Focus Issue on New Canon 135mm f2 L ?

Doug_PS wrote:

Luxologist wrote:

Hey All,

First time posting here, so I hope this is not in the wrong forum.

I recently added the Canon 135mm f/2 L to my lens arsenal and took it out today for it's second shoot. I get back to my office tonight, look at the images and I'm really bummed. Out of almost 300 images taken, only a handful are in focus. I don't get it. I used the lens for the first time about a week ago, and I got great results. So I hope someone can shed some light here.

Here's a breakdown of my set up:

Body: Canon 7D MkII

Lens: as stated above - Canon 135mm f/2 L

Back-button focusing. Both images used natural light.

First Image -

Exposure: 1/250 @ f2.2, ISO 100, Spot Metering, Manual Exposure.

No editing has been done. This is right out of camera via Lightroom.

Today's Image -

Exposure: 1/250 @ f/2.8, ISO 640, Partial Metering, Manual Exposure.

It will be hard to see on a small image, so if you can blow it up, go for it. If you can't see it, the second image looks out of focus. Almost everyone of my images of this girl looked out of focus. I have no idea why. Focus point every time was the the eyes, or bridge of the nose, right in between the eyes. Not all images were shot with an ISO of 640. Before I lost much of the ambient light, I was at 100-200 ISO, and had the same problem.
I really appreciate any help I can get. I'm really bummed as I won't be able to present more than 1 or 2 images from this session.

Thanks!!

I used to own the 135L and mine did require a few clicks of MFA to correct for a front focusing issue . I seem to recall it required about +6., so not an insignificant amount of MFA required to fix my issue. Once I dialed in the MFA adjustment, it made a significant difference in terms of sharpness.

So, as some others have suggested, I would suggest testing the lens to see if it requires MFA in order to dial in the sharpness....to rule this out first as it would seem to me to be the likely culprit. BTW....almost every lens I've owned has needed some MFA....especially on my 7DII (ie for some reason the lenses always need more on my 7DII than on my 5DII).

Thank you for a well put, rational and supportive reply.  Finally, a reply that leaves the ego at home.  I have never had to MFA a lens, so I'm in the dark on this topic.  First time for everything, right?  I'm sure I can find various YoouTube videos on the subject, and I'll probably find a thousand different ways to do this, but, how did you do it.  Since you are familiar with the lens and the body I'm using, I'm interested in knowing how YOU did it.

Thanks again!