Takumar 50mm F1.4 Fuzzy at F1.4

karmalized · Joined: 10 Feb 2012 Posts: 3

Hello,

I have been reading a lot here lately and have some questions regarding a new purchase I made. I just got a Takumar 50mm F1.4 and am finding my pictures are fuzzy in daylight shots when using F1.4.

I have had many Takumars and have never had any type of problem before. If I take shots at F1.4, they seem fuzzy and aren't sharp, but if I take the same picture at F2, the picture seems perfect. I use a Canon T1i (500D) and have no problems like this with any of my other M42 lenses and am wondering if this is normal with the F1.4? The lens does have some yellowing which I am currently getting rid of with a UV light, but I suspect that this might not be related to the fuzzy focus.

Another question for you F1.4 owners, does anyone else find that when focusing on objects further then around 10 meters or more, that you need to move the focus ring right to infinity? I often find for objects generally far away, my camera says it hits focus at almost the infinity point on the focus ring. My other Takumars and M42 lenses are not like this. I wonder if mine needs adjustments.

Any advice for a new F1.4 owner would be appreciated. I do not want to give up on the lens as the 55mm F1.8 I own is my current favourite lens and I want the F1.4 to work out. If the fuzzy focus at F1.4 is to be expected, does anyone have a recommendation for a replacement lens in the same price range?

Jay

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

Do you have some example photos?

Firstly though, it's worth pointing out that using a lens at f/1.4 in bright light isn't necessarily a good idea. A lens is not normally at its sharpest wide open e.g. you may see a glow around objects. Generally a lens should be used wide open when there isn't enough light to shoot stopped down, or if you are just looking for artistic effect e.g. shallow depth of field. Shooting a landscape wide open with a 50/1.4 in good light is unlikely to work well Wink

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26

welcome to the forum karmalized!

I see three possible scenarios:
- you may expect more sharpness of a lens at f1.4 than it can give
- faulty lens
- focus error ( depth of field is very thin at f1.4 and focusing must be very precise )

samples most likely will enable to tell

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston

Two possibilities come to ind; fogging of the lens or possibly not reaching infinity. Same problem at shorter distances?

karmalized · Joined: 10 Feb 2012 Posts: 3

Thanks guys for getting back to me so quickly. I don't have the camera with me right now to take and upload photos but I will do so tomorrow. The strangest part of this is if I shoot the same picture at 1.4 it is fuzzy, but if I move the aperture selector to 2.0 without adjusting any other setting (including focus), the second picture is much more defined with the fuzziness. I know samples would really clear things up. This isn't a focus issue.

I guess I am not looking to be taking a lot of outdoor photos or landscapes at F1.4, it just seems so weird to me that the difference would be so profound between 1.4 and 2.0.

RioRico · Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 11:07 am Post subject:

I find my Fastest Fifties -- K50/1.2, SuperTak and FA 50/1.4, Yashica ML 50/1.4, Tomioka 55/1.4 -- are all sharp wide-open, but only within a VERY thin DOF range, and not necessarily with a flat subject field. We don't use such lenses wide-open expecting edge-to-edge flatfield sharpness, we use them to grab otherwise-impossible shots, or to exploit that razor-thin DOF.

I'll suggest a test. Pick an angled subject -- easiest would be to lean a yard- or meter-stick at a 45 degree angle and work from under 1m. With the lens wide-open, focus on the middle of the stick, and shoot. Now repeat with the lens stopped-down to maybe f/4. These shots will show the comparable DOF at each aperture setting, and will also let you compare center-sharpness vs edge sharpness. If the wide-open shot shows center fuzziness, then the lens is a problem.

karmalized · Joined: 10 Feb 2012 Posts: 3

I am going out to take some pictures today and will post some samples tonight. Thanks for the suggestions.

Lightshow · Joined: 04 Nov 2011 Posts: 3669 Location: Calgary

It should be sharp WO, or at least acceptably sharp, somewhere in the frame.
It could be that an element is not sitting correctly, or is in backwards, any marks that hint it was worked on?

Glenn72 · Joined: 24 Jan 2012 Posts: 48 Location: Barcelona, Spain

When I first started to use my S-M-C Takumar 50 f/1.4 I relied a lot on the AF chip, which at times would be slightly off.
For real critical focus, I try to use Live View with 5x or 10x zoom which seems to work much better with the razor thin DOF.

This was my first shot with the 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.4 and I missed the focus just slightly, but the photo appears to have more of a dreamy or painted look when you go away from the center.

Flowers with S-M-C Takumar 50mm 1.4 by Gshoemake, on Flickr

Jeff Zen · Joined: 17 Jun 2009 Posts: 262 Location: Northwest USA

When I use my Tak f1.4 wide open on sunny days it has a dreamy look, but if I shoot wide open in low light, for example, photographing my wife on the couch in dim television light, the results are nicely sharp. I think it does what it's made to do. This whole business of shooting wide open no-matter-what the conditions is counter intuitive, at least to me.

Do you use a hood? I would recommend using a nice deep hood with your Tak and bracket your shots in very small increments focusing.