My lens is annoying me.

[usayit]

If you are handholding those shots, could it be that you are leaning in for the shot? Leaning forward just before pressing the shutter release thus shifting the thin DOF forward. I used to do this a lot without being conscious of it.... until I started to shoot at wider and wider apertures.

Set on a tripod, and roll out a measuring tape on the floor. Set the center focus and focus on just one of the numbers on the measuring tape (45 degree angle). If not enough light, use a remote and/or mirror lockup. Take the photo at full wide aperture. Is the number you focused on sharp or is the numbers/markings to the front or rear sharp?

Two times I did this experiment. First time, it gave me peace of mind that the lens was ok but the issue was me (leaning into a shot). The second time, the lens was back focusing and required adjustment.

 

[javig999]

I have been researching the Tamron 28-75 as a fast zoom option, and one of the complaints that was made more than once was front focus issues with certain copies. The link below provides a method for testing for front or back focus on a lens:

http://focustestchart.com/chart.html

Perhaps it will help rule out the lens itself to try this test? Hope it helps...

 

[iflynething]

If you are handholding those shots, could it be that you are leaning in for the shot? Leaning forward just before pressing the shutter release thus shifting the thin DOF forward.

That's what I was thinking. One reason I didn't want to go lower than 1.8 on my 50mm. Even on the 1.8, from a nose to the eye, is the difference between in focus and out of focus.

This very well could be the issue......even if you had a tripod, I doubt the musicians are keeping still.

By the way, those are some fantastic shots too. Other than your focus issue, they look sharp to me for a dark place

~Michael~

 

[Flash Harry]

I think its your camera that causes the issues, I remember seeing articles about some canon bodies having focus problems when using older lens, I myself had a similar problem with a nikon zoom after first going digital, the lens on my f90 was as sharp as a tack however on my S2 fuji, (basically a D80) focus at close range was poor to say the least. I've just bought a D300 which has AF fine tuning for certain lens to combat this problem. H

 

[SilverGlow]

I suspect manual focus not needed, as I shoot those types of shots with my 24mm F1.4 all the time using AF to great results.

I suspect the real reason for the OP's issues with the 24mm F1.4 is camera workflow? Looking at the first picture he links too, the singer's face is more then bright enough for the camera to get a focus lock on his eyes.

Does the OP manually pick and choose the appropriate focus point? Or does he rely solely on the center focus point, and the Lock-Focus-Recompose dance? This type of shooting means the camera is not used as intended by the maker, and doing so can often introduce focus errors, and metering errors too especially if one shoots in evaluative/matrix metering. This is very true the close and faster one shoots. Shooting stopped down and farther is more forgiving in regard to Lock-Focus-Recompose for the reason of a fatter depth-of-field.

I would first see if there's anything wrong with my camera workflow before I move on to manual focus. From what I can tell, and assuming the lens is not faulty, all the shots linked by the OP should be easily AF'd with that lens and the light provided. Now if the OP is guilty of not using camer workflow as intended by the maker (read Canon's white paper or proper camera workflow), then of course the F2.8 lens will show "better" results then a faster lens (F1.4) as the slower lens is more forgiving when one does the Lock-Focus-Recompose dance because F2.8 offers fatter DOF.