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Canon 50 f/1.4 USM focus

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ruicarv79

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Hi guys,

I have bought a second hand 50mm f/1.4 USM (very good condition, like new) and I've tried it on my 6D. I found that the lens misses the focus when I'm shooting from a distance (2 meters away and more). I do not see this problem if I shoot closer.

Do you know if I send it to Canon that they can fix this, or I will have to live with it? It is a very noticeable problem (otherwise I would Forget it!).



Regards!

Rui
 
ruicarv79 said:
Hi guys,

I have bought a second hand 50mm f/1.4 USM (very good condition, like new) and I've tried it on my 6D. I found that the lens misses the focus when I'm shooting from a distance (2 meters away and more). I do not see this problem if I shoot closer.

Do you know if I send it to Canon that they can fix this, or I will have to live with it? It is a very noticeable problem (otherwise I would Forget it!).

Regards!

Rui
Click to expand...
Common problem with this lens - I just have an MFA value I use for distant shooting.
 
Have you tried focus microadjustment?
 
Thanks for your replies guys.

Yes, I've tried the AF microadjustment. It helps for shooting long distances but does not help for short distances (it gets worse!).

That is why I'm asking: do you think or know that Canon service may fix this? I mean, tune the good values for short and long distances?

Regards!

Rui
 
ruicarv79 said:
Hi guys,

I have bought a second hand 50mm f/1.4 USM (very good condition, like new) and I've tried it on my 6D. I found that the lens misses the focus when I'm shooting from a distance (2 meters away and more). I do not see this problem if I shoot closer.

Do you know if I send it to Canon that they can fix this, or I will have to live with it? It is a very noticeable problem (otherwise I would Forget it!).

Regards!

Rui
Click to expand...
Are you sure you are testing / adjusting the lens correctly? Shoot a flat target (newspaper maybe) from about 2.5m, daylight, tripod. This should be your reference distance.
 
Poweruser said:
ruicarv79 said:
Hi guys,

I have bought a second hand 50mm f/1.4 USM (very good condition, like new) and I've tried it on my 6D. I found that the lens misses the focus when I'm shooting from a distance (2 meters away and more). I do not see this problem if I shoot closer.

Do you know if I send it to Canon that they can fix this, or I will have to live with it? It is a very noticeable problem (otherwise I would Forget it!).

Regards!

Rui
Click to expand...
Are you sure you are testing / adjusting the lens correctly? Shoot a flat target (newspaper maybe) from about 2.5m, daylight, tripod. This should be your reference distance.
Click to expand...
Been there done that.

If I adjust for that distance I get problems shoot very close.
 
ruicarv79 said:
Poweruser said:
ruicarv79 said:
Hi guys,

I have bought a second hand 50mm f/1.4 USM (very good condition, like new) and I've tried it on my 6D. I found that the lens misses the focus when I'm shooting from a distance (2 meters away and more). I do not see this problem if I shoot closer.

Do you know if I send it to Canon that they can fix this, or I will have to live with it? It is a very noticeable problem (otherwise I would Forget it!).

Regards!

Rui
Click to expand...
Are you sure you are testing / adjusting the lens correctly? Shoot a flat target (newspaper maybe) from about 2.5m, daylight, tripod. This should be your reference distance.
Click to expand...
Been there done that.

If I adjust for that distance I get problems shoot very close.
Click to expand...
Like I said, just turn mfa on when you're using it at distance. You can try sending to canon but given how common this issue is with this lens (just Google it) I'm not sure you'll get much satisfaction. Can't hurt though
 
tr573 said:
ruicarv79 said:
Poweruser said:
ruicarv79 said:
Hi guys,

I have bought a second hand 50mm f/1.4 USM (very good condition, like new) and I've tried it on my 6D. I found that the lens misses the focus when I'm shooting from a distance (2 meters away and more). I do not see this problem if I shoot closer.

Do you know if I send it to Canon that they can fix this, or I will have to live with it? It is a very noticeable problem (otherwise I would Forget it!).

Regards!

Rui
Click to expand...
Are you sure you are testing / adjusting the lens correctly? Shoot a flat target (newspaper maybe) from about 2.5m, daylight, tripod. This should be your reference distance.
Click to expand...
Been there done that.

If I adjust for that distance I get problems shoot very close.
Click to expand...
Like I said, just turn mfa on when you're using it at distance. You can try sending to canon but given how common this issue is with this lens (just Google it) I'm not sure you'll get much satisfaction. Can't hurt though
Click to expand...
Turn the micro adjustment ON every time I'm using it at distance sounds a little crazy to me (thanks for the suggestion though it makes some sense but it is not practical).

I was wondering if I could send just the lens to Canon...

The ideal solution would be send both lens and body but I don't want to do that (I have my camera for a reason).

But keep thinking that maybe neither of this would do any good...

Is there someone out there that was sucessful in calibrating a Canon 50 f/1.4?
 
Heh - I've got more focus issues under my belt in the last 3 months than I ever wanted to.

1. You're lucky you've got a camera that supports MFA.

2. Yes, Ideally Canon should calibrate it with the body

3. You've also got issues of focus shift when you aperture from f/1.4 to say f/4 so you'll need MFA with that lens one way or other.

So, what about a "correct" procedure?

What other lenses are you using? Maybe adjusting the body MFA, MFA for the other lenses and when you want to shoot ultra-sharp at specific distances and apertures, dial in some more adjustment?

This should leave you with sharp images for almost all distances for f/2.8 and above with some critical MFA adjust for wider apertures and specific distances.

It should look a bit like: Body MFA + 12 Lens MFA -4, distance lens correction MFA 0

Other lenses MFA -12 (If they're spot on)

A friend of mine shoots 1000's of portraits for a living - he shoots them at f/5.6 with the 85mm f/1.8 and never bothered with MFA. We tested it together today MFA +15!

The solution? get a lens hood and keep it on the lens permanently after buying a new one and sending it to canon under warranty with your other lenses to have it adjusted to your body.

The best target I came up with today was a stack of magazines with the spines facing the camera at different distances (2cm intervals)- as I knew the lens was focusing short - the medication box with it's bar code was at the rear.

cb
 
cberry said:
Heh - I've got more focus issues under my belt in the last 3 months than I ever wanted to.

1. You're lucky you've got a camera that supports MFA.

2. Yes, Ideally Canon should calibrate it with the body

3. You've also got issues of focus shift when you aperture from f/1.4 to say f/4 so you'll need MFA with that lens one way or other.

So, what about a "correct" procedure?

What other lenses are you using? Maybe adjusting the body MFA, MFA for the other lenses and when you want to shoot ultra-sharp at specific distances and apertures, dial in some more adjustment?

This should leave you with sharp images for almost all distances for f/2.8 and above with some critical MFA adjust for wider apertures and specific distances.

It should look a bit like: Body MFA + 12 Lens MFA -4, distance lens correction MFA 0

Other lenses MFA -12 (If they're spot on)

A friend of mine shoots 1000's of portraits for a living - he shoots them at f/5.6 with the 85mm f/1.8 and never bothered with MFA. We tested it together today MFA +15!

The solution? get a lens hood and keep it on the lens permanently after buying a new one and sending it to canon under warranty with your other lenses to have it adjusted to your body.

The best target I came up with today was a stack of magazines with the spines facing the camera at different distances (2cm intervals)- as I knew the lens was focusing short - the medication box with it's bar code was at the rear.

cb
Click to expand...
My other lenses are fine. Don't wanna touch my camera body.

(Furthermore, I don't know how to micro adjust the body itself. I only know how to micro adjust AF per lens)
 
Don't know where it is in the 6D menu but the 50D had 2 separate values.

Try it (if you can find it) you can always reset it later.

cb
 
ruicarv79 said:
Hi guys,

I have bought a second hand 50mm f/1.4 USM (very good condition, like new) and I've tried it on my 6D. I found that the lens misses the focus when I'm shooting from a distance (2 meters away and more). I do not see this problem if I shoot closer.

Do you know if I send it to Canon that they can fix this, or I will have to live with it? It is a very noticeable problem (otherwise I would Forget it!).

Regards!

Rui
Click to expand...
Good luck. Especially if not on a 5D3 or 1DX.

The lens has a design flaw in the AF system. It breaks easily and it's not precise enough for 1.4 and many copies need a different calibration for different shooting distances but there isn't even anything inside of it that can be adjusted much by Canon other than a few jumpers which can be moved but they are too few and yeah it's a mess. And with the unique clutched-micro USM AF motor that breaks if you look at it the wrong way I'm almost surprised they don't have a class action against already and that they seem to leave this lens the very last for an update.

Personally I don't anyone that has ever had a lens break other than for the 50mm 1.4mm AND everyone I know personally who has had that lens has had it break! Not a good track record! In fact some have had it break more than once! Sometimes in just a couple years! Someone Canon fixes old ones for free. They also have a flat rate fix for it. They know it's a bad design and it breaks all the time.
 
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My experiences with this lens have been very good (knock on wood):

For many years I used my Canon 50/1.4 with my Canon Elan 7NE film SLR and the results were very good, although I wasn't checking for focus accuracy very closely. I don't recall too many focus misses.

Recently I 'upgraded' to the Canon 6D and discovered that my 50/1.4 had developed focusing issues (although manual focus was spot on) perhaps due to not being used for a a few years. After getting it repaired last week I have been very impressed with its focus accuracy and haven't had the need to dial in any MFA.

Since getting it back from repairs, I have put aside my 24-105 kit lens and the 50/1.4 is glued onto my 6D! :)
 
Salman Ahmed said:
My experiences with this lens have been very good (knock on wood):

For many years I used my Canon 50/1.4 with my Canon Elan 7NE film SLR and the results were very good, although I wasn't checking for focus accuracy very closely. I don't recall too many focus misses.

Recently I 'upgraded' to the Canon 6D and discovered that my 50/1.4 had developed focusing issues (although manual focus was spot on) perhaps due to not being used for a a few years. After getting it repaired last week I have been very impressed with its focus accuracy and haven't had the need to dial in any MFA.

Since getting it back from repairs, I have put aside my 24-105 kit lens and the 50/1.4 is glued onto my 6D! :)
Click to expand...
 
ruicarv79 said:
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Did you send only the lens for repair or did you send both lens and body?

How long did the repair take?

Do you know what they did?

Regards!

Rui
Click to expand...
Rui,

I only sent the lens for repair as I was too busy trying out my new 6D! The repair took 2-3 days but I don't know exactly was was repaired; this repair was done by a local Camera shop and NOT the Canon Service Center. But they did inform me that some parts were changed.
 
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