Focus issues with 50mm

[deecemobile]

I recently bought an AF-S 50mm 1.8G and really love it but too often I find that the images are just slightly out of focus and just enough to ruin the picture for me.

Today I was outside; it was overcast but the light was great and on camera the images looked good and clear but get them home and view them on my monitor and they are all blurry.

I try to use Aperture Priority. I'm not sure if it's my aperture or lighting or a slight shake, but it's frustrating because I expect great photos from this lens and am disappointed a lot.

Thanks

 

[Moab Man]

I have not been sold on the 50 mm. Everyone seems to swear by it and love the lens. The sharpness and focus is inconsistent whether I am using my D5100 or D7100. By comparison, the 35 mm hits the focus every time without fail.

 

[John P]

What aperature are you shooting with?

 

[John P]

My 50 1.8 is razor sharp.

 

[deecemobile]

I think I had it at about 3.2, ISO about 500 and Exposure at +.7. They looked good on screen...

 

[Vincent]

I have been happy with the results on my 50mm, mainly the pictures of my partner.

That said, I´m trying to adjust the auto focus on the D7000 for my lenses, adjusting for the small variances there can be. The adjustment ends up at max 20 and I would probably have liked 22, for the 50 mm. However mostly this will not matter.

 

[Whiskeyman]

I think I had it at about 3.2, ISO about 500 and Exposure at +.7. They looked good on screen...

So much looks so good on a camera's LCD viewer. What you may need to do is check and adjust the focus for this lens on your camera.

There are many online tutorials on haow to accomplish this.

​WM

WM

 

[wud]

I got the Sigma 50mm, so no comparison actually - but suddenly I started getting images juuuust out of focus. For this lens, some can have this problem and I was told from start, so I even went out and tested a whole lot, but it seemed just fine.

Do you still have warranty? I do, but haven't talked to them yet, I'm not sure how to convince them its true, since the lens only does it sometimes.

I do like the 50mm, so soft and creamy - when it works

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

Welcome to the forum

If you fill out your profile we can better answer any questions that you might have.
You can do that at http://nikonites.com/profile.php?do=editprofile

Some useful links
http://support.nikonusa.com/app/ans.../nikon-product-manuals-available-for-download
Nikon | Imaging Products | Digitutor


Thanks

Post a print with the EXIF data so we can possibly see what happened.


Guidelines to adding a photo to your post.

1. Resize photo to 1000px on the long side.
2. Resolution set to 72ppi (Pixels Per Inch)

These guidelines will be good for viewing on a computer but will not be good for printing. This will help safeguard your copyright.

​

 

[Scott Murray]

Feel free to drop a few images in here with EXIF data sow e can see whats going on.

 

[Vincent]

So here we go:

First test I did at about 1m50 (a little bit under infinite focus) gave perfect picture in all AF Fine Tune settings.

Second test was closer to infinite focus, all on tripod, I tried to put a point focus on a high contrasted line (crop here focus is on the tree), I put it manually on minimum focus length and use the button to autofocus, then use remote trigger while on lifeview:

Device: Nikon D7000
Lens: 50mm F/1.8G
Focal Length: 50mm
AF-Area Mode: Single
Aperture: F/8
Shutter Speed: 1/60s
Exposure Mode: Manual
Exposure Comp.: 0EV
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 160

Focus Mode: Manual (this is what I want)


Focus Mode: AF-S
AF Fine Tune: ON(+20)



Focus Mode: AF-S
AF Fine Tune: ON(+15)



Focus Mode: AF-S
AF Fine Tune: ON(+0)



Focus Mode: AF-S
AF Fine Tune: ON(-20)



NB: strangely I like -20 the best here, where I put it on +20 last time (second best IMHO). However none give the manual focus result.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

So here we go: ...

I'm not understanding your test procedure but not a single one of those shots appears to be anywhere near in-focus to me.


.....

 

[Marcel]

I'm not understanding your test procedure but not a single one of those shots appears to be anywhere near in-focus to me.


.....

That's because the test was done at f8… Vincent, you've got to open your lens at f1.8 to do these tests. Otherwise the Depth Of Field is too wide to know which one is the best (they all look so so).

 

[Vincent]

That's because the test was done at f8… Vincent, you've got to open your lens at f1.8 to do these tests. Otherwise the Depth Of Field is too wide to know which one is the best (they all look so so).

I'm not understanding your test procedure but not a single one of those shots appears to be anywhere near in-focus to me.
.....

The AF pictures are so-so, that is the issue!
You both seem to be saying that my manual focus picture is not in focus. Then focus does not exist and we have solved the issue, AF is not in focus since focus does not exist.

I bet that if I had put on f1,8 someone had made a remark on this like "lenses are a bit soft at the extremes", but it is a valid other test. Clearly I will shoot at f8 if possible for my (car) shots.

Be clear that the issue is not enormous either , which I also want to show people complaining about the focus, it is quite good, to very good in my first test.

I wrote the test procedures to get pointers on what goes wrong, if you have tips to give how to avoid that AF has an issue that is great input as well.

 

[Marcel]

Vincent, try -10. Seems -20 is a little too front focused where the actual optimal number could be between -10 and -15. Take your time and do this right and your results will improve immensely. Don't give up on the first trial.

 

[wud]

I bet that if I had put on f1,8 someone had made a remark on this like "lenses are a bit soft at the extremes", but it is a valid other test. Clearly I will shoot at f8 if possible for my (car) shots.

Even though they are soft, its pretty clear where your focus are, if you use 1,8. Way easier to see, if it hits right.

 

[Vincent]

Be clear I love this AF-S 50mm, it takes some of best pictures I have ever seen. I´ll never give up on it.

I tried a test with f1,8 and a tree with more contrast, yesterday. I think my procedure was a failure, it states AF Fine Tune: -- and all were razor sharp.
Today no time to redo a test.

I also had done the test on the other - so here they are:

Focus Mode: AF-S
AF Fine Tune: ON(-5)



Focus Mode: AF-S
AF Fine Tune: ON(-10)



Focus Mode: AF-S
AF Fine Tune: ON(-15)



I fear though that I should have put my settings a bit underexposed on the meter, here I edited one:

 

[Vincent]

So some evolution.

1) After my test I forgot to change the setting and it ended up in -20 iso the +20 I thought was good. I was at a Christening, took quite some shots and they turned out OK.
2) I figured out the AF Fine Tune: -- issue, it seems that going into lifeview puts my focus in AF-F. It seems very few people even know about this mode. However it seems to focus greatly.
3) One test was fully unsharp, checking again brought me to see the focus point was not where I thought it was (not central, but moved all to the right).
4) I did a different test showing how small the issue is (if any):

This is a lot of crop on a cup: Manual you see the imperfections.


on AF Fine Tune: -20 the focus is very good:


On AF Fine Tune: -10 the focus is still very good.


On AF Fine Tune: 0 the focus is still very good.


AF Fine Tune: +10 starting to lose focus (imperfections are less)


AF Fine Tune: +20 focus lost (no imperfections)


Nikon D7000 50mm F/1.8G
Focus Mode: AF-S
AF-Area Mode: Single
AF Fine Tune: ON(see comment)
Exposure
Aperture: F/4.5 (I missed this wanted F/1.8)
Shutter Speed: 1/2.5s
Exposure Mode: Manual
Metering: Matrix
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 100