Mis-Focused Shots with 35 f1.4 and 85 f1.2

[kenghor]

While many raved the sharpenss of these 2 lenses shot wide open, how often do u get misfocused shots?

<p>

On off centered, getting the focus right on is kind of hit and miss, especially on a 5D. The 45 foucs points

on the 1Ds helps and the focus is more accurate though.

<p>

So, for those who shoot moving subjects (such as weddings), did u miss the actual point of focus or u

managed to slip through by resizing the file and sharpening with photoshop?

[sgpix]

I don't use either of those lenses but the 50mm 1.4 is on of mine and pretty wide-open... I avoid mis-focused shoits by using single point AF and re-composing when necessary.

 

I know multipoint has it's uses (AI Servo and moving targets etc.), but I'm a big fan of single point AF for this very reason!

[mike_smith2]

1.2 and 1.4 lenses have ultra thin depth of field, when you swing to recompose the subject is probably falling out of the locked plane of focus - see this;

 

http://www.mhohner.de/recompose.php?lang=e

[rokkor fan]

I shoot with both and have no worries on focus with either my 5D or 1DII. The key to shooting wide open is to be very still - I think body movement is the main issue with paper-thin dof (ie. the photographer moves clower or further away after setting focus).

[lester_wareham]

I don't have those lenses either but I do have the 28/1.8 and 50/1.4, also I use centre focus point.

 

You can focus and recompose as suggested but be aware that the plane of sharp focus can then swing off the subject; I have got caught out with this on the 50mm before.

[lovcom_photo]

Simon, your recipe for focus is a guarentee your shots will be out of focus. You make the mistake of relying just on the center focus point, then you claim to shoot wide open with an F1.4 lens, then you claim to lock-focus-recompose. Very bad form sir, and a recipe, no, a guarentee that many of your shots will be metered wrong and unsharp.

 

Better to pick and choose the best focus point manually. Don't recompose. Use your EOS body as it was intended....those multi-focal points are there for a reason.

 

If you shoot at F8 then your method will be less wrong because of much wider depth-of-field.

[lovcom_photo]

To the point...I have both the 35L and the 85L. At large apertures, those lenses will be a challange to focus, but this is not the lens's fault. Unless your lenses are faulty, the problem is with user error.

 

Despite the advise you've read so far on this thread, for excelletly sharp focus, DO NOT rely just on the center focus point, and DO NOT Lock-Focus-Recompose....this is bad form especially with such fast glass at wide apertures.

 

My copies of those lenses are razor sharp wide open, but if I were to rely just on the center focus point, and Lock-Focus-Recompose, then my pictures would lack tack sharpness and metering would not be accurate....so would it be fair to blame my erroneous methods on the lenses?

 

You have two of the best lenses Canon makes....unless they're both faulty, I would suggest you review your methods and see if you're using auto-focus correctly.

 

99 times out of 100 focus problems are human error.

[jeff_plomley1]

Umm, whatever happened to good old manual focus. Those folks on the Leica forum seem to

be doing just fine with their 35/1.4 and 50/1.4 Lux's on their M-cameras...

[lovcom_photo]

Jeff, why on earth would one need to focus manually if the AF is very fast and accurate? AF has come a very long ways since the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generations of AF. The problem with focusing is not AF per se...it is how it is done....many still do not know how to use AF, but once they do, manual focus is reserved only for low light shots that do not present enough contrast for AF to lock on to.

[johnr1]

I have both the 35 1.4 and the 85 1.2 and both are razor sharp wide open, and I love using

manual focus when shooting wide open. I find it faster than fiddling around with the various

focus points, and it is one less thing to have to think about when composing an image.

Especially when the subject is not still and you have to continuously frame and focus. At f1.2

it's difficult to get exactly what you want in focus and framed when the subject is moving

about. It's also fun using the 45tse and 90tse lenses tilted to strategically throw subjects out

of focus, and you get a totally different effect depending on which way you tilt. They are both

manual focus lenses. John

[jeff_plomley1]

Hey Dan:

 

I agree if it is one of the more sensitive AF points, but my experience with the 1-series

EOS is that selection of any of the periphery points are much less accurate. AF point

expansion which is an option tend to increase this inaccuracy, so I just choose to manually

focus, or "zone-focus" when shooting from the hip.

 

Cheers,

Jeff

[andrew robertson]

"Jeff, why on earth would one need to focus manually if the AF is very fast and accurate? AF

has come a very long ways since the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generations of AF."

 

What if the focusing point (a box really) subtends a larger area than the desired point of

focus? AF will never help you in this situation.

[kenghor]

So everyone agrees that precise focusing isn't easy with these 2 lenses. You have to use the

centre focus spot, avoid recomposing etc... So what's the sucess rate of u getting the focus

spot on? And hence, how often do u shoot them wide open? And do u use them for grab

shots such as an on going wedding?

[johnr1]

Wee Keng,

The problem with auto focusing, then moving the camera to compose, is that slight

movement off center can be enough to affect your focus point, even if your subject does not

move. That's how shallow the depth of field wide open is with theses lenses. I compose,

focus (manually), shoot. I try never to move the camera after I focus (when shooting wide

open) If you are in the general area with your focus, it's easy to fine tune it right before you

press the shutter release.

 

John

[kenghor]

I used to have a split screen on my 1Ds. However, the split screen only works on subjects that are placed right in the centre.

And trying to determine if your subject (e.g. the eye) is in focus on your viewfinder is like a guessing game for these wide aperture lenses.

[kenghor]

Actually my question boils down to:

<p>

how useful are these lenses, despite their reputation to be pin sharp wide open, when it is so hard to obtain precise focusing?

[alec_myers]

Well, I use mine when the light drops below what the 2.8 zoom lenses will usefully work in. In low light, with fast moving subjects then sure, lots of the shots are out of focus. But some aren't - take enough and you'll have something useful. If there were an alternative, I'd use it, but there isn't.