Have anyone experienced some troubles with the 5D3 and CZ50f2? I found that my lens which worked perfectly with 5D, has strong front focus. I had to adjust focus at +19!! out of 20 possible and still results quite unsatisfactory. Take a look. This was prior focus adjusting
Ad this one after. Slightly better but stil not as good as it was on 5D. Any ideas?
In the manually focused picture, the right side of the picture is sharper while in the LV focused picture, the left side of the picture is sharper. This makes me think your subject isn't flat relative to the focal plane (user error - to a degree).
Zeiss lenses have a sweet spot. Liveview is the best way to see this sweet spot. If you're trying to use AF assist on the 5DMkIII, it gets close to the sweet spot but doesn't exactly hit it all the time. For this reason, if you need precise focus, you need to manually focus via Liveview. Also if you're using AF assist, make sure you set spot focus on instead of the evaluative. It makes a big difference due to the fact that evaluative will try and snap the focus at a generalized point where spot focus will take a more medium average weighted focus on the focal point. I always use Liveview when I need very precise focus on Zeiss lenses.
whtrbt7 wrote:
make sure you set spot focus on instead of the evaluative.
Thanks, I did that too. Doesn’t help. It might be a problem with the lens itself. Yesterday I called to Germany to Zeiss AG, explained the problem and emailed some pictures to them. Great customer support BTW, immediate response, really helpful. I will send the lens to Oberkochen for checkup.
Tras Krom wrote:
Thanks, I did that too. Doesn’t help. It might be a problem with the lens itself. Yesterday I called to Germany to Zeiss AG, explained the problem and emailed some pictures to them. Great customer support BTW, immediate response, really helpful. I will send the lens to Oberkochen for checkup.
If the focus is accurate in Live View, there's likely nothing wrong with your lens.
p.1 #11 · 5D III + Carl Zeiss 50 f2 focusing issue
How do we micro adjusment manual focus lens. Does canon body MAF really shift the focus (beep/light) confirmation or AF just adjusts the focal plane w/ MA setting after the beep. I have a zeiss 21mm f/2.8 distagon and want to play with 5D2 MAF. It's hard to tell by LCD sometime at night. i have never thought MAF will work w/ manual lenses but maybe i am wrong. TIA
p.1 #12 · 5D III + Carl Zeiss 50 f2 focusing issue
mttran wrote:
How do we micro adjusment manual focus lens. Does canon body MAF really shift the focus (beep/light) confirmation or AF just adjusts the focal plane w/ MA setting after the beep. I have a zeiss 21mm f/2.8 distagon and want to play with 5D2 MAF. It's hard to tell by LCD sometime at night. i have never thought MAF will work w/ manual lenses but maybe i am wrong. TIA
Yesterday I did micro-adjustment on one of my 5DIII bodies using the LensAlign set-up. It works like a charm. I had to dial in +9 for my ZE 50MP, and now the focus confirmation beep nails it every time. Same with ZE 100MP which required a -1 correction.
p.1 #13 · 5D III + Carl Zeiss 50 f2 focusing issue
Rajan Parrikar wrote:
Yesterday I did micro-adjustment on one of my 5DIII bodies using the LensAlign set-up. It works like a charm. I had to dial in +9 for my ZE 50MP, and now the focus confirmation beep nails it every time. Same with ZE 100MP which required a -1 correction.
p.1 #14 · 5D III + Carl Zeiss 50 f2 focusing issue
So I got reply from Zeiss. Now I am waiting for the lens to arrive. Hopefully it will work better. However the reply was..
____________________________________________
Attached you will find the following lens back from service:
-Makro-Planar T* 2/50 ZE #157####1 (including original box and standard accessories)
Your defect description: Poor image quality. Front focus with 5DMKIII.
Service provided: MTF and flange focal distance tested, flange focal distance slightly optimized. Test images with different EOS bodies.
The lens is within all tolerances and performs perfectly. The focusing issue when using the AF indicator is a problem of the camera body and cannot be influenced by the lens!
Remark: To avoid unnecessary shipments, we recommend to discuss such issues with our customer service BEFORE sending the lens.
The check of your lens was covered by our warranty.
___________________________________________________
Let's see how it will perform.
p.1 #15 · 5D III + Carl Zeiss 50 f2 focusing issue
Tras Krom wrote:
So I got reply from Zeiss. Now I am waiting for the lens to arrive. Hopefully it will work better. However the reply was..
____________________________________________
Attached you will find the following lens back from service:
-Makro-Planar T* 2/50 ZE #157####1 (including original box and standard accessories)
Your defect description: Poor image quality. Front focus with 5DMKIII.
Service provided: MTF and flange focal distance tested, flange focal distance slightly optimized. Test images with different EOS bodies.
The lens is within all tolerances and performs perfectly. The focusing issue when using the AF indicator is a problem of the camera body and cannot be influenced by the lens!
Remark: To avoid unnecessary shipments, we recommend to discuss such issues with our customer service BEFORE sending the lens.
The check of your lens was covered by our warranty.
___________________________________________________
Let's see how it will perform. ...Show more →
Just because the lens is a manual focus model does not mean that it may not benefit from MA to be perfectly calibrated with your camera body. Just use the MA feature of the camera to dial in a correction until results using focus confirm consistently match your best efforts in Live View.
If you are saying that the lens is misfocused when the viewfinder image is sharp, then you could have a viewfinder alignment issue.
p.1 #17 · 5D III + Carl Zeiss 50 f2 focusing issue
You're really complaining about the focus-assist feature of your 5D Mark III not working well in combination with the lens. Since the lens is manual-focus, obviously it cannot front- or back-focus on its own. It only does that if you focus it wrongly.
My suggestion: ignore the focus-assist feature – which is inherently imprecise even if accurately calibrated – and instead focus the image in the viewfinder. Get your focus screen shimmed if that doesn't work.
It's possible something was wrong with the lens, but it's more likely you just increased the price of Zeiss lenses for the rest of us by needlessly sending yours in for a free check-up…
p.1 #18 · 5D III + Carl Zeiss 50 f2 focusing issue
S Dilworth wrote:
It's possible something was wrong with the lens, but it's more likely you just increased the price of Zeiss lenses for the rest of us by needlessly sending yours in for a free check-up…
Do you really believe that I asked and insisted for the free check up for the lens which is off warranty?
p.1 #19 · 5D III + Carl Zeiss 50 f2 focusing issue
Here is a final update on the lens issue. After lens service in Germany no more difference in lifeview and viewfinder focus, lens back to life again. I had to keep initial huge microadjustment but no focusing issue anymore.
I expected this answer. Well, any angle, any subject any distance - same result. Lifeview - perfect result. 