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Archive 2016 · 58g focuses/tracks less accurately than 35/85 f/1.4g?

  
 
form
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · 58g focuses/tracks less accurately than 35/85 f/1.4g?


Having shot plenty of weddings with all of the above, I've come to the general conclusion that the 58g can't handle moving subjects as well as the others. The 35g and 85g both do a fair job of keeping on target with moving/dancing/walking subjects (af-c, 3d mode, D750), but the 58g falls behind and never seems to handle it. However, all lenses, on AF-S, seem to be fairly consistent with static subjects, so I don't really believe the focus fine tune needs adjustment.

Is this something others have experienced, by any chance?



Mar 20, 2016 at 11:24 AM
hijazist
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · 58g focuses/tracks less accurately than 35/85 f/1.4g?


Panning requires a combination of an accurate camera AF system and, at the same time, a fast responsive lens AF, particularly when the subject is close to you. The 58 has been amazing in this regard.



























Mar 20, 2016 at 01:29 PM
protikh
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · 58g focuses/tracks less accurately than 35/85 f/1.4g?


no sure how you do these so well, but these panning shots are amazing


Mar 20, 2016 at 10:37 PM
Elijah
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · 58g focuses/tracks less accurately than 35/85 f/1.4g?


First of all, you have a 58G and you're not posting any images in THIS thread?!
Second of all, the 58G is absolutely fantastic for weddings. I never have issues with focusing.
Maybe that's because most of the time when subjects are moving, I only tend to use the center point & crop later?



Mar 21, 2016 at 06:18 PM
daniel4
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · 58g focuses/tracks less accurately than 35/85 f/1.4g?


Some say the 58's AF is worse because the strong chromatic aberration wide-open confuses the AF system.


Mar 23, 2016 at 12:39 AM
trevanian
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · 58g focuses/tracks less accurately than 35/85 f/1.4g?


I have more out of focus shots with my 58 than my other lenses, but less so with my d800 than my d700. No idea why.


Mar 23, 2016 at 01:05 PM
Chris Dees
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · 58g focuses/tracks less accurately than 35/85 f/1.4g?


trevanian wrote:
I have more out of focus shots with my 58 than my other lenses, but less so with my d800 than my d700. No idea why.


Same with me on the D810 and Df.
It's much more difficult to get in in focus than with my 24/35/85 1.4 lenses.
But the reward is bigger, IF it's in focus.



Mar 23, 2016 at 01:31 PM
ohsnaphappy
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · 58g focuses/tracks less accurately than 35/85 f/1.4g?


Had all these same issues. Got a new copy. My second 58G is one of the most accurate lenses I've ever shot. I've said this a lot on FM, but I think there are bad copies of the 58. My advice is to buy from Amazon, test thoroughly for 30 days, and exchange until you find a good copy.


Mar 24, 2016 at 01:55 AM
trevanian
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · 58g focuses/tracks less accurately than 35/85 f/1.4g?


The 58 is the lens that stays on my camera during weddings the most, I know I should shoot wider (I make my second shoot wide) but I always end up with more shots on my 58 than any of my other lenses. I love the 70-200, and my 85 but they don't live on my d800 like the 58 does.


Jun 20, 2016 at 04:01 PM
Dj R
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · 58g focuses/tracks less accurately than 35/85 f/1.4g?


trevanian wrote:
The 58 is the lens that stays on my camera during weddings the most, I know I should shoot wider (I make my second shoot wide) but I always end up with more shots on my 58 than any of my other lenses. I love the 70-200, and my 85 but they don't live on my d800 like the 58 does.


noticed you don't have anything wider than 35
I guess your 2nd has you covered there?



Jun 20, 2016 at 04:58 PM
Joseph.
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · 58g focuses/tracks less accurately than 35/85 f/1.4g?


I didn't have any focus issues with the 58G when I had one. I think a lot of it has to do with the shooter's technique and understanding of the AF system's capability and limitations. For instance, you can't expect the 58G to rack as fast as the 200/2VR, so what you can do is pre-focus on the action and continue to track from there.

After shooting with the manual focus Noct, I think the 58G is a lens we all take for granted. It is a much more forgiving lens than its MF counterparts



Jun 20, 2016 at 05:26 PM
Paul_K
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · 58g focuses/tracks less accurately than 35/85 f/1.4g?


form wrote:
Having shot plenty of weddings with all of the above, I've come to the general conclusion that the 58g can't handle moving subjects as well as the others. The 35g and 85g both do a fair job of keeping on target with moving/dancing/walking subjects (af-c, 3d mode, D750), but the 58g falls behind and never seems to handle it. However, all lenses, on AF-S, seem to be fairly consistent with static subjects, so I don't really believe the focus fine tune needs adjustment.

Is this something others have experienced, by any chance?


I think you should reconsider your AF settings.

With 3D AF, you're asking the camera to not only focus, but to begin with first find something to focus on, then decide whether to indeed to keep focusing on the object found, and then anticipate on where it will be the next moment.

Sure, 3D AF has made huge improvements over the years, from what I read modern 3D AF can all do that impressively fast, but nevertheless IMO it still isn't 'magic, and still not as fast as shooting with proper 'normal', operator steered, action photography directed AF settings.

Due to the choices the electronics have to make, there always is an initial moment of 'hesitation', where the electronics have to make the necessary calculations to come to their decision.

In my experience (shot my fair share of weddings, both on digital, but also on film. Don't remember with much fondness having only 36 shots per film, and the constant pressure of wondering it was properly loaded - the 'endless' film was the worst nightmare- ) the kind of shots during weddings that demand ultra fast AF, usually/actually happen in one short moment/just the blink of an eye.

And for those moments the initial moment/hesitation 3D AF requires to get things in focus may very well be just a little too slow, and that may very well be causing the AF of your 58mm be too late, and consequently OoF

I personally have stayed away from 3D AF since using the early, rudimentary (it wasn't even called 3D AF in those days) implementation on the F100, tried it once, cost me a shoot (90% was OoF), never used it i earnest since.
Of course I have performed some test shoots with it on my newer bodies, film and digital, since, but never got the results I was after/demanded.

That said, with the proper AF settings (Dynamic AF with 1 manually selected AF points, 51 AF points - although some prefer less-, Custom setting A3 'Focus tracking with lock-on' OFF) it's very well possible to shoot fast moving subjects in action' and under bad lighting conditions, even must faster moving then what normal happens at a wedding.
I used to shoot surf (shore to sea e.g. http://www.pbase.com/paul_k/best_surf ) with the above settings, and still do for eg catwalk (fast moving subject under not always ideal lighting http://www.pbase.com/paul_k/20160403_max_h_jhm ) and outside location fashion shoots.

I have the 58mm myself, and following several reports that mentioned the 58mm's slowA F, put it to the test some time ago in a very unscientific test. Took some shots of a body boarder (kind of actually, he kept standing up), using the above AF settings, with only a humble DF.

Subject was moving from right to left, during which movement I followed him swiping along the camera in the same direction. Once I had my manually selected AF point on him I would just, as it only was for testing the AF, spray and shoot at 5 fps, results are here http://www.pbase.com/paul_k/20160529_surffest

my two cents




Jun 20, 2016 at 11:21 PM
swifty168
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · 58g focuses/tracks less accurately than 35/85 f/1.4g?


Out of curiosity, has anyone tried the 58G with either the D5 or D500?
Just wondering has anything changed when focusing the 58G with the new AF modules?



Jun 20, 2016 at 11:35 PM
Paul_K
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · 58g focuses/tracks less accurately than 35/85 f/1.4g?


swifty168 wrote:
Out of curiosity, has anyone tried the 58G with either the D5 or D500?
Just wondering has anything changed when focusing the 58G with the new AF modules?


Not under serious shooting/test conditions.

But I tried the combination a few months ago during a NPS Check and Clean day, where they always also have different lenses and bodies around to play with, in a shop under the for that type of location usual fluorescent lighting.

From what I recall the AF of the D500 was indeed snappier and faster then that of the D800, which I own, although I at that time didn't make a direct comparison.

Haven't tried the 58mm on my D3, but expect similar results even if not as fast as the D500
Also use the 58mm on a DF, but that really isn't a fair comparison with the D500 to even consider



Jun 21, 2016 at 05:20 PM





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