[Guest]

Hello guys, I dont normally post here, but knowing you are all experts makes me want too,



Ive been having a problem with my new lens, I didn't think I had this problem so bad until recently, now it's maybe my own paranoia, or I do have a problem, i'm not sure what to think really, I own a 5D Mark2 and my lens a Canon 24 1.4 II L Lens, I'm finding at 1.4 I have to take 5 or 6 images to achieve focus that in the hope 1 will have achieved good focus, I understand 1.4 is so shallow its going to be tough anyway and on a poor AF camera as the 5D2 i'm going to have problems, but I think this is just 2 soft, and allot of the time, the camera misses completely, I just don't get it, after spending so much money, i'm getting a but sick of Canon, and I maybe to blame, Now I use a center spot focus and lock and recompose, and this may be a problem, or not, I do think the camera used to lock focus better, is it possible a camera over time, lose focus, I have tried front and back focus tests on a tape measure, and the focus seems fine, I know I should stop down the lens slightly, but I don't see why I can get a semi sharp image at the right distance on 1.4, for that money I think you should be able too, last week, I took a picture of a friend at the side of his hair just on a grey bit above his ear, and it missed so much and I achieved focus on his forehead, I did more tests and the camera could not focus on hair, even though it was a good contrast for the camera, so I though maybe there's certain things canon sensors have trouble with, so today, I went for a walk with mum, to a forest to see the bluebells, it was a bad day, and nothing great to photograph, so I took some pretty crappy shots of a bluebell and noticed a ladybird on it, so i though ok this could be nice, anyway, this ladybird was moving very slowly and I have 1/1250 shutter, the first 2 where so bad, I could hardly believe my eyes, you can see the images here,



http://louis-amore.smugmug.com/Other/Tes...&k=WqLhrhB



you can hit a large size to see close enough,



what are your thoughts, you can see 2 pictures out of the 4 that are slightly okish, and 2 so badly off,





please visit my website, to understand this isn't user error , or in fact it maybe I have no idea



http://www.louisamore.com



what do you guys think,



for nearly 3500 pounds worth of kit, should I be getting results like this, Im so deeply unhappy, do i send my camera lens to canon to have a look, i'm not sure, or is this what u get for your money, I believe I would get a better result with a much cheaper micro 4/3rds camera,?



thanks for your time to any one who replies



Kindest regards



Louis





PS sorry for the typos im terrible at spelling <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[wim]

First of all, it looks like DoF is indeed extremely shallow, which makes the smallest body movement place the subject out of focus, for starters.

Furthermore, with shallow DoF like this, focus and recompose is not a good thing (actually, it is a no-no), exactly because DoF is so shallow.

You may also have been shooting at or beyond MFD, which will generate unsharp photographs very easily too.

When shooting at F/1.4 the subject needs to lend itself for it, which means shots with a wider view/more in the image than those close-up shots with a lens like this.



The fact that you get sharp shots when shooting a tape measure means AF and lens are fine, especially as a tape measure is not an easy thing for a focus test. Having said that, AF with wide angle lenses always is difficult, because of the large angle at which the Phase Detect sensors find temselves. This will generally be less accurate than with, e.g., a tele lens.



As an owner of a 24 MkII and a 5D II, I find this combo works perfectly, for me anyway. I've owned the Mk I as well, and although that is very good , the Mk II is clearly better. However, I do shoot subjects from a larger distance with it, generally speaking, than you seem to do. And for portraiture I normally use a 45-50 mm or longer lens.



HTH, kind regards, Wim