problems with canon 50 f1.8

[shtfmeister]

I just bought it today and am having problems
all my shots look "dreamy" in a bad way
and when I tried to MFA with Focal It said the "lens not behaving as expected" and recomended I stop
Is this just a lemon or your run of the mill 50 1.8?
Also am I doing something wrong
All shots were on a tripod with my 7D

[robbymack]

I could never get my 50 1.8 to behave nicely with focal either, I think it has something to do with the non usm motor. Luckily it's pretty sharp as is and for $100 it's tough to beat. Some softness wide open is normal, are you still getting the "dreamy" look at f2.8?  If so than maybe a bad copy and just return it if you can or forgo focal and Afma the old fashioned way with a lens align tool.

[Mt Spokane Photography]

It could be a lens issue.  Another common issue is not using enough light, FoCal wants very bright light.

[shtfmeister]

thanks  ill try with more light

[paul13walnut5]

I had to send my nifty fifty back after the aperture error occured.

Recently recurred but the lens has settled back down.

This is my third copy over probably 15 years.  One I dropped, Two my Dad stole, and Three is the current one.

I guess it's only great value if it actually does what you want.

[ChilledXpress]

For the price its a steal but also, you pay for what you get. Over the years I moved from 1.8 to 1.4 to 1.2 ... there is a definite reason why Canon makes three... price matters and at every level you take a step up in robustness. The 1.8 will practically explode if it hits the ground. The 1.4 always began to go wonky after a couple of years of use. The 1.2 is a tank... IQ differences are marginal IMO. You really need to dig to see a diff. Out of the box they should perfom quite well unless you actually got a lemon.

[florianbieler.de]

The 50mm 1.8 is one of the cheapest lenses Canon sells and its build and optical quality is equivalent to its price. It's cheap, it's soft at 1.8 and it focuses not correctly roughly every third or fourth picture. At ChilledXpress says - you pay for what you get.

[shtfmeister]

I used Eos utility to load the lens correction data on to my 7D and now presto it works like a champ. 
I didn't think it woiuld make such a difference