suzanne carey Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 This may not be an easy question to answer, but this is why I am asking. I have been using my 50mm 1.8 now for a month. I have only shot with it a few sessions, but I am noticing they are really soft. I wonder if I am doing something wrong on my end. For instance, I took some pictures this past Saturday. One picture was at f3.2. Is this still too wide open? Is that a possibility for the softness? Later that day I took some with my Tamaron 28-70 and they were sharp as a tack. No Unsharp mask needed. I would love to see some examples of your favorite portrait with your 50mm. P.S. I am using a 20D. Thanks!<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holly mikel Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 taken with Canon 50/1.8 - sorry - I don't remember the setting but am positive is was not at 1.8.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wbowman Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 My 50mm/1.8 is excellent. This looks to be more missed focus than camera shake. Try using your camera in Av mode at f8 to take a picture of a still life while the camera is on a tripod or a sturdy resting place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzanne carey Posted March 7, 2005 Author Share Posted March 7, 2005 Thanks for the quick response. I thought about the misfocus as well. It was of 2 people, so 3.2 may not have been the best setting. I did have it in AV mode. I will keep practicing with it, and bring my tripod next time too! :) Thanks Holly for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozone42 Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 This is a 100% crop from this weekend. Shot at f5, but my copy of the lens gets sharp from 2.8 up it seems. This was shot raw, and then converted with sharpness +2 through the DPP program, no photoshopping.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzanne carey Posted March 7, 2005 Author Share Posted March 7, 2005 Wow, that is much better than mine! I am hoping it was a misfocus issue. Though, I have noticed it before on other occasions. Since I know the lens itself should be sharp, I will continue to shoot some tests and I guess send it to Canon if I can't get it to shoot sharp. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josphy Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 Put it on a tripod, focus manually and stop down to maybe 5.6 or f8. Use cable release or whatever a 20D uses (remote control?) if you have it. Maybe keep the shutter speed fairly high too. If that's not sharp, you have a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axel-cordes Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 It's digital take the tripod & time and try & play arround - you will have a better feeling of your new glass then. My 50/1.8, although that cheap, is my vavorite in my collection. Have a look here http://www.photo.net/photo/2645984&size=lg, you may go for the smaler one also... Regards Axel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bacsa Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 Look at the picture if anything ELSE is sharper, that is, in better focus. If not, take a photo wide-open of a wall or something like that, but not upfront but from an angle. Note where exactly you have focused the lens. Use a tripod and fast sh speed, but WIDE open lens. Check on the pic if your focus is where it should be. You will easily see if it's off by some inches. A 50mm f/1.8 lens at f/3.2 should be sharp enough if not defective and if correctly focused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beauh44 Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 Hi Suzanne, I love my Canon 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro. This shot was taken around f/4 or so of my cat with my 20D. You'll need to pay attention to shutter speed; as you stop down your shutter speed gets longer and thus if you're hand-holding, the chance of blur goes up. Keep it around 1/60th of a second at least and get as stopped down as you can - if you're hand-holding your camera that is. If your camera's on a tripod and your subject's not moving then you can stop down pretty far. Most lenses perform best around f/8 or so. Good luck!<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennybrown Posted March 30, 2005 Share Posted March 30, 2005 At a very basic level: You need at least f5.6, f8, or f11 to get people in focus in a portrait type shot. At 1.8 your depth of field will only be a few inches, resulting in the whole picture looking rather unsharp. Try doing some shots at f11 (with flash if necessary, so your shutter speed is at least 1/125). See if that helps. The reason your Tamron lens looked sharper might be because its minimum aperture is f4 which gives a lot more depth of field than f1.8. A digital image will also look less sharp when you're using a high ISO, which you might have done to try to keep shutter speed fast in dim light. Since you asked for examples taken with a 50mm lens, I'm attaching one. This was taken at f6.3 with bouce flash (off the ceiling) and a shutter speed around 1/250, using a Nikon D70. Aperture makes a huge difference in the resulting image, but so does good light.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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