Last week I decided to buy one of these great lenses, (mainly due to the "show me your best 85L shots" thread that is still running ). Anyway, I appreciate there is a learning curve to get the best from it, especially wide open.
My current practice of focus (centre point) and recompose seems to produce less than sharp photos, so how d you get razor sharp off centre subjects? Do you use the joystick to select the outer focus points, or just stop down enough to cover the subject?
Kidding aside, since I started using the 85L II on my 1Ds mkIII I get a much higher keeper rate (at wide apertures) mainly due to the better AF (in comparison to my 5D).
Using the outer AF points on my 5D produced very unreliable and inaccurate results. Before I switched to the 1Ds3 I tried using the focus-recompose technique with the center AF point of my 5D as well. But like you already said, this creates some weird focal shifts or unsharp photos when doing so at wider apertures. Maybe focusing manually with the aid of an EE-S screen could be an option. But even in this case I found it hard to do some critical focusing using the 5D's VF. Stopping down helps because it somehow masks the tolerances of the 5D's AF.
Although the IQ of the 85L + 5D is superb, I found it hard to get the critical focusing done that is required to make the most out of wide open aperture shooting (and that's the main reason to get a 85L in the first place). YMMV
yeah im learning too...and my 85L front focuses a bit (just bought it used) so its all MF for me until i get a chance to send it in. I go for iso1600, take a deep breath and MF/click in one move. Stopping down a bit helps too.
You simply can not focus and recompose with that lens, or any fast lens for that matter.
I had the best results with the 85L using whichever focus point was nearest to my intended composition (sometimes you have to crop a bit in pose so you can keep a focus point where you need it) and shooting in continuos focus mode with burst of 3-5 images.
I have also found that when shooting portraits in the 1.2-1.8 range it helps to keep the camera parallel with the subject. By doing so the focus plane, while shallow, covers the entire face. Hope that makes sense!
@1.2 focus and recompose will never work. It's bad practice in general for getting the sharpest shots, but @ 1.2 start using some of the other AF points, or MF if you can.
It's a glorious lens, keep at it, you'll get the hang of it.
Mart, in general you should use the AF sensor that is closest to what you want in focus when you have the set the composition.
An exception is when that sensor is a linear one and cannot achieve focus on that part of the subject. e.g. a vertical sensor has trouble focusing on a flag pole, whereas a horizonatal sensor does it easily.
Another exception is when you want to use high-precision AF and shoot at large aperture. HP AF has relatively little merit if you shoot at small apertures because then the extra DOF swamps the AF precision, but is noticeably better when shooting at maximum aperture.
Another exception is when trying to focus in poor light and the outer sensors cannot achieve focus. The central sensor may be more sensitive and allow AF to be achieved. It is also a cross-type sensor at all apertures that AF works (on your 5D and 30D, not on a 1D2)
Shooting at small aperture just to avoid focus/recompose is surely a waste of an expensive large aperture lens.
martsmith42 wrote:
Last week I decided to buy one of these great lenses, (mainly due to the "show me your best 85L shots" thread that is still running ).
Whoever started that thread should be shot. Or at least be given a bonus by Canon.
I have also been trying AI Servo but I am not sure how I feel about it. What do you guys think? Some situations, never, spray and pray will get it....??
* The 85L can be stopped down too....does not have to be always shot wide open.
* Focusing accuracy obviously very important at large aperture (no recomposing).
* As a subset of "focusing accuracy", back and forth lens/camera wobble is deadly at large apertures. (Wobble means the focusing distance changes after the focus lock...before shutter actuation)
Use the AF sensor closest to your desired point of focus. Personally, I use AI Servo (on 1Ds2/1Ds3) because my subjects move and are uncooperative; therefore, my framing is actually AF governed - the AF point is placed on the eye, framing is approximated as much as possible (since it may not be perfect since the AF points aren't all over the frame), and then crop the final picture.
This approach does not give me the best framed images straight out of camera, but it has given me the highest number of in-focus ones. I use it with all of my fast primes, and it works very well. The 1Ds3 has enough pixels so that it doesn't matter if I throw away a few by cropping.
This approach has not worked so well with the other cameras (40D for example) because Servo in general, and on the outer points in particular is way more unreliable than on the 1-series. I have the luxury of simply avoiding this camera / lens combo, but I appreciate the difficulty that others have if they don't have 1-series AF...
stanj wrote:
Use the AF sensor closest to your desired point of focus. Personally, I use AI Servo (on 1Ds2/1Ds3) because my subjects move and are uncooperative; therefore, my framing is actually AF governed - the AF point is placed on the eye, framing is approximated as much as possible (since it may not be perfect since the AF points aren't all over the frame), and then crop the final picture.
This approach does not give me the best framed images straight out of camera, but it has given me the highest number of in-focus ones. I use it with all of my fast primes, and it works very well. The 1Ds3 has enough pixels so that it doesn't matter if I throw away a few by cropping.
This approach has not worked so well with the other cameras (40D for example) because Servo in general, and on the outer points in particular is way more unreliable than on the 1-series. I have the luxury of simply avoiding this camera / lens combo, but I appreciate the difficulty that others have if they don't have 1-series AF......Show more →
and + 1 for me. I have this setup on my 1d2 and 1ds2 and it works pretty well on most fast primes. i found most AF cross sensor close to center work best. and monopod is a plus for any old hands like mine
Do you recommend using the AI Servo AF with the 5D? I've been using focus and recompose, trying to ensure that the distance from subject is great enough to give me some DOF lee-way. I'll also stop down to 1.4 or 1.6, but try not to go past 1.8, as then I feel bad about spending the extra $1,000 (over the 85 1.8). Also I'm going for the heavy bokeh effect when using this lens, so stopping down too much defeats the shot..
). Anyway, I appreciate there is a learning curve to get the best from it, especially wide open.
and + 1 for me. I have this setup on my 1d2 and 1ds2 and it works pretty well on most fast primes. i found most AF cross sensor close to center work best.