said:
Hi,

I have some trouble with my new EF 50mm 1.4 on my 20D. At f/1.4
using AF the autofocus is not reliable (especially in bright
daylight). Images are sometimes totally OOF and I always see a lot
of CA. Canon Service Center says nothing is wrong with the lens.
I have nothing to compare, so my question is if anyone can post
pictures of a sign or licenseplate at 150 ft with a 20D and EF 50mm
at f/1.4 in daylight.

This is my sample picture:



Thanks,

Peter
Click to expand...
 
So the EF 50 1.4 is not as soft and fuzzy as the 1.8 wide open?
 
It looks about right for the corner crop from a landscape shot in good light and wide open.
 
You may have found an unusual set of circumstances that somehow don't mix well. I confess, I rarely use this lens at 1.4 outdoors, usually going for 2.0 or so. So I ran some quick shots out my back window, and the first 5 or so are all just fine, so no need to post those. Then I noticed one of a tree about 200 feet away using f1.4 for which the lens did AF (center point only) but the whole image is blurred. I reshot it a second time, and it's fine...check out the images below. The camera settings are the same for both.

Now as I look at these I wonder if it has something to do with there also being something very close in the foreground that is throwing off the camera. Not sure, but I was able to play around and see your results.

(ignore composition, this was just for testing...)

Here's the one that worked...



Heres the bad one, AF center point, notice the whole thing is blurred.

 
I'm curious - is the AF point hitting something that is moving? I found when I use center AF on a tree with leaves moving that seems to "confuse" the lens and snap one that is OOF....but completely still things always come out fine. I'm wondering (theory only) if the AF is "focusing" on something that has moved between AF and the picture being taken. At 1.4 or 1.8 the aperture is so wide that a small fluctuation could throw things wackers. No facts to back this up, just something I noticed.
 
Peter Dhaeze said:
I have some trouble with my new EF 50mm 1.4 on my 20D. At f/1.4 using AF the autofocus is not reliable (especially in bright daylight). Images are sometimes totally OOF and I always see a lot of CA. Canon Service Center says nothing is wrong with the lens.
Click to expand...
I agree with everything you said. Mine is the same as yours. This lens is known for its misty effect wide open. I also have problem with AF af f1.4 in broad daylight. I think the misty effect fooled the AF sensor. I avoid using f1.4.

http://www.pbase.com/bibi0012/inbox
 
I think this is just one of the "out of bounds" kinda things. Funning a 50mm lens at f/1.4 in bright sunlight much just let in a bit too much light for everything to balance just right. It seems to happen when there is either sky or some bright reflected sunlight in the image. I have seen some 1.4 shots that are awesome, in full sun, but of objects, flowers, etc. not with direct sunlight present in the image. If you look at the blurry tree I used to reproduce the problem, that was shot at ISO100 and 1/3200 - doesn't sound like a very common shooting method. ;-)
bibi0012 said:
I agree with everything you said. Mine is the same as yours. This
lens is known for its misty effect wide open. I also have problem
with AF af f1.4 in broad daylight. I think the misty effect fooled
the AF sensor. I avoid using f1.4.
Click to expand...
 
I'm thinking of getting this lens, so does that mean the f1.4 lens is unsuitable for shooting in bright sunny conditions, but fine for overcast cloudy or even bright cloudy conditions? Otherwise this means it's not an outdoor 'portrait' lens (on a 1.6x body = 85mm) and for indoor use only?

85mm f1.8 better in this respect, as that is OK outdoors in daylight. I had a Pentax FA* f1.4 85mm lens and that was fine for outdoor sunny portraits.
 
Both 85s to this to some degree. The f/1.2 is better than the f/1.8 when both at f/1.8, but at f/1.2 it is probably worse than the f/1.8 wide open (although it is close). By "this" I'm talking about the CA. In fact every VERY fast Canon lens has this CA wide open in these conditions, even the slower 135f/2 although it is much harder to spot on that lens.

What some of those other lenses don't have is all the spherical aberrations though, at least not to nearly the same degree wide open.

The 50f/1.4 can look OK wide open under sunny16 conditions if you use fast enough shutter speed, as in 1/12000th or 1/16000th or ISO 50 so the whites aren't overexposed.

Here's a wide open resampled shot of the 50f/1.4 at 1/16000th:



Here's a 100% crop out of camera no USM of the same shot:



I have a few landscape shots from this lens wide open that print OK at 8x10.

Jason

.
 
I am very happy with my 50mm f1.4. At f2, most misty effect are gone. At f2.8, the pictures look very sharp, as you can tell from my samples.

This is a great lens for portrait. It gives me a confortable working distance with the model. I felt the working distance of 85mm f1.8 ( 1.6=135mm) is a little too long for me.

I plan to get the 70-200mm, 12-24mm and 24-70mm in the future. But for now, 50mm is all I need for portraits.
 
When shooting indoors or outdoors, I usually use f2.8 and smaller apertures for the best possible image quality.

I use f2 and f1.4 when I need to soften the model's skin. Sharpness is not always desirable for every situation. It's nice to have a lens that can do both without bothering with a filter, or post-processing.
 
it's an awesome lens, i think one of the better values actually....it's just that f/1.4 is tough to work with in high light conditions...cloudy days you can take some awesome photos with it....
 
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