50mm 1.4 f-stop & focal points... advice needed

[RJKs Daughter]

I have been using a 50mm 1.4 lens for the past few months & love it! However, I have been incurring some issues with focusing properly.

I shoot manually & in this case I am using a 1.8 aperture. When I try to focus on my subject by placing my focal point directly on it, and my subject has an object in front of it (closer to my camera) and an object behind it (further from my camera) I will get mixed results.

Some of the time my subject will come out crisp and clear, and other times the object that is in front of my subject will come into focus, even though I did not place my focal point on this object.

I am a bit perplexed as to why some of my photos are coming out with the desired focus, and some are not. Does the lens typically focus on the object in front, regardless of where my focus point is?

Thanks in advance for the advice!

[OsmosisStudios]

Can you post some examples, indicating where you were intending to focus? Camera model would be great too.

[RJKs Daughter]

I am using a Canon 20D

Here are a few examples...

I placed the focal point on the subjects face, and it appears that the flowers closest to the camera came into focus.



In this picture, I again placed the focal point on the subjects face, and it appears the ballons came into focus.

[zona5101]

i am not familar with the 20d but if it has one, check the viewfinder diopter to be sure it is set correctly for your vision...

[kirbinster]

What shutter speed were these at -- it looks like you have some camera shake going on.

[RJKs Daughter]

ISO was set at 100 for both photos. Shutter speed was set to 125 for the first picture and 800 for the second picture.

Do you think I should have my camera checked out?

[BCampbell]

Are you using the single focus point in the center?

Canons set to weigh all focus points like to focus on the closest subject. That's what appears to be happening here.

If that's not it, try some test shots with another lens to see if it could be the lens that's an issue.

[OsmosisStudios]

Second BCampbell's comment: what focusing mode were you in?

With fast lenses, and SUPER fast lenses like f/1.4, you want a single point focus.

[RJKs Daughter]

I believe I am, but I will double check my camera when I get home tonight.

Thank you so much for all of your help!