Is the 50mm 1.8 STM sharper than a 70-200 2.8 II at similar apertures?

[Mt Spokane Photography]

. Was blaming myself, changing shooting techniques, trying all types of AF adjustments and nothing helped.

It sucks that such a high end product comes out of the box in need of adjustments that will leave you without your gear for over a month!

Unfortunately, in between the factory and the customer, there are the shipping companies. They are not kind to lenses, and sometimes there is some incredible stress when a forklift drops a pallet of packages 12 feet. You should always return a lens if it does not meet your expectations, shipping damages is a huge factor, its not something easy to control. Roger Cicala of lens rentals has discussed the shipping issue. They check every lens before its rented, and know that some are damaged in shipping because renters complain and return them with problems that were not there when it was shipped. My wife worked for a shipping company, and when the boss was away, they played football with packages at random, drop kicking them across the room into the containers. If they missed, they had to try again and again - you get the idea.

So, if you think a lens is not sharp, return it or send it for repair. Don't live with it and blam the manufacturer when it may have just been used in a game of football

 

[nvsravank]

Today I took the 70-200mm out for some portrait shots, and I've decided to do it a bit differently this time: I decided to NOT use the AF-on button to focus, and focused using the shutter button as most people do.

This gave me a LOT more sharp shots, a few misfocused but none had that apparent minor motion blur despite using relatively low shutter speeds (1/200 or 1/100s).

I think that when I use the AF-on button to focus (which apparently doesn't trigger the lens IS), there is not enough time for the IS to settle because I wasn't holding the shutter halfway before the shot. And since I didn't use the halfway shutter to focus I would just take the photo at once and this wouldn't give time for the IS to stop the moving parts.

But today, when focusing through the shutter button, it gave enough time for the IS to settle and avoid those slightly blurry shots I was having before.

Does my theory make sense?

Yes it does. Turn off IS if you are already at 400 or faster shutter speed. It really doesn't help. See if that will allow you to go back to your preferred shooting style with AF button.

 

[Mancubus]

. Was blaming myself, changing shooting techniques, trying all types of AF adjustments and nothing helped.

It sucks that such a high end product comes out of the box in need of adjustments that will leave you without your gear for over a month!

Unfortunately, in between the factory and the customer, there are the shipping companies. They are not kind to lenses, and sometimes there is some incredible stress when a forklift drops a pallet of packages 12 feet. You should always return a lens if it does not meet your expectations, shipping damages is a huge factor, its not something easy to control. Roger Cicala of lens rentals has discussed the shipping issue. They check every lens before its rented, and know that some are damaged in shipping because renters complain and return them with problems that were not there when it was shipped. My wife worked for a shipping company, and when the boss was away, they played football with packages at random, drop kicking them across the room into the containers. If they missed, they had to try again and again - you get the idea.

So, if you think a lens is not sharp, return it or send it for repair. Don't live with it and blam the manufacturer when it may have just been used in a game of football

It took me weeks to start noticing that something was wrong. And here in Thailand the return policies are not as friendly as in the US or Europe, especially when you are a foreigner. At the best scenario they would ask me to send in my camera and lens for calibration (which I did after almost a year), but at the time I had an incoming trip and no way I would stay a month without my gear.

Anyway, for months I was blaming myself for my poor technique - because on online forums like this, the reason for poor shots is ALWAYS stupidity from the user, never the equipment.

 

[meywd]

. Was blaming myself, changing shooting techniques, trying all types of AF adjustments and nothing helped.

It sucks that such a high end product comes out of the box in need of adjustments that will leave you without your gear for over a month!

Unfortunately, in between the factory and the customer, there are the shipping companies. They are not kind to lenses, and sometimes there is some incredible stress when a forklift drops a pallet of packages 12 feet. You should always return a lens if it does not meet your expectations, shipping damages is a huge factor, its not something easy to control. Roger Cicala of lens rentals has discussed the shipping issue. They check every lens before its rented, and know that some are damaged in shipping because renters complain and return them with problems that were not there when it was shipped. My wife worked for a shipping company, and when the boss was away, they played football with packages at random, drop kicking them across the room into the containers. If they missed, they had to try again and again - you get the idea.

So, if you think a lens is not sharp, return it or send it for repair. Don't live with it and blam the manufacturer when it may have just been used in a game of football

It took me weeks to start noticing that something was wrong. And here in Thailand the return policies are not as friendly as in the US or Europe, especially when you are a foreigner. At the best scenario they would ask me to send in my camera and lens for calibration (which I did after almost a year), but at the time I had an incoming trip and no way I would stay a month without my gear.

Anyway, for months I was blaming myself for my poor technique - because on online forums like this, the reason for poor shots is ALWAYS stupidity from the user, never the equipment.

I am glad you got the issue solved, the problem with blaming the gear is that its not the issue most of the time, however sometime it is to blame, and as with every other problem you may face in life, reducing the probabilities by checking common issues can help solve the problem faster, make a test that reduces human error, check all the common reasons, and when you are sure its not you, then send the gear to get fixed, this way you don't waste a month of your life with an issue that can be solved at home.