A Good and Bad night for the 14-35mm f2

First, I don't know why you would want to shoot a concert with such a wide lens.

Second, I shot two concerts with my 50-200mm SWD (E-510) in very poor lighting. Out of a few hundred shots, I only missed focus a few times. That is not an exaggeration. Even shooting into the moving/dancing crowd the low light focus was awesome.

I have no idea why you were having trouble.
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Colin

Just didn't want to say it.
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Colin

That's my point too,.......for that money the 14-35 should autofocus the same or better than the other ZD-lenses!!!

I have exactly the same and I think almost all people with the 14-35 experience the same in these conditions (low light and/or low contrast).

So according to the reactions of Olympus Europe I shall wait for a firmware upgrade. Otherwise I will return this fantastic lens (in good light and/or contrast conditions this is a really superb lens).
Greetings, Erik Meijs

HornOUBet wrote:

eyespy wrote:

I'm not trying to belittle the focusing issue you have with the lens
but why, when you knew it had missed focus did you not 'catch' the
focus manually?

With that much money spent he shouldn't have to manual focus
(IMHO).... thats the main point here I think...

Let me share some of my experiences in similar conditions. I have shot next to friends using their 30D and 5D and watch as they got focus lock without issue while I struggled. At one point with each of the other shooters I borrowed their cameras; I wanted to see what their camera could do when I was struggling so much. I found out rather quickly they were using multiple focus points. Yes they were getting consistent focus lock in the same low light conditions I was in, but not one of the pictures focus locked on the right place. We sat down later and reviewed our work. Out of the 30 or so pictures taken not one of theirs was focused correctly. Whereas the 10 that I struggled with were spot on. Point is never compare yourself with the person next to you.

I always use SAF+MF although I may not get the focus lock confirmation beep that does not mean it is out of focus. Next I am old school, I learned to focus without AF, AF is tool within the camera and lens, and often I make a fine adjustment in manual. This is part of being a photographer and knowing how to use a camera. I never walk away, I take the shot.

There are times where equipment fails or settings are wrong. I always check the settings first. Being a photographer takes knowledge and thinking on your feet for work arounds if something is not doing what you want, think it through.

Often when in low light my subjects are wearing dark cloths and I have to find an area of contrast. This is often forgotten in the “heat of the moment” when you are hoping for a quick focus lock due to someone or something special you are trying to shoot. I do not know if this applies to what you were doing, but is food for thought.

It is very easy to blame equipment for short comings, I have spent years shooting events and I am still learning new ways to do things. This is my point, stop blaming the equipment and try a different approach.

Equipment does fail, this happened to me two weeks ago, my FL 50 would just turn off, no reason I could think of, went through all the menus. Very frustrating, I use the SHV-1 battery pack, switched to batteries in the flash and no problem. Need to change my shooting style, but I did and went on. Turns out the head cord from the flash to the battery pack failed. Do you have a bad lens, maybe and this is part of learning curve as well. Have backup.

E-3, FL-50 no focus lock confirmation.

any lens of a similar quality that wouldnt focus....it would go back. I need/demand lenses and cameras that work in all/any conditions.....given the cost of the 14-35 and the time to market this is bad news for Oly and their customers.....sometimes fate has a way of helping you make the right decisions....it seems I did.
best
--
Geoff_R

'Always look on the bright side of life...'
http://www.fightwireimages.com

Make the best of that particular situation. If it wasn't going to focus in that lighting, then use MF. Then send it back the next day since it's obviously not up to standards. But don't spend the night missing shots and looking incompetent using an AF mode that you know isn't going to work.
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Colin

Spot metering works wonders for "low light" shooting, in particular when you focus on a high contrast item.

yeah it sure is. but this is the 14-35 we're talking about. that's what i use 99% of the time 1 point & trying to focus on high contrast

Geoff_R wrote:

any lens of a similar quality that wouldnt focus....it would go back.
I need/demand lenses and cameras that work in all/any
conditions.....given the cost of the 14-35 and the time to market
this is bad news for Oly and their customers.....

What, one possibly bad, perhaps only malfunctioning lens and its "bad news" for Olympus and their customers?

If that were the case, CaNikon would be out of business, since both are and have been plagued with "L" type lenses being returned for "tweaking" or replacement.

I own the 14-35 and don't plan to give it up but I don't shoot indoor, low light events. Oly needs to fix this fast!!!
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Cheers,
Snowbird_UT

hardly sharp and if you took the time to read all threads concerning the 14-35 you would be able to make an informed statement...which you havnt....
best
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Geoff_R

'Always look on the bright side of life...'
http://www.fightwireimages.com

I will have to list some of the things I have found along the way. One is having my E-3 set to LOOP for the AF, while using a single AF point. For some reason this setting works best for low light. At one event I decided to try all of the AF setting and found this works best. After posting this months ago, others have confirmed this as well. This is what I am talking about, when I say figure it out. I knew the AF was not performing as well as it could, now it does.
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Gary S P

http://www.garysworld.net

This is not only "one possibly bad, perhaps only malfuctioning lens",.........but nearly all 14-35 owners have this low light issue!!!

So Olympus has to react on this otherwise it's indeed "bad news" for Olympus and its customers.

Regards, Erik

Razor503 wrote:

Geoff_R wrote:

any lens of a similar quality that wouldnt focus....it would go back.
I need/demand lenses and cameras that work in all/any
conditions.....given the cost of the 14-35 and the time to market
this is bad news for Oly and their customers.....

What, one possibly bad, perhaps only malfunctioning lens and its "bad
news" for Olympus and their customers?

If that were the case, CaNikon would be out of business, since both
are and have been plagued with "L" type lenses being returned for
"tweaking" or replacement.

HG Hope you can work around.

The 14-35 accelerates very quickly to the point of focus, but then starts to make minor adjustments around the point, especially in low light.

I called Olympus Pro support in Europe and to be fair they were excellent - I explained the issue and the guy said he had an E3 and a 12-60 plus 14-35 in the office and would try it out to see if he could repeat the issue...he called back within about 15 mins and confirmed the problems I was having with the 14-35 in comparison to the speed of the 12-60.

He was not 100 % sure but thought the issue was a firmware problem. He said when they also confirm a technical issue like this their procedure is to send a report to Hamburg..I guess from there to Japan. He said he would issue a report to Hamburg on this, and that hopefully there will be a firmware fix. He said to call back in a few weeks and see if there was any progress. I really must say the technical support was very good.

For recent events I have had release priority set and in some cases just hit the shutter when it comes into focus in the viewfinder, without focus confirmation or used manual focus. Hopefully a fix will come through soon!