Got my 85mm, kinda disappointed?

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Ok, finally sourced a UK model of this "fabulous" lens. The 1.4G. Which got delivered today. Initial play with it seemed to yield decent results, however, the more I play, the more disappointed I become. It doesn't seem as sharp as the reviews suggest. It also seems to miss focus a little. Possibly back focussing slightly. Now at F1.4, I guess the DOF is so narrow, if myself or subject move slightly, it will throw the focus off. But surely I can't be that unsteady that I miss focus regularly?

ANyone have any suggestions/tips that it could be me, or have I a duff one? I have pretty decent camera holding technique and have never had this problem with the 24-70 or 70-200.

Edited to add a few samples taken tonight by my very obliging friend. All taken with off camera SB-900, all at F1.4 and all focused on the left eye as we look at the images. (except the wine bottle which focussed on the word Vina)
Opened in ACR, 100% crop, saved as JPG.

1.
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2.
6-1.jpg


3.
5-1.jpg


4.
2-2.jpg


5.
1-2.jpg


6.
4.jpg
 
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I'd stick with it for a while, especially if you're not used to shooting at 1.4.

Alternatively, yes it's rubbish, sell it to me for half what you paid for it. :naughty:
 
Ha, thanks for that. Seriously though, does F1.4 take some getting used to? Especially after I read the reviews about how sharp this lens was wide open. I must admit, I am very impressed with the bokeh on some lights in the OOF areas of tonights test shots (not pictured).

To try and remove and user/movement error, i have just shot a few more frames. On a tripod with static subject. Opened in Raw, 100% crop, saved as JPG. 1st at 85mm F1.4, 2nd at F2.8 and third with the 24-70 at 70mm and F2.8 for comparison.

11.jpg

12-1.jpg

13.jpg
 
Depth of field at close distance is going to be pretty small, especially wide open, you do not have much of a margin for error.

It takes time to get used to this, depth of field at 1.2m is 20mm at f1.4, so you do not need to move much to miss critical focus.

The print on the wine bottle looks fine to me.
 
Looking at the Stellar bottles it looks better at 1.4 than the 24-70 at f2.8 :thumbs:
 
Could always try micro adjust? What happened with pic number 3 it looks miles off? I used to have the Canon 85mm f/1.2 and it really is a learning curve when you are dealing with such razor thin margins.
 
The f2.8 shot (2) is definitely sharper and has a fraction more contrast - exactly what you'd expect.

However a touch of sharpening and slightly increased contrast would make them virtually indistinguishable.

In the eye nos. 3@5 are duff but apply a touch of sharpening to the others and they'd certainly look good.

Frankly the lens looks great and I can't see what you're worried about.

If pixel peeping at 100% gets you worried about sharpness - then stop pixel peeping and start taking real photos.

.
 
I have never been one for pixel peeping and test card shots to be honest. but the few shots I took with it had me a little worried at the missed focus and wasn't sure if it was me or lens error. Hence these test shots.

If I am shooting portraits or a wedding shot, I need to be able to nail the focus. not something I have ever had a problem with so was wondering if it was just a case of getting used to the narrow DOF.
 
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Um, I've shot with many f1.2 / f1.4 lenses and I've never seen one that's razor sharp wide open. That's not the point of these lenses, they're designed to yield decent enough results in low light or where dof needs to be shallow. Stop down to f2.8 and you'll be laughing :)
 
I had a couple of Stellas last night....

but on a more serious note, I think that (1) most lenses do not show well at wide open, but come into their own 1 stop down or so, and that appears to be the case here. (2) Every lens model is unique and requires some experimentation and practice to gain confidence and produce predictable, "best" results. Or so it goes with me. :lol: So I'd encourage a couple of days of experimentation before deciding to ditch the, admittedly ruinously expensive, lens.
 
You need to check the AF accuracy, and perhaps micro-adjust it.

It could well be user error. It could be that the lens is okay at normal range and only out at very close distance.

Search a few threads on AF micro-adjust and be careful to do it properly or you'll possibly make things worse!

NB I wouldn't use AF at the range anyway, it's practically macro. Set the focus roughly in manual and then move the plane of maximum sharpness back/forth by shifting your body very, very slightly.
 
But surely the whole point of this lens, is that it is sharp at F1.4. That's what all the review profess. If that's not the case, i could have ought the older AF-D model which is sharp at F2.8?

Or am I missing something? At the moment I feel I have spent a LOT of money and gained not much.
 
Not sure if you are shooting on a crop body or full frame, but bear in mind that 85mm focal distance at f1.4 from (at a guess) 1M away is only going to give you a dof of about 10mm, so it's going to take some practice to be nailing the focus every time.

The beer bottle shots look pretty sharp and has been said before me, the bokeh is fabulous.
 
Ah, apologies for not listing the body. D700. Maybe I need to have a play with the fine tuning on the body?

Yes I am very impressed with the bokeh for sure.
 
Certainly worth checking. With the narrow DoF at 1.4, micro adjustments on the focus could make a huge difference to getting consistent results :thumbs:
 
Yes your right. Just been shooting a white dot of paint on me brick wall at F1.4 at a 45 degree angle (when did I become so obsessive) and the DOF is Sooooooo shallow at around 1.0 metre. The lens appears to be front focussing slightly and consistently with micro adjust at 0. Which is how it seemed testing on humans last night. Focussing on the eye and the bridge of the nose or eyebrow was sharp.

Looks like with a bit of tweaking I will be happy.
 
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Have you tried live view contrast-detect AF for comparison?

Both my longer fast primes (85mm 1.8, 180mm 2.8) needed a fair bit of AF fine tune to get the focus as sharp as using the live view focusing.
 
I just bought the same lens and yes, they take some getting used to. As did the old 85mm 1.4d.
It's a case of learning to master it. The slightest movement at 1.4 can knock you off the focus point and give dissapointing results. It's that shallow!!

Kev.
 
Are you using AF-S or AF-C?

Are you using focus and recompose.?

Using any f1.4 lens wide open isn't easy. You need to practice and learn how the lens behaves.
 
Was using AF-s mode but not focussing and recomposing. I'm not that much of a n00b to know that wouldn't work at that shallow DOF. I lent it to my friend today who is a good photographer and he confirms it is front focussing but should be easily fixed with the D700's micro adjust. I have today pulled my hamstring so he is gonna use it again tomorrow and try the micro adjust on his D700. He did say, apart from that, after a full days use, it is superb.
 
It wasn't meant as you being a noob - I'm never surprised when people F&C with a fast prime and then have problems.
 
Ah no, maybe my reply came across a bit harsh. Wasn't meant like that at all! :)

But is definitely is front focussing slightly out the box, which at F1.4 is obviously where my issues are.
 
Still not happy with this lens. At close range and wide open, it is not focussing correctly. Now not sure if this is an issue with the lens, body or the combination but what's the point of all the reviews saying it is sharp wide open, blah, blah, when it isn't? Is there a problem with mine? Will it get fixed for free? Does anyone know?
 
gazmorton2000 said:
Still not happy with this lens. At close range and wide open, it is not focussing correctly. Now not sure if this is an issue with the lens, body or the combination but what's the point of all the reviews saying it is sharp wide open, blah, blah, when it isn't? Is there a problem with mine? Will it get fixed for free? Does anyone know?
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Not sure which body you have, I would have thought 'AF Fine Tune' would sort it out.

I had a 50mm f1.4G the other week from WEX, -20 on AF Fine Tune could not get it sharp, so I rang them and got it exchanged for another, which was perfect out of the box.
 
Tried the fine tune. it is still hit and miss. There are no more to exchange it for though. Not happy at the moment.
 
This is not uncommon. As I mentioned above, okay at normal distance, but out at close range. This is the danger of using those close distance AF targets that are so popular as web downloads - you correct for close range and subsequently throw it out for normal distance.

It sounds like the lens, and of course it probably is sharp wide open, just that it won't always focus accurately. I would simply send it back to Nikon. They are not unused to this sort of thing, and with most lenses they can do more than you can with microadjust and custom re-set it right across the full focusing range. I would do that rather than exchange it - you should get a 100% copy back whereas if you exchange it, you run the same odds of getting something not quite right.
 
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HoppyUK said:
This is not uncommon. As I mentioned above, okay at normal distance, but out at close range. This is the danger of using those close distance AF targets that are so popular as web downloads - you correct for close range and subsequently throw it out for normal distance.

It sounds like the lens, and of course it probably is sharp wide open, just that it won't always focus accurately. I would simply send it back to Sigma. They are not unused to this sort of thing, and with most lenses they can do more than you can with microadjust and custom re-set it right across the full focusing range. I would do that rather than exchange it - you should get a 100% copy back whereas if you exchange it, you run the same odds of getting something not quite right.
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Send it back to Sigma? I thought this was a f1.4G, Nikon lens?
 
woof woof said:
Send it back to Sigma? I thought this was a f1.4G, Nikon lens?
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Haha! Brain fade. Same applies though ;) I've changed my post above :nuts:
 
At times like these I have a cup of tea :)
 
Thanks Hoppy. I am going to give Nikon a call this morning. It's a lot of cash to spend on something for it not to work as it should. Exchange is not really an option either as it took me long enough to find one in stock and they don't have another at the moment.
 
I've not used the 1.4 but the 1.8 wide open for portraits is next to impossible to nail on a D700. Not because the lens is soft, broken or anything else - because down at a mere f2.2 its fine (most of the time) which is definitely user and subject movement issues.

As for "well whats the use of that then", the answer is wide open for focus accuracy.
 
your samples, with with a couple of exceptions where it looks like you've missed focus (#3 springs to mind) look fine to me, especially once you've added a little sharpening. As others have said the DoF is so narrow with these wide open it does take a bit of getting used to and I do think this is what you're seeing
 
There have been more than those shots taken and I would say 95% of the time, the focus is off. Every review of this lens says it nails focus wide open. That's not what I'm seeing when using it. Was shooting people last night and every shot was OOF. I don't really think you can compare it to the f1.8 version as that costs a few hundred pounds as opposed to almost £1400. It's a lot of money to spend on something that doesn't do what it is advertised to do or what the majority of online reviews say it will do.
 
I'd need to know more about the situations you're using it in.

You say you're shooting people - what sort of lighting, are they moving etc?

This lens is incredibly hard to get to nail focus at f1.4 with people. I almost always use it at f2, with the option of opening it up if I need to because of light.
 
Radiohead said:
I'd need to know more about the situations you're using it in.

You say you're shooting people - what sort of lighting, are they moving etc?

This lens is incredibly hard to get to nail focus at f1.4 with people. I almost always use it at f2, with the option of opening it up if I need to because of light.
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Well last night I was using OCF with iso at 200 and the subject was completely static.
 
I have to ask then - why would you need f1.4 in that set-up.

I'm not having a go here, I'm just exploring what's going on....
 
Radiohead said:
I have to ask then - why would you need f1.4 in that set-up.

I'm not having a go here, I'm just exploring what's going on....
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I agree in that setup, you wouldn't use F1.4. But surely it should focus correctly?
 
Which focus mode are you using? Continuous? With single point?

Out of interest, when you review the images on the back of the camera, does it show the active focus points? If it doesn't, then its not achieving focus lock...

I remember Arkady on here saying that he struggled in a similar way until he realised he was making a slight body movement as he pressed the shutter release and that is what screws these very narrow DOF shots up.
 
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