# Practical use of the ef 50mm 1.2L



## YuengLinger (Jan 29, 2015)

Hi, all, tired of waiting for Sigma to release a firmware update for its 50mm 1.4 Art, and yearning for a fast fifty with a little more magic than my faithful old ef 50mm 1.4 now permanently affixed to a 60D, I bought a 50mm 1.2. Should arrive early next week.

I'll be using it on a 5DIII for adding slightly impressionistic images to portrait series. I've seen a lot of beautiful work done with misty backlighting and twilight backgrounds, as well as subtle motion blurs in low light. Fifty millimeters is a very comfortable FL for me, and I also plan to use it for taking pictures of my baby daughter as she grows up.

Now I've seen many of the pros and cons of this lens, and I don't want to hear all the reasons it won't work.

Also, I have several razor sharp lenses. If I could have only one lens, it would have to be sharp. But as my photography progresses, I see the beauty in light and form, radiance and color, as also being valid and pleasing.

What I'm hoping for is solid advice on how to use the lens near minimum focal distance so that I can overcome focus shift.

For example, should I AF on a nose, or a cheek, or an eyebrow to try and get an eye sharp? 

I'm NOT good at manual focus unless I have a lot of time and the subject isn't moving. Ahem.

Thanks!


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## Rahul (Jan 29, 2015)

Congrats on your purchase! And now, be prepared for a lot of frustration (at least initially) 

The 50L isn't built by Canon with sharpness and action in mind. Getting a good sharp shot of a young child running amok (like mine do) will likely have low keeper rates. 

Focus shift is a necessary evil for 50mm lenses and the 50L is particularly troublesome. There is no surefire way to avoid it but after using the lens for a while, you could possibly predict where and how much the focus would shift but it's likely to be hit and miss. 

Personally, the best solution for me has been to throw the camera in AF-Servo and take multiple shots with the 5DIII. In the alternate, the best solution is to use contrast AF in live-view whenever possible.

Enjoy the lens. 



YuengLinger said:


> Also, I have several razor sharp lenses. If I could have only one lens, it would have to be sharp. But as my photography progresses, I see the beauty in light and form, radiance and color, as also being valid and pleasing.



Excellent! I've experienced this as well and consider that pixel level sharpness is overrated.


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## YuengLinger (Jan 29, 2015)

Rahul said:


> Congrats on your purchase! And now, be prepared for a lot of frustration (at least initially)
> 
> The 50L isn't built by Canon with sharpness and action in mind. Getting a good sharp shot of a young child running amok (like mine do) will likely have low keeper rates.
> 
> ...



Thanks, Rahul.

Are you using back-button focus for your AI-Servo?


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## AE-1Burnham (Jan 29, 2015)

Miniscule DOF, like 50mm @ 1.2 @ MFD requires lots of care in actuating the shutter: Any movement (from photog or subject) will cause lots of misfocus. Make sure you hold the camera/weight by the lens and stabilize you stance.

The best photog advice I ever received applies here: "Never take just one exposure." Don't be afraid to use those FPS (in this case for both catching "the moment" and catching the focus! 

AF should be good with 5Dmarkiii but this is not a lens to operate quickly with -- and focus-and-recompose is not an option with this lens due to narrow DOF. (I enjoy the EC/EG-S focus screens in the 1Ds and the 5Dii...) I always use back-button AF and shift the focus point accordingly.

Regarding focus shift, if you shoot wide open you don't need to worry(!) but if you are stopping down then this is something that you have to get used to like Rahul has pointed out and either learn/assume the backfocus shift or use live preview. If shooting in controlled environment, take the laptop and use remote shooting with EOS utility. ;-)

Congrats on the lens! May it bring you many beautiful images and confidence in a solid performing lens (if a little tricky at times).


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## AcutancePhotography (Jan 29, 2015)

The MFD for that lens is 18 inches. Using the DOFmaster.com calculator it appears that the total DoF at 1.2 is 0.21 inches. 0.1 in front and 0.11 behind. YIKES! Can a human being even hold their head that still?


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## mackguyver (Jan 29, 2015)

Congrats on the purchase as well. I have owned two copies of the lens and I think you'll love it. It, along with the 85 f/1.2 II are pretty much the only lenses I use for portraits. Other lenses work well for other subjects, but the shallow DOF, color and contrast of this lens really makes for special portraits. With a little one, you'll fall in love with it right away.

I generally shoot between f/1.2 and f/2 and have never noticed the dreaded focus shift on either copy. Perhaps it's because of the aperture, or perhaps because of the rumored change that Canon made some years ago to improve this behavior. I also believe a lot of the reported problems are related to the fact that shooting at f/1.2 is very difficult and the closer you get to the subject, the shallower the DOF becomes (paper thin). Your best bet is to use FoCal or another tool to AFMA the lens (pretty critical), and take multiple shots, re-focusing between each one. You'll find that your keeper rate at f/1.2 up close is going to be pretty low - maybe 10-50% in low light, higher in good light. Be patient with it if you shoot wide open, as you get more comfortable with it, you'll find your keeper rate will go up. Be sure to use your camera's focus points as the focus and recompose technique doesn't work well due to the field curvature and shallow DOF of this lens. Also, you can always shoot in M mode and bump up the shutter speed to 1/100s or higher to give yourself a better margin.


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## Dylan777 (Jan 29, 2015)

It's quite simple:

1. AFMA @ your fav. distances
2. Shoot from f1.2 to f2
3. Shoot from f1.2 to f2
4. Shoot from f1.2 to f2
5. Shoot from f1.2 to f2

Sold mine last year. I do miss it sometime.


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## Maiaibing (Jan 29, 2015)

YuengLinger said:


> What I'm hoping for is solid advice on how to use the lens near minimum focal distance so that I can overcome focus shift.
> 
> For example, should I AF on a nose, or a cheek, or an eyebrow to try and get an eye sharp?
> 
> I'm NOT good at manual focus unless I have a lot of time and the subject isn't moving. Ahem.



Typically, focus shift will matter most for wide aperture lenses at fairly close distances and nearly wide - but not fully wide - open settings. If you shot wide open - you have no focus shift. So this is your best bet with the 50 f/1.2 

The problem is of course that shooting it wide open at close distance (facial portrait) you get minimal DOF. So if you shoot such portraits, the options are either to open up a bit or go for an eye focus picture taken wide open @f/1.2.

On the suggestions to shoot nearly wide open (as above) this will only make it worse at short distance and is to be avoided. Also, you cannot microadjust as also suggested above - at least not without affecting all other distances negatively - that's why its called a shift its not malfocussing - it should focus 100% correct wide open. Use MA to correct and you will just upset everything else. 

Finally, manual foccus is not helpful as the focus shift only "happens" as you press the shutter button (because the focus is done for the lens wide open and not stopped down). This is also why all 50L lenses have and show focus shift. It cannot be otherwise. Its a property of the lens design. I count it a design flaw. Others are more forgiving. Its the only Canon lens I know of that does not have a floating element to correct the shift (24L, 35L, 85L etc. all have it).

A last note. Some claim you can "trick" the autofocus to compensate the shift by using one of the outer focus points. Maybe worth an experiment?

Good luck!


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## zlatko (Jan 29, 2015)

Dylan777 said:


> It's quite simple:
> 
> 1. AFMA @ your fav. distances
> 2. Shoot from f1.2 to f2
> ...



I agree! It is quite simple. As far as I could tell, the focus shift occurs near minimum focus distance and is a problem around f/2.8. So, shoot from f/1.2 to f/2 as stated above. Or shoot from f/4 and smaller. Just avoid f/2.8 (or f/2.2 to f/3.5) when shooting near minimum focus distance. And overshoot a bit, as others have mentioned. That's all there is to it!

I would do AFMA at around 2.5 meters (50X focal length) — sort of a mid distance.


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## YuengLinger (Jan 29, 2015)

Thank you, all, very much. I will try all your suggestions to see what works for personal style, and might finally spend on FoCal too. Time to try back-button again, I expect.

Got confused about the floating element NOT being in this lens.


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## Rahul (Jan 29, 2015)

YuengLinger said:


> Rahul said:
> 
> 
> > Congrats on your purchase! And now, be prepared for a lot of frustration (at least initially)
> ...



Yes, always.


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## Rahul (Jan 29, 2015)

Funny, after reading the replies, I checked the f stop of my photos with the 50L. Almost 85% of the shots are wide open with over 13% being from f/1.4. The rest were taken in cases where I was carrying "only" the 50L and needed to shoot narrower.


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## DRR (Jan 29, 2015)

Rahul said:


> Funny, after reading the replies, I checked the f stop of my photos with the 50L. Almost 85% of the shots are wide open with over 13% being from f/1.4. The rest were taken in cases where I was carrying "only" the 50L and needed to shoot narrower.



I find the same type of distribution in my fast primes as well. A huge advantage of a fast prime (to me at least) is the ability to go from wide open (f/1.2, f/1.4) to f/2.8. If I wanted to shoot stopped down I would have either gotten a slower prime or a zoom. This is my personal preference at least for the style I shoot.


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## Rahul (Jan 29, 2015)

DRR said:


> Rahul said:
> 
> 
> > Funny, after reading the replies, I checked the f stop of my photos with the 50L. Almost 85% of the shots are wide open with over 13% being from f/1.4. The rest were taken in cases where I was carrying "only" the 50L and needed to shoot narrower.
> ...



Agreed. For anything from f/2.8 and narrower, I'd rather use my 24-70II than the 50L.


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## sagittariansrock (Jan 29, 2015)

I'd suggest rapid-firing at 6 fps and asking your subject to slowly come closer or recede. Some of the images will have the eye in sharp focus :

On a more serious note, as Dylan said, if you're using it at or close to f/1.2 you shouldn't have problems. It seems you are purchasing it for that purpose anyway.

The depth of field at smaller apertures and quite further away will be large anyway. I haven't owned a 50/1.2, so I wonder what the real-world impact of the focus shift really is...


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## Maiaibing (Jan 29, 2015)

sagittariansrock said:


> I'd suggest rapid-firing at 6 fps and asking your subject to slowly come closer or recede. Some of the images will have the eye in sharp focus :
> 
> On a more serious note, as Dylan said, if you're using it at or close to f/1.2 you shouldn't have problems.



1) A real solution (which could have many good uses) would be to be able to shoot with bracketed MicroAdjustment. A simple thing to programme.

2) As I wrote f/1.2 has no focus shift - at all. Shooting nearly wide however is not a way to avoid focus shift. Have not tested but expect by f/5.6 its zero (or virtually zero). Shooting nearly wide is begging to confront the focus shift (if shooting close portrait distance w/50L)


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## Rahul (Jan 29, 2015)

Maiaibing said:


> 1) A real solution (which could have many good uses) would be to be able to shoot with bracketed MicroAdjustment. A simple thing to programme.



Interesting. Could you please elaborate on this?


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## sagittariansrock (Jan 29, 2015)

Maiaibing said:


> sagittariansrock said:
> 
> 
> > I'd suggest rapid-firing at 6 fps and asking your subject to slowly come closer or recede. Some of the images will have the eye in sharp focus :
> ...



1) As Rahul also asked, can you elaborate? Sounds exciting, although I have no coding experience...  I ask only out of curiosity at this point, I don't own any f/1.2 lens.
2) As far as I understand focus shift (courtesy of this forum and Neuroanatomist, and confirmed through further reading), focus shift occurs due to a mismatch in focus while metering (wide open) and while shooting (if stopped down). Therefore, when shooting wide open there should not be any focus shift, by definition. So there might be real world workarounds, but shooting wide open should definitely work.
2b) I have never used the 50/1.2L myself but the two technical reasons I mentioned caused me to suspect the focus shift claims haters love to harp on. It seems your personal experience confirms my suspicion.

edit: Roger at Lensrentals confirms the presence of focus shift. His methodologies are so spot on, and he has access to so many copies, I am inclined to believe him over and above everyone else.


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## YuengLinger (Jan 30, 2015)

This is the clearest demo I've found of focus shift on the 50mm 1.2. Shows various apertures at 2', 3', 6', and 10' distances.

http://www.aravind.ca/Reviews?Canon50_f12/focus_shift

And...I've had a change of heart. Good encouragement here, along with doses of reality. Thanks. I'm going to refuse the delivery next week. Simply too much trouble to try and master at this point. I will live with the lenses I have until Canon either fixes the focus shift with a new design or Sigma demonstrates they've fixed their AF inconsistency with a firmware update or whatever it takes.


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## Maiaibing (Jan 30, 2015)

sagittariansrock said:


> Maiaibing said:
> 
> 
> > 1) A real solution (which could have many good uses) would be to be able to shoot with bracketed MicroAdjustment. A simple thing to programme.
> ...



Your MA setting is only a focus reading override. The camera software could just be asked to move the MA from say +1 to +3 to +5 for a series of three shots (of course using the MA points deemed useful for your camera/lens combo). Just a simple additional menu option. This is what Reikan focal and other MA software does as Canon protocol already lets you control the MA off-camera.

Think "real time" MA.



sagittariansrock said:


> 2) As far as I understand focus shift (courtesy of this forum and Neuroanatomist, and confirmed through further reading), focus shift occurs due to a mismatch in focus while metering (wide open) and while shooting (if stopped down). Therefore, when shooting wide open there should not be any focus shift, by definition. So there might be real world workarounds, but shooting wide open should definitely work.



Yes. Exactly as I wrote above (?) The problem I wanted to highlight is that shooting near wide at close distances as suggested further above. This is where the focus shift will be worst. So not good advice to avoid it.

Also, the focus shift only sets in at a relatively short shooting distance for the 50L.

{I can see the test mentioned above indicates that the focus shift goes further away than I expected}


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## mackguyver (Jan 30, 2015)

YuengLinger said:


> This is the clearest demo I've found of focus shift on the 50mm 1.2. Shows various apertures at 2', 3', 6', and 10' distances.
> 
> http://www.aravind.ca/Reviews?Canon50_f12/focus_shift
> 
> And...I've had a change of heart. Good encouragement here, along with doses of reality. Thanks. I'm going to refuse the delivery next week. Simply too much trouble to try and master at this point. I will live with the lenses I have until Canon either fixes the focus shift with a new design or Sigma demonstrates they've fixed their AF inconsistency with a firmware update or whatever it takes.


I understand your concerns based on Internet sources, but I would at least give the lens a try. You can always return it. Or if you want essentially the same lens without as much focus shift and not as soft, but with other issues (slow AF driven by wire, shallower DOF, exposed glass on mount), give the 85L II a try. These are both specialty portrait lenses that aren't easy to use, but not impossible, either. The results when shot between f/1.2 and f/2 are stunning, however.


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## Sarpedon (Jan 30, 2015)

I want to second Mackguyver here. This isn't the easiest lens in the world to use, but since it's already on the way, I'd strongly encourage you to give it a shot and then return it if you don't like it.

I've had a lot of lenses in the 10 years I've shot Canon cameras. I've liked a lot of them and loved a few, but this is the one I love most. 

I also think, as the link from aravind shows, that the focus shift issue is a bit overblown. It exists, sure, but you're far more likely to have shots out of focus through user error and/or the natural difficulties of shooting with such a thin depth of field; you'll find those same problems with other wide-aperture primes. This lens _is_ difficult, but it really does reward practice and patience.


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## mwh1964 (Feb 1, 2015)

Great buy. I had the lens and regret I sold to get a few bucks out of it. Shoot it at 1.2 always. That is what you paid for.


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## YuengLinger (Feb 2, 2015)

I've had great luck, often at max aperture, with the 85mm 1.2, the Sigma 35mm 1.4 Art, and the ef 50mm 1.4. Nailing focus with an outer point on an eye, often very near MFD, but generally from about 4' - 6'. I'd rarely want the very shallow depth of field for full body portraits.

(I don't understand the many people who claim that the 50mm 1.2 is ONLY a problem at 4' - 8' away from the subject, as that is the distance for portraits with 50mm lenses for many photographers.)

But the more samples I looked at, and the more I understood of the focus shift, the more I realized that 1.2 on the 50mm 1.2 was just a little too soft for my style, and stopping down introduces challenges that don't seem very fun right now.

I've tried the Sigma 50mm 1.4 Art, liked it, but had bad luck with erratic AF.

I will just get by with the FL's I have now and hope that Canon does come out with a 50 that is truly comparable in IQ to the 85mm 1.2 (but with faster AF!) and has a floating element or whatever is needed to significantly reduce the focus shift.


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## mackguyver (Feb 2, 2015)

YuengLinger said:


> I've had great luck, often at max aperture, with the 85mm 1.2, the Sigma 35mm 1.4 Art, and the ef 50mm 1.4. Nailing focus with an outer point on an eye, often very near MFD, but generally from about 4' - 6'. I'd rarely want the very shallow depth of field for full body portraits.
> 
> (I don't understand the many people who claim that the 50mm 1.2 is ONLY a problem at 4' - 8' away from the subject, as that is the distance for portraits with 50mm lenses for many photographers.)
> 
> ...


If you need sharp, then yes, this lens isn't for you. That's not to say it's a soft lens but compared to the 24-70 f/2.8 II or lenses like that, yes it's softer. I view it as a portrait lens and if you look at it that way (and use it that way), it's a pretty amazing lens. It works well for general purpose shots, too, but wouldn't be my first choice if I was looking for the sharpest possible photos.


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## geekpower (Feb 23, 2015)

i've observed that focus shift is a thing with this lens, but it's not a big enough deal to really worry about. in my informal tests, when shooting a meter away, focus appears to shift away from the camera by about 3-4mm at most, which is usually not enough to put the subject out of focus.

on the other hand, with the dof being as shallow as it is, setting the AFMA is very important. mine needed an adjustment of -10, which made a difference of a few cm shooting 3m away, which is enough to cause trouble when shooting wide open. simple enough to do though. i bought focal to double check my manual settings and it's results were very close.

i really enjoy this lens a lot. being able to obliterate ugly backgrounds really makes the subject pop. i even enjoy it stopped down, which isn't what it's really meant for, but the colour rendition is good, and while it's not the sharpest, it's not as soft as people say either.


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