Focus/recompose, in general, is not as bad as some folks make it out to be. You can get things in focus with it if you always keep in mind the way the focal plane is moving. Imagine a pole sticking out of the front of your lens with a flat piece of cardboard or glass stuck on the end, parallel to the sensor in the camera. That's your focal plane. Picture in your mind how it moves when you recompose after focusing, and you'll get an idea about what's going to go out of focus if you don't adjust for it.
To minimize focus problems at wide apertures, it's obviously better to avoid focus/recompose if possible. But when it isn't possible to avoid it, try compensating using the visualization technique described above.
Oh, yeah -- and remember that just because your lens is capable of working at f/1.2, that doesn't mean you have to shoot every photo at wide aperture. Frankly, DOF is just too shallow if one eye is in focus and the other isn't. It looks "wrong," for lack of a better word. Many fine portraits are shot at f/8.
and you always have a focus point that lines up with the point where you want focus? Also, for most bodies, the center point is more accurate than the other focus points. Even with my EOS and 45 focus points and eye control I rarely can plant my camera and expect my critical focus to line up with a focus point.
Are you really controlling your focus or just relying on AFAi?
mike reid wrote:
ive never understood focus recompose...when its focused ive already composed it
yeah, but then you actually have to take a great photo to impress people, if you shoot at f1.2 people are impressed with the lens and don't care about your photo.
>>* The 85L can be stopped down too....does not have to be always shot wide open.
Agreed that my best advice is to resist the temptation to shoot at 1.2 all the time. One of the things about the lens that impresses me most is that the bokeh is great even stopped down a bit. Not all lenses boast such a lovely blur 1-2 stops down....
I agree with mh2000 on one issue he kinda implied.........the cliched f/1.2 shots of babies/people and cats&dogs whereby only their left eye is in focus......those are so abundant that they seldom excite "mature" audiences.
It's funny that after reading all the posts here regarding the 85L most people say that they love the lens but admit to having a few problems like using the right camera with it, specific metering points, focus adjustments, AF speed, right conditions, etc. In the "show me your 85L shots" post most pictures sacrificed one point of focus for another - and most were obviously not on purpose. I guess it's great if everything comes together, but 85 @ f1.2 is like rolling the dice. The 85L is like a wonderful drug which unfortunately comes with a long list of side effects.
Barry Pehlman wrote:
I guess it's great if everything comes together, but 85 @ f1.2 is like rolling the dice. The 85L is like a wonderful drug which unfortunately comes with a long list of side effects.
I see your point, but it's really not the lens. The problem often stems from users' insistence on shooting at f/1.2 at MFD or near it come hell or high water.
Thank goodness the f/1.0 lenses are not readily obtainable otherwise this forum would be flooded with "Look ma no DoF" and "Is it focusing OK" posts.
moondigger wrote:
Oh, yeah -- and remember that just because your lens is capable of working at f/1.2, that doesn't mean you have to shoot every photo at wide aperture. Frankly, DOF is just too shallow if one eye is in focus and the other isn't. It looks "wrong," for lack of a better word. Many fine portraits are shot at f/8.
Thank you Thank you. I have this lens and have been struggling with it BECAUSE of this. I'm constantly trying to use f/1.2 and have had my share of "one eyed" pictures. Glad to read this post. Going to change the way I've been thinking now.
If my subject is moving, I don't think the 85L is my lens of choice, the 1.8 would be a better choice for a moving target, seems the 1.8 focuses faster.
RobertLynn wrote:
If my subject is moving, I don't think the 85L is my lens of choice, the 1.8 would be a better choice for a moving target, seems the 1.8 focuses faster.
Yeah stanj, I don't think I could do that without a couple 100 tries. Very nice.
Of course, I pretty much stay away from 1.2 as much as possible, light permitting. I'd rather go to 1.2 than ISO 3200 for instance. I always figure that stopping down improves sharpness on all lenses anyway.
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