Canon 7D + 50mm 1.4 Front-Focus Woes

I have a Canon 7D I have been shooting on for the past 2+ years now.

I picked up a 50mm f1.4 USM used last year for an engagement shoot and found some crazy front-focus issues.

I worked them out with a focus rig in my studio at work. Turned out I was at around +15 on the lens on the micro focus adjustment (C.Fn III:AF/Drive > 5. AF Micro Adjustment > 2. Adjust By Lens > +15) at around 10 feet to get a true focus in AF.

I did the shoot and still ran into front-focus issues outside of that 10' range.

At some ranges my true focus was about a good 2'-3' in front of the subject if I tried to move back too far (~20'+).

Seemed to be way worse in Portrait orientation. A few of the shots I took holding the camera in Landscape orientation, I was able to use.

Plus the AF seems to really struggle in low light (might just be a design flaw in this lens model).

I've dealt with it for the past year, but I just shot a wedding this weekend and things really seemed to be out of whack.

So much so, that today at lunch I ran over and bought a brand new, identical, Canon 50mm f1.4 USM.

Well this one seems to have the same issues...but it seems to be graduated.

I can shoot up close (>3') and the lens is tack sharp at 1.4 (as sharp as it can be that wide) with the Micro Adjustment disabled (±0) but the further away I go the focus drops off until it's front focusing by about 2' at the 10' range. And if I adjust the Microfocus Adj. to around +15, I can get a decently focus image at that 10' range, but if I move in close the focus is out of whack in the other direction (back focused by around 10"-18".

I shoot everything from sports photography, landscapes, portraits and weddings and have a mixed bag of lenses, and this is the only lens that I have had an issue with. I have an older lens (Sigma 15-30) that I have a pretty heavy AF Micro Adjustment on (+12), but it's consistent in the whole zoom range (either that, or because of being a WA, it may not be so prevalent).

I had a theory that the originally engineered focal plane was off since it was a cropped sensor body and the lens is designed originally for a FF camera, but I've rented a 50mm 1.2L a few different occasions for weddings and had nothing but lovely results.

I'm just curious if anyone else has ran into this issue; if anyone has a fix; or if it is a known anomaly with this combination of body and lens?

Trying to pinpoint if it's the camera body, the lens, the combo, and if I can do anything about it.

TIA!

Hi,

Same lens, same body, same issues.

I tested the lens on a tripod with live view, zoomed in, no corrections applied, and it was spot on, but it seemed to chase a bit. (tested at 1.4, 6-7' away from point of focus)

In my case, in camera lens correction is not needed. In low light, well, I hope for contrast to do the trick.

I have to check each and every shot for focus/sharpness. The nifty-fifty was way better in that respect. I have never used a 1.2 so I can't comment on it. Sad really that focus accuracy is so random because I really like this lens.