I currently own the 35L and have done quite a bit of shooting with the 50L. While the 50L is a wonderful lens all of the copies I've shot with have had unpredictable focus issues (even after micro adjustment). I haven't picked one up yet for this reason.
Valjr wrote:
I'm curious about this also as I'm really interested on the 50L. How good is it center and outer points on the 5D2?
Microfocus adjustment is highly recommended to do with the 50L. Afterwards, center point AF works very reliable at f/1.2. Outer points work fine so far for me, too.
I've owned both on my 5DII and I preferred the 35L over the 50L since it was a bit more sharper, especially wide open. But that's just my own personal experience.
form wrote:
By sharp wide open, I see the 50L is "contrasty." It really doesn't have that much fine detail resolving power near wide open, and it has horrific LoCAs...like the worst I've ever seen. But it does take nice pictures nonetheless...
Don't you hate it when all the specs say it's a horrible lens - and then you take a picture with it and it's just amazing
James Taylor wrote:
Don't you hate it when all the specs say it's a horrible lens - and then you take a picture with it and it's just amazing
haha...so true...alot of internet shooter
While I don't own the 50L but had shot with it and it's a great lens...I'm debating should I sale my Sigma and just get it, but I don't use the 50mm enough on the 5D3. The 35L however, is awesome...just awesome on the 5D3.
5Dreamer wrote:
My 35L [...] Close it to f4 and it's tack sharp.
You should return it and get another one. Mine is tack sharp from f/2.0 and @f/1.4 it's sharp enough.
RyanFlynn wrote:
And, taking a few steps forward does not turn the 35 into the 50. You might get similar framing, but the looks are completely different.
+1
Also, a good 50L is plenty sharp wide open. Don't listen to the naysayers.
I have both, and for me, I prefer the look and focal length of the 50L over the 35L on my 5D2. Both are pretty sharp wide open, but both seem to suffer from focus inconsistencies which lead me to believe those are more about the focusing ability of the 5D2 than it is about the lens. If I put it into live view and use the af button zoomed in, I get much better focus results. I think some of the focus issues people have and attribute to a particular lens is actual the limits of the body's auto focus system. I get about the same amount of mis-focused images from both the 35L and 50L overall when using the normal AF of the camera body. The 50L does have back focus since there isn't a rear floating element.
robert61 wrote:
I get about the same amount of mis-focused images from both the 35L and 50L overall when using the normal AF of the camera body.
There must be something wrong then. The 35L is rock solid on my 5D classic (I get over 80% in-focus shots), while the 50L is a disaster at around 10-20%.
You get 80% from both or 20% from both?
I can get a good 80% or more from each if the light is adequate. If I use a 3 stop ND filter, the 50L has more trouble. It seems to handle 2 stop ND pretty well.
robert61 wrote:
I can get a good 80% or more from each if the light is adequate. If I use a 3 stop ND filter, the 50L has more trouble. It seems to handle 2 stop ND pretty well.
I think it has more to do with the camera. 50L is fine with 1D series and 5D Mark III.
That is why I find it odd that for Robert the two lenses work the same, because for me they certainly do not on my 5Dclassic. My 35L is perfect on my 5Dclassic while the 50L is not.
Jul 29, 2012 at 12:41 AM
Lars Johnsson Offline Upload & Sell: Off
That is why I find it odd that for Robert the two lenses work the same, because for me they certainly do not on my 5Dclassic. My 35L is perfect on my 5Dclassic while the 50L is not.
Why is it odd
I get the same amount of keepers with the 3 different bodies I own also. If you only can get 10-20% of your shots in focus there is something wrong.