If you don't have time for a thorough test, don't buy a new lens until you do! I bought a new 50mm F1.2 from B&H, who has an excellent return policy...unless you wait too long. I don't fault B&H for that time limit. I got busy though and a couple months after I bought it, I noticed I seemed to be missing the focus badly with a Canon Rebel SL1. So I got out the focus target and checked it with our 5DSR and 7D. Sure enough, it was waaay off, so I contacted Canon. Had to send it in at MY expense. It came back with a note about an internal electrical problem being repaired.
I checked it again. On the 7D it took a -12 micro adjust, and on the 5DSR a -10. Of course the SL1 has no micro adjust, so it remained a bad back focus lens with that camera, so I contacted Canon again. OK, they say that's not acceptable, so send it again at our expense, and they sent a label.
Two weeks and now, and Canon called me. I'm to send to them the SL1, the 7D, and the 5DSR bodies, and BTW, all the custom menus and menu settings will be wiped back to factory settings. They emailed a shipping label, but I need to get a big box and bubble wrap. No time was specified, but it sounded like a couple weeks, maybe more.
I asked will there be changes made to my camera bodies? After all I have micro adjustments set for about ten lenses, and with the 5DSR you have micro adjust settings for zoom lenses at both ends of the zoom. I can make a record of the settings, but if the bodies are altered, I'll have to do the micro adjust all over for all the lenses on both the 7D and 5DSR. The answer was "probably not."
All our lenses micro adjustments, except for this 50/1.2 are in the +/- 5 range, so any alteration of the bodies could be detrimental to AF, as well as requiring re-calibration of the micro adjust. And if they're not changing the bodies, then WHY do they want them?
At some point, this will likely be resolved, and there is even a chance that I'll get everything back undamaged, but back to my first point. IF I had taken that new lens and immediately checked the focus with my LensAlign target, I could have returned it to B&H and gotten another one. As I said in the subject line...be smarter than I was and save yourself time and money with expensive Canon lenses! Check 'em and send 'em back if bad.
I checked it again. On the 7D it took a -12 micro adjust, and on the 5DSR a -10. Of course the SL1 has no micro adjust, so it remained a bad back focus lens with that camera, so I contacted Canon again. OK, they say that's not acceptable, so send it again at our expense, and they sent a label.
Two weeks and now, and Canon called me. I'm to send to them the SL1, the 7D, and the 5DSR bodies, and BTW, all the custom menus and menu settings will be wiped back to factory settings. They emailed a shipping label, but I need to get a big box and bubble wrap. No time was specified, but it sounded like a couple weeks, maybe more.
I asked will there be changes made to my camera bodies? After all I have micro adjustments set for about ten lenses, and with the 5DSR you have micro adjust settings for zoom lenses at both ends of the zoom. I can make a record of the settings, but if the bodies are altered, I'll have to do the micro adjust all over for all the lenses on both the 7D and 5DSR. The answer was "probably not."
All our lenses micro adjustments, except for this 50/1.2 are in the +/- 5 range, so any alteration of the bodies could be detrimental to AF, as well as requiring re-calibration of the micro adjust. And if they're not changing the bodies, then WHY do they want them?
At some point, this will likely be resolved, and there is even a chance that I'll get everything back undamaged, but back to my first point. IF I had taken that new lens and immediately checked the focus with my LensAlign target, I could have returned it to B&H and gotten another one. As I said in the subject line...be smarter than I was and save yourself time and money with expensive Canon lenses! Check 'em and send 'em back if bad.
