DPReview.com is closing April 10th - Find out more

Lack of sharpness at f1.8 on Canon 50mm STM

Started 4 months ago | Discussions thread
Canon_Guy
Canon_Guy Senior Member • Posts: 1,489
Re: Lack of sharpness at f1.8 on Canon 50mm STM
3

SD19194 wrote:

This only hit me the other day after reviewing many older photos and then doing a ton of practice shots. My Canon 50mm STM (newer model) simply isn't sharp at f1.8. So many times in the past I've gone down to this aperture hoping to get those crisp shots and have had to delete the photos thinking something must have went wrong whether it were camera shake or subject movement or the wrong shutter speed, etc. Now I'm starting to think I just have a rather lackluster lens that advertises f1.8 but really is best suited for f2.5 or 2.8. Has anyone ever heard anything with this lens with regards to this issue? Or is it at all possible I've been doing something wrong all along when going down to this aperture? It should be noted that when I go to 2.5 or bigger, things are almost always fine.

Also, the test shots I've done at f1.8 have been with a timer with the camera on a table to completely rule out hand shake. I also changed the AF point (red dots) to just one red dot in the middle for the test shots. Still, the photos lacked super sharpness in the middle.

Well, 50/1.8 STM is the most basic, cheap, optically simple lens. Can we then expect it to be super sharp wide opened? I guess the answer is obvious.

Stop it down to f/2.2 and things improve significantly while still maintaining shallow DoF and a strong bokeh.

 Canon_Guy's gear list:Canon_Guy's gear list
Canon EOS R6 Canon EF 70-200mm F2.8L IS II USM Sigma 14-24mm F2.8 DG HSM Art Sigma 105mm F1.4 DG HSM Art Canon RF 24-105mm F4L IS USM +6 more
Post (hide subjects) Posted by
BAK
Keyboard shortcuts:
FForum PPrevious NNext WNext unread UUpvote SSubscribe RReply QQuote BBookmark MMy threads
Color scheme? Blue / Yellow