Canon RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM soft?

Hi all,

I bought R5 and RF 24-105 f/4. All is great. The R5 is amazing.

Just one thing bothers me, when I shoot at 105mm f/4, there is some softness, even in the center.

My question here is to those who also own R5 and RF 24-105 f/4. Do you see such softness too?

Thank you.

105 f/4 full photo

100% crop 105mm f/4. notice the softness. Is it ok? do you have it too?

100% crop 105mm f/6.3 perfect sharpness

Please tell me if you have same effect/quality?

Thank you.

If you're at MFD or close to it, optical performance of most lenses tend to fall apart.

105mm but what appertures? focus distances?

It is not relevant what other cameras I use.

Here is a 100% crop with FF R5 and EF-S 17-55mm. no "vapor" effects. The bokeh looks great.

I do agree there are few pixels of that soft "vapor" effect but here I really need to look for it. While on my RF 24-105 f/4 @ R5 the vapor effect very noticable

EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 @ EOS R5

I never saw such degradation in optics for minimum focus distance.

Here is a photo I took at 0.65m focus distance. This is not MFD.

The halo/vapor/softness effect is still noticable.

I never saw such degradation in optics for minimum focus distance.

Here is a photo I took at 0.65m focus distance. This is not MFD.

The halo/vapor/softness effect is still noticable.

I searched for other samples of this lens and it looks like it is "OK" effect and that is how this lens renders images.

Here are some examples:

https://img.photographyblog.com/reviews/canon_rf_24_105mm_f4_l_is/sample_images/canon_rf_24_105mm_f4_l_is_05.jpg

https://www.flickr.com/photos/anvoto/51546422784/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pgauti/51022441643/

This one can be closed.

Thanks all who tried to help.

Roman Dreyer wrote:

I never saw such degradation in optics for minimum focus distance.

Here is a photo I took at 0.65m focus distance. This is not MFD.

The halo/vapor/softness effect is still noticable.

0.65m is still pretty close to MFD. Again, optical quality of a lot of lenses degrade when you focus this close.

Christopher Frost specifically checks lenses at MFD for this reason:

https://youtu.be/dYaPpqmkZms?t=447

I have the same lens (RF 24-105mm F4L IS) with the R5 and, at its minimum focusing distance, at 105mm and at maximum aperture f4, the quality is really soft. It's a problem of this lens only in these circumstances: 105mm, MFD and F4.

Otherwise is a perfect L high quality lens.

Roman Dreyer wrote:

Hi all,

I bought R5 and RF 24-105 f/4. All is great. The R5 is amazing.

Just one thing bothers me, when I shoot at 105mm f/4, there is some softness, even in the center.

My question here is to those who also own R5 and RF 24-105 f/4. Do you see such softness too?

Thank you.

105 f/4 full photo

100% crop 105mm f/4. notice the softness. Is it ok? do you have it too?

100% crop 105mm f/6.3 perfect sharpness

Please tell me if you have same effect/quality?

Thank you.

You shot these at 1/40? Was you tripod mounted? Where is the focus point?

At 1/40th of sec can allow shutter shock even on a tripod. Could be a DOF issue too, I'm looking at the background. Hard to tell but the background looks sharp?

I have that lens and my copy is very sharp. I scratch my head when I hear folks complain about the sharpness. When doing portraits I can count the eyelashes, that's all the sharpness I need.

unhappymeal wrote:

ashbashbeard wrote:

If you're at MFD or close to it, optical performance of most lenses tend to fall apart.

Ehhh, I don't think that's the case these days. Quite a few m4/3 are very sharp at MFD.

It pretty much is the case for most lenses - some are better at handling it than others, but most do suffer to varying degrees at MFD. If you watch any lens review, it's a pretty common thing that can be observed even in high-end lenses.

The likes macro lenses are usually the opposite, which are designed to be at their sharpest at MFD. Some are super sharp throughout, but these are the exception rather than the norm.

Roman Dreyer wrote:

Do you see such softness too?

Please tell me if you have same effect/quality?

Thank you.

mine was like this

Seems to be focused on the front edge of the foremost petal of the foremost flower and the focus depth at f4 near MFD is tiny