HUGE Focus error with new Eos 85 1.8 EF

[Turtle]

Hi all,

I just bought a brand new Eos 85 1.8 EF and popped it on one of my my Eos 3 bodies. The lens focuses fine through the viewfinder and images appear to be in sharp focus; however, when I inspected the negs they are not even remotely in focus.

Frames shot close up, say 1-2 metres show the camera is focusing behind the subject by about 5-6cm and when I shot at a target about 100ft away, correct focus was about another 70ft behind that!

For subjects at about 1m, the blurry images gets WORSE as I stop down in many cases.

I have not used this Eos 3 body for a while, but have never had problems with it. I am inclined to think the issue is with the lens. The problem is that I am away from home and will be for months so cannot test it on another body.

Is it possible for a lens to *appear to focus* thru an SLR viewfinder but actually be miles out. As it stands the set up it completely unusable at any aperture or distance. images dont even look remotely in focus. The body remains in very clean condition and has had no knocks. I just inspected it and cannot see any damage. Everything appears in order, but of course I cannot be sure....

Any thoughts?

 

[elshaneo]

Well my friend, I don't think that there's a solution for that unfortunately. And I did have a similar problem before but it was with a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 lens, I just returned the lens and exchanged for another new one which did work as required...

 

[user237428934]

Can you test the body with another lens? Probably the it's a problem of the camera?

 

[Pickett Wilson]

If it appears sharp in an SLR, then it should be sharp, unless there is a problem with the camera. Something in the mount, mirror, screen, prism chain is out of perfect register.

 

[Roger Hicks]

It's hard to judge ultimate sharpness on the relatively tiny focusing screen of an SLR, especially a high-transmission screen such as is normally found on autofocus SLRs. My suspicion is that appears sharp and is sharp are not necessarily the same thing. And if as Shane points out he's had a similar problem with another lens, clearly there is scope for its not being the camera.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Jamie123]

Why not take the camera and lens to a nearby shop and do some tests. Maybe try the lens on a digital EOS?

Is there a problem with the film transport or something? Maybe it's a problem with the plate that holds the film at the focus plane? Also, when you take off the lens you should be able to see quite clearly whether or not the screen or mirror are ok.

 

[hks3sgte]

Front focus?

 

[f16sunshine]

Since it is new you should exchange it. Canon lenses have a fair bit of copy variation from my limited experience. Sounds like you have one that is out of sorts.

 

[notturtle]

There are not too many Canon dealers in Kabul, but I did find a colleague who had a 20D an tested the lens. The lens is defective. It focused about 6 cm behind at 1.5m on his 20D and was miles out at 30m. It seemed a touch better on the 20D, but it was still obviously out. The weid thing was that at some distances it seemed to be much closer in focus than at others. The odd frame was pretty close; however most distance aperture combos ranges from a subtle but obvious miss to MILES out.

Although the 20D screen is smaller the images did not seem to be hitting good focus, whereas in my EOS 3 they did. I do not have any other lenses with me but might borrow one of his for a few frames to be sure 100% sure; however, the results from the 20D seemet pretty conclusive; images looked kinda sharp in the finder but were clearly very soft when enlarged. What a nuisance. Guess I will have to delay the project by 3-4 weeks to send the old one back thru the APO and get the new one.

Tanks for your help everyone. I posted knowin that the only two people with EOS bodies here were away, but managed to find another to solve the mystery. At least I know the OOF areas are smooth 😀 Unfortunately they are where I am focusing.