EOS 350D and Canon 50mm f1.8

Hello Everyone,

I am planning to buy this lens and after searching here saw it has focus issue,

What you guys suggest ? My main purpose is to shot portrait of kids and family on holidays,wedding ( night mainly) , Kindly suggest , Does Sigma or Tamron has good wide aperture lens for 350D ?

I don´t know how pros do that, or if their cams are far superior in this, but I had quite few DLSRs in my hands and I was not happy with the outcom, especially the focus accuracy, when shooting portraits focused on eye. Not a single cam or lens was good enaugh. Now I shoot portraits with manual focus and I´m happy guy...

chits wrote:

Hello Everyone,

I am planning to buy this lens and after searching here saw it has focus issue,

What you guys suggest ? My main purpose is to shot portrait of kids and family on holidays,wedding ( night mainly) , Kindly suggest , Does Sigma or Tamron has good wide aperture lens for 350D ?

Re: How the pros do it, it's all in their approach.

They are always looking for the Sure Thing.  Predictability, consistency, and reliability are all foremost in their minds when they are shooting, selling (their brand), or buying equipment.  The lower the chances of success, the more they avoid it.  It's simple, they shoot to put food on the table.  They find what works, and they stick with it.

We as amateurs (I only shoot for gallery sales anymore) have a bit more leeway.  We can afford to shoot a bit more creatively, such as putting on a fast lens and shooting wide open.  As long as we know that AF accuracy and consistency are often marginal (esp in lower light) we can accept that and try to deal with it.

Myself I use AI Servo and Back Button AF 100% of the time, and I also like to shoot bursts (esp in low light).  By cherry-picking the best frames, I find that I gain about 2 stops in handhold-ability, and I have more frames to choose from if the AF isn't totally consistent, plus it also provides the benefit of having more expressions to choose from (like if somebody blinks).

Now the 50mm f/1.8 is notorious for inconsistent focus.  I had one that was just outstanding.  Very sharp.  AF was often right on.  And I have one that is all over the place (and also requires MFA).  If you get a good one, then you may find it really useful.  If not, replace it.

Keep in mind though that no matter what, the AF motor is very noisy (and it can hunt), so this lens can be quite distracting in certain environments.

Myself, I now much prefer using the new 40/2.8 STM in this focal range.  AF is bang on, it's very sharp even wide open, and it's a lot quieter (not totally silent like the kit STMs though if video is in your plans).  I trust this lens anywhere (remember the "pro" approach?).  Sure it's a stop slower than the 50 (which I usually shot at f/2 for improved IQ), so you don't have quite as much DOF control, but I think for your applications it garners serious consideration.

Here's a sample from one of my shoots...

40 STM @ f/4

and a 100% crop of it here...

Click on "Original size"

Look into this one.  IMHO it's a keeper.

Happy hunting!

R2

chits wrote:

@R2D2 Thanks buddy

so you wanna say each 50mm f1.8 lens may be different some can AF focus well and some can't

I think that's certainly been the general experience around here unfortunately.

So i should purchase from store rather than online

Whichever has the preferred return/exchange policy.  My advice is to just don't ever keep an underperforming lens. 

Good luck to you,

R2

I had 40mm STM lens, and now I have 50mm f/1,4 lens. I must somehow confirm that 40mm on crop body is somehow magical, and worked better than 50mm does for FL. But The sharpness I get from 50mm at f/2,8 is also very good, not really worse than on 40mm and wider aperture is very good for different stuff and fun. I could not decide which one of these. I think Maybe I´ll get the 40mm back again, because it´s not interchangable with nifty fifty. Why I don´t prefer it is simply because of small widest aperture. If it was f/1,8, and still sharp, I´d not use my 50...

Couldn´t agree more. f/2,8 on 40mm is "blah" at times.

chits wrote:

Hello Everyone,

I am planning to buy this lens and after searching here saw it has focus issue,

What you guys suggest ? My main purpose is to shot portrait of kids and family on holidays,wedding ( night mainly) , Kindly suggest , Does Sigma or Tamron has good wide aperture lens for 350D ?

Hi Chits,

I have the 350D and the 50 f1.8.  You need to keep in mind that at f1.8, the depth of focus is extremely thin.  My initial frustration with this lens was more a result of ME not placing the focus point on the right spot.  It is a sharp lens in the centre, wide open, but the photographer must be very mindful of the focus point and the shallow depth of focus.  Even with performing a focus lock, the focus point can be slightly moved by the photographer slightly moving their head before activating the shutter.  This is the case with all fast lenses used wide open.

Susan S. wrote:

my copy of the 50 1.8 generally front focuses a bit, but also will pick something infront or slightly behind the plane of focus-it is particularly fond of almost invisible stray hairs. or it will focus on nothing at all.

A typical 50/1.8 provides ambiguous light to the AF sensors (the most likely culprit is spherical aberration, which is high with that lens). It make it hard for the system to accurately and reliably determine where focus should be. Also results in the typical overall image softness we see with that lens wide open.

Susan S. wrote:

I find it really hard to tell with a 1.8 lens wide open whether it's the lens in front of the camera or the idiot behind it that is the problem. My 50 1.8 performs pretty well wide open on a tripod, aimed at a target, yet I get a very very low percentage of bang in focus sharp eye informal portrait keepers from it used wider than f2.8 hand held. Because it will focus on a target fine, I assumed it was the user. Then I got the 85mm 1.8, and under the same conditions it hits focus every time on the eye. So maybe it is the lens (by which time the 50mm was out of warranty).

my copy of the 50 1.8 generally front focuses a bit, but also will pick something infront or slightly behind the plane of focus-it is particularly fond of almost invisible stray hairs. or it will focus on nothing at all.

Yup.  I'm really really looking forward to seeing (something like) a new 50mm f/2 IS from Canon.  It's high time that focal length got a makeover!  I'll be buying it the moment it is released.

And like you, I can shoot with my 85mm f/1.8 all day and the AF will be smack on.  No reason a new 50 can't perform as well.

Here's hoping,

R2

chits wrote:

I am planning to buy this lens and after searching here saw it has focus issue,

What you guys suggest ? My main purpose is to shot portrait of kids and family on holidays,wedding ( night mainly) , Kindly suggest , Does Sigma or Tamron has good wide aperture lens for 350D ?

The problem is that the autofocus (AF) system on the XT/350D is designed for f/4 zoom lenses. It wasn't designed to be accurate enough to handle the narrow depth of field at f/1.8. The AF accuracy varies from camera to camera. If the AF in your camera happens to work well at f/1.8, great. If not, too bad.

Later "Rebel" models — even the XTi/400D — have improved AF systems that provide increased accuracy at larger apertures (at least with the center focus point). The original Digital Rebel (300D) and the XT/350D, however, don't have that.