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Canon EF 85mm f1.8 - Poor corners \ faces on full length shots?

Started Feb 16, 2022 | Discussions thread
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PhotosByHall Contributing Member • Posts: 600
Canon EF 85mm f1.8 - Poor corners \ faces on full length shots?
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Hi all,

I recently bought a 85mm and I LOVE it.

Mostly for close \ closeish portraits that are my favourite subject.

But I also like to shoot full lengths with long lenses, you get good bokeh + subject seperation.

Now something I have noticed is that faces (that sit in the upper 1/4 etc) are unacceptably soft, to the point that the images are unusable for anything other than social media. (that's what they have been for, but I have gotten away with it so far)

I shoot the 85mm wide open, because that's what I bought it for.

Now there are a full possible culprits here

1. Eye-AF\Face tracking on the M50. Might not be super accurate at a decent distance? I do look for eye rather than facial tracking.

2. I have tried it both with and without a speedbooster on the m50 and while it is better without the speedbooster, the problem still persists on APSC (at 135mm @ 1.6 x f1.8). Is it the camera?

3. Is the 85 just weak at the corners at 1.8, and does focusing at distance make this worse? This isn't a problem for closeups, in fact it adds to the image!

4. Do I have a dodgy copy of the 85?

5. Will full frame make this better? I would imagine not.

I am planning to do some more tests as soon as I get a second.

Take a look at the picture of Elsa below for an idea...

Cheers all, not sure what is happening here...

 PhotosByHall's gear list:PhotosByHall's gear list
Canon EOS 7D Mark II Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Canon EOS M50 Canon EF 50mm F1.8 II Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM +4 more
Canon EOS M50 (EOS Kiss M)
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