Comparison of 50mm lenses I have (plus one 85mm)

[LeicaFoReVer]

I got very suspicious if my lenses are focusing correctly or not so I decided to go out and test my lenses at different apertures.

I apologize because of silly object to take photos of, bad scanning quality and not so accurate metering (that is why in some photos, the sign is gray in some it is white as it is supposed to be)...

Could you look at tell me if the images look focused or out of focus. Especially Canon 50mm f1.2 is soft wide open but I wonder if it is due to character or focusing problem in the lens or the camera. I always believed it is the character but I want to be sure 100% now.

The jupiter I shimmed by myself and it seems like it is not looking very good at f2 but ok at other apertures.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28512365@N08/tags/test/

My interesting finding is that jupiter is the best for the sharpness of the background at f8 among all (surprisingly)

 

[former member]

To check if the actual focus agrees with the RF- I use my fence post.

J-8 wide-open at F2:

I "nailed that one"

It's much easier to tell if the lens is front/back focusing, or if it is just soft. The actual focus has to be somewhere on the slat.

 

[LeicaFoReVer]

Hi Brian, so if you have checked the image, is jupiter image at f2 looking really bad?

 

[former member]

The lens looks like the F2 is slightly off, but F4 looks great. Remember that the Sonnar lenses shift backwards as you stop down. The shim might be slightly too thick for your camera. BUT- I always like an image with depth to it.

 

[LeicaFoReVer]

Thanks Brian for the tips! how about the others? Especially Canon 50mm at f1.2 and 85mm at f2...

Have you seen the difference in the details of the background with jupiter at f8 compared to others?

 

[former member]

The 50/1.2 looks reasonable to me. The J-8 at F8, makes sense if the shim is too thich for F2, it will be perfect at F4.

Try the lenses with a fence post. There might be room for improvement, you can never tell with a flat oject. People always say that the Cnaon 50/1.5 is not as sharp as a Nikkor. I found the Canon lens was optimized for stop-down to F2.8 or so. I changed the shim- bang.