For Sam Bennett and anyone else curious, I repeated the focusing tests at about 5 feet (the earlier test was done at about half that distance). The focus was very close to perfect at wide apertures. I still noticed a hint of focus shift to the rear as I stopped down, but it was less in absolute terms than I found at closer distance, and much less in a relative sense. Insignificant with increasing DOF.
Too bad that the AF calibration seems off at close distances, but I wouldn't want it redone if it messed up the results at middle distances. Of course, I want it perfect all the time, but...
Thanks, Jess. That's the same frustrating thing I've found. For my Roller Derby and Dog Sports work, the lens focuses fantastically - more consistent and accurate than the 85/1.8 even. The problem really only shows when shooting tight stuff stopped down - headshots at events, etc. I bought it for the sports work, so part of me wants to just accept the caveat and move on, but knowing in the back of my head that I need to think twice about using a $1600 lens in conditions where a $300 does absolutely fine seems a bit absurd to me.
Sam Bennett wrote:
I bought it for the sports work, so part of me wants to just accept the caveat and move on, but knowing in the back of my head that I need to think twice about using a $1600 lens in conditions where a $300 does absolutely fine seems a bit absurd to me.
sam, i'm of the same school of thought. even though i blew through three problematic copies and eventually returned them all, half of me wants to buy this lens again and just deal with using MF at distances under 5'. even though the 50/1.4 and 1.8 can AF more accurately close up, the resulting images just aren't the same. i guess it's no worse than using a contax/leica/M42 lens with an adapter -- it's just the thought of having an unreliable AF system that bugs me.
if PMA doesn't bring a 1Ds3 then the 50L might end up back in my bag, issues or not.
Did some extensive testing (fooling around) with both my and Lord Malone's 50L today. I found some interesting things I did not know as well as confirming what some others have said about the lens. I will try to write up and post pics tomorrow. I leave you with a real world pic taken of my son with LM's lens...
Ok, I hope Iam not beating a dead horse here, but Ed (Lord) Malone and I thought it would be a good idea to test two of these lenses side by side. I know many have tried several of these lenses but not probably at the same time. That premise turned out to not be particularly rewarding since both of the 50Ls were essentially identical in performance. It really was amazing how uniform these two copies are. They are more consistent than many of my lenses are from shot to shot. IOW, these lenses seem to have less collective shot to to shot variability than some other individual lenses. In this case that is not such a good thing.
The first test I did was the standard focus test. I will shot two shots here from LM's lens. The first at f/1.2 and then at f/2.8. The results are identical to what many others have reported.
F/1.2
As you can see, the lens hit the target at f/1.2 in the extreme forward portion of the DOF. At f/2.8 the lens missed the target slightly with the DOF starting ~2mm behind the target. Both lenses were the same here. Now here is the wrinkle, which I have mentioned before. If I changed from the center point to one of the minor points on my 5D, the DOF is much better centered around the target. This is at f/2.8 with my lens.
Now I will move to the fabled battery test. The target is the second battery on the left. The range is less than 1 meter. The first shot is the 50L at f/1.2
As you can see, the 50L nailed the target at f/1.2. The f/2.8 shot is also a hit but is less of slam-dunk. The third battery is just about as good in focus as the second. Some may feel the third battery is actually in a little better focus than the second.
F/2.8
If you had any doubt about back-focusing in the last pic, this should answer it. This is again shot at f/2.8 using a minor focus point instead of the center point.
Perfect eh?
Again as a control, I will throw in a shot from the 50f/1.4 shot at f/2.8. No surprises here...EDIT - Notice that focused correctly the 50L is hair sharper than the 50 f/1.4.
which minor point are you using? The one to just the right or left of center? and are you still using that point centered on the battery when you AF? thanks
