william, i hope yours proves to be a good copy. i'd like to find a properly-working 50L sooner than later. my dealer is getting tired of seeing me in their store with a 50L box and receipt in my hands.
wcastleman wrote:
I love your owl "portrait", Anna.
I'll try a shorter working distance, Erik, and see if I can reproduce the effect.
Thx William. It was taken very close to the owl, only crop on the picture was dead space at the top and bottom. Closest to lens test I did today, distance to subject less than .. hmm... 3 feet maybe.
fotografur wrote:
Take the tons of money from your canceled Leica order and buy a 50 f1.2 and see
I've spent some already on more Canon Glass and saving the rest for the new 1Ds I hope will be coming at PMA. Unless a 21/2.8 Distagon, shows up and I can't say no.
Then maybe a 50/1.2L but I'm still interested in a comparison.
i wish i could get my upload to work ...i took shots the other evening at bbkings blues club here in nyc and at several jazz clubs...previously i have always used my 85L which i love...i used the 50L with my 30D,I generally use my 85L with my 5D...the point of of this comment is to state that the shots i got with the 50L compare very favorably to my 85L....i havent done tests with charts etc. but i can say that this is an excellent sharp lens that compares favorably to the 135,the 35 and the 85.....i say this as one who started out a doubter and very skeptical...again my datecode is uu1200......i dont doubt there are bad copies out there,in fact im sure of it given all of the top notch photographers here who have been testing....im simply saying from my perspective it is worth making an effort to get a good copy
Nice stuff Ed and glad yours is working out, as it is for Jon. Mine is slated to go back tomorrow or Tuesday all depending upon the icy weather we are supposed to get here in NYC tomorrow.
This may or may not have anything to do with it, but for 1 series users, what setting do you have cfn. 17 set to? Mine was set to 1. Maybe by expanding the center AF point, it may throw off AF during a controlled lens test? I know this is reaching, but I'm trying to explore all possibilities.
this might be a long shot but i'm noticing slightly better focus accuracy with CF13 set to 1 rather than 0. i was going to return it on monday but now plan to keep it a solid week and play with it under as many different conditions as i can create. after changing CF13 i've only blown focus on one shot and i think it was my fault in moving while shooting handheld.
hopefully the results improve drastically over the next few days. i really want to keep this lens!
For those who don't have a 1DMkII, can you please explain what CF13 does? I have a 5D and am keeping a keen eye on this thread, but this one got lost in translation. Thanks! :-)
flatdraft wrote:
this might be a long shot but i'm noticing slightly better focus accuracy with CF13 set to 1 rather than 0. i was going to return it on monday but now plan to keep it a solid week and play with it under as many different conditions as i can create. after changing CF13 i've only blown focus on one shot and i think it was my fault in moving while shooting handheld.
hopefully the results improve drastically over the next few days. i really want to keep this lens!
Let us know, Erik. Although mine is boxed up and was going to ship it this evening, perhaps I will have to try this and see before I put the label on it to go back.
ed, focus accuracy does seem to be a bit more accurate using 11 points instead of 45. my method is not scientific though -- i'm just walking around the house snapping difficult objects at close focus since close focus is where i intend to use the lens at least 50% of the time. fwiw, i always pick a single point and am finding that switching between 11 points is much easier than 45, so i'll probably stick with this setting no matter what i discover with this lens.
anyway, i wouldn't doubt that focus accuracy has something to do with sensitivity of the body's AF points and is not the fault of the lens. f/1.2 on this wide of a lens might be causing confusion in the body. the newer 1-series will probably be able to talk to the 50L with no problems whatsoever.
if my copy works as it has been with CF13 set to 1 then i'll keep the lens. if i start noticing the stop-down backfocus issue then back it goes.
if you don't mind holding onto your lens for a few more days, it would be worth testing with CF13 to see if you have any better luck. i'd be very interested to confirm or deny my findings since i have another 3 weeks to play with this lens before i pass the return period.
Erik, thanks, you may very well be on to something. I set CF13 to (1) and I took about 50 test shots, of my wife and daughter up close, and some objects also close up.
The lens fared much better with focusing properly on my wife and daughters eyes where it was endless trouble. On various objects it was also much better.
Overall incredibly improved for me.... however it now leaves me scratching my head as to what to do.... My dealer is willing to take it back and it was getting dropped off at UPS tomorrow morning and I am already very close with my return period.
ed, that's great news. i hope you're right. if the CF13 trick fixes this issue then we can safely assume that the new 1-series bodies will be capable of using fast wide/standard lenses with full accuracy. the days of wide/standard lenses with focus issues might be over.
of those 50 shots, did you have any backfocus issues stopped down? and, what body are you shooting with?
it's too bad your return period is almost up. maybe you can return it with a note inside saying to accept the lens, re-date your receipt, and send it back out.
Could it be the newer bodies like the 5D and 1DMark2N(newer bodies) have different ways of handeling the focus points, of course there was someone with the 20D that had no problems, but it has less points to begin with. Also the 5D has less points.. hmm,,,, Ed I would do a bit more testing maybe this eve.
Thanks guys. I will. Erik, not a bad idea. Not sure if they'd go for it though. Wade, another good point, as both Gary and I have wondered that as well (the fact that it seems no MK2n or 5D has had a problem).
and buy a 50 f1.2 and see 
(ignore the dust on my scope 
)
