Canon 50mm f1.4 help needed

[tweetykl]

I just got this lens for Christmas. Had lots of fun trying it out but was challenged because I got lots of blurry shots. My major concern though is that I got lots of light speckles (sorry, don't know a name for it) where there are no Christmas lights. I did get the lens hood and used that after a bit and still had the speckles. I had a UV filter on the lens to protect it since I have two kiddos. I was in low light but learned quickly that the lens prefers to have no flash. Should I have used the flash?
Here are all of the photos from Christmas with the lens: Christmas 2009 - a set on Flickr

Here is an example of what I am concerned about:


I did get some photos that I love though:



Any suggestion on the lens would be greatly appreciated. I need to figure out how to make it work better.

[Nicole]

You might want to try taking off the UV filter and see if it still happens. Just a thought since light can bounce around on the extra glass (before I learned better I couldn't figure out why I got double lights in some shots). Try it with something similar to the first shot and see if it still occurs. Otherwise I'm sure someone will have a better suggestion than me

[OsmosisStudios]

Looks like flare to me.

[tweetykl]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Looks like flare to me.

What is flare and how do you combat it?

[Skyyton]

I have the same lens and you've already received some input on the lights issue. I'm just curious why you say the lens doesn't like flash. I find it takes fantastic photos with flash. Have you tried bouncing the flash on the ceiling over your shoulder?

[tweetykl]

When taking picutres, it was just too harsh with the flash. I have not tried those tricks yet but definetely will. I just blogged some of my favorite pictures: A Day in the Life of the Felix Family: Christmas None of the photos have been touched up or altered. They are straight out of the camera. I just thought that they were better without flash. I was amazed how beautifully the pictures did do without flash because I have issues with my kit lens not getting enough light even with the flash at my inlaws.

[Skyyton]

If you're using the built in flash, I can understand why you're not happy. It is very harsh. If you have an external, take a look at this guys techniques. His book will open up a new world of flash photography. You did get some nice shots without flash, but you really can do some amazing things with flash if you learn how to use it.

http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/

[PamEli]

Hi there,

I recently rented this lens for some family portraits and found it hard to get sharpness too... especially in low natural light. In after the shoot, I found that many of them were grainy because of the high ISO. It was a challenge, and while I like the pictures, the grain was a disappoinment that I'd have to deal with.

See family shots here:
PamzPictureThis

[photog1107]

But the grain you noticed wouldn't be due to the lens, would it? Isn't grain simply a result of a high ISO? And with this being a 1.4, I'd think you'd have more leeway to stay with a lower ISO (and hence less grain) correct?

I'd love this lens someday, so I am interested in hearing more critique on it.

[Doug Pardee]

Originally Posted by Nicole

You might want to try taking off the UV filter and see if it still happens. Just a thought since light can bounce around on the extra glass

What Nicole said. Take off your filter.

This is one reason that many of us do not use "protective" filters. They can cause these "ghost" reflections of bright points in your photo.

Here's what happens: some bright spot—the sun, a specular reflection, or (as in this case) a light—is in your scene. When the shutter opens, part of the light from that bright spot bounces off of the reflective front surface of your sensor (this was not a problem with film). The reflected light goes back out through the lens and if you don't have a filter it just keeps going and causes no trouble. But when you have a filter on there, the light reflects back off of the flat surface(s) of the filter and back into the lens, to the sensor.

Technically a form of flare, these "ghost" reflections can be identified by a signature: they're located exactly 180° in the picture from the original bright spot. If the bright spot is in the top left, the ghost is in the bottom right. If you draw lines between the bright spots and their ghosts, the lines will all cross in the center of your photo.

You can't see these ghosts in the viewfinder, because they only happen when the shutter is open and the light can get to the sensor.

By the way, even when you don't have bright spots to jump out at you, these reflections still happen. The result is usually that dark areas of your photo are lightened by reflections from the brighter areas. You lose contrast, and sometimes you get some color casting in your shadows.

If you must use a filter, use a multi-coated filter. The coatings significantly reduce the reflectivity, allowing the bounced light to just go on out of the lens.