Is my Lens Defective?

[I AM THE MAN]

I just got the Canon EF 50mm 1.8f Lens come in today. I've seen several photos on Flickr of the 50mm lens being able to take close-up shots. I've tried taking all kinds of shots. All the shots I've taken aren't that clear and as far as "close-up" shots go, the lens won't even focus on it (it makes some noise as if it's fighting back).

I think it's defective because when I first opened the actual shipping box, I noticed my UV filter was out of it's case and out in the shipping box. What would you guys recommend? Should I send it back to Amazon (its a new product) for another?

Thanks for your help in advance.

 

[Mr.Noisy]

I just got the Canon EF 50mm 1.8f Lens come in today. I've seen several photos on Flickr of the 50mm lens being able to take close-up shots. I've tried taking all kinds of shots. All the shots I've taken aren't that clear and as far as "close-up" shots go, the lens won't even focus on it (it makes some noise as if it's fighting back).

I think it's defective because when I first opened the actual shipping box, I noticed my UV filter was out of it's case and out in the shipping box. What would you guys recommend? Should I send it back to Amazon (its a new product) for another?

Thanks for your help in advance.

are you using AF or MF for the close up stuff? Close up photography is done using manual focus, or it was back when I learnt, try manually focusing it, you should get some good close up results. for Macro shots get a dedicated lens or try reversing the 50mm, there is a small chance you got a defective unit, but it's only a cheap lens anyway, personally if packaging was indeed open when it arrived (the uv if you ordered one) i'd have sent it back, contact amazon, they will exchange it for you. good luck

 

[rkmac]

The Canon 50mm f/1.8 has a minimum focusing distance of 1.5' (0.45m). If you try and focus on anything closer you will get the "noise as if it's fighting back" as it wont actually focus on anything closer.
Max magnification is only as .15x so you are definitely far from macro, so close-up shots aren't really going to happen.
The lens also doesn't actually come with a UV filter (no Canon lenses do) so I wouldn't be at all surprised if the UV filter wasn't in the box with the lens.
If you can afford it, I highly recommend the Canon 50mm f/1.4 as in my experience for a few hundred dollars more it is much less of a toy lens and actually a really nice piece of glass.

 

[I AM THE MAN]

The Canon 50mm f/1.8 has a minimum focusing distance of 1.5' (0.45m). If you try and focus on anything closer you will get the "noise as if it's fighting back" as it wont actually focus on anything closer.
Max magnification is only as .15x so you are definitely far from macro, so close-up shots aren't really going to happen.
The lens also doesn't actually come with a UV filter (no Canon lenses do) so I wouldn't be at all surprised if the UV filter wasn't in the box with the lens.
If you can afford it, I highly recommend the Canon 50mm f/1.4 as in my experience for a few hundred dollars more it is much less of a toy lens and actually a really nice piece of glass.

I did some research on the internet and I found out the same thing. I guess its my fault for not picking up on that, but then again, Im pretty new to D-SLR photography. The Lens filter I purchased was from Tiffen, and to me it seemed like a decent quality filter. I got it for just about $5. Thank you for your response!

are you using AF or MF for the close up stuff? Close up photography is done using manual focus, or it was back when I learnt, try manually focusing it, you should get some good close up results. for Macro shots get a dedicated lens or try reversing the 50mm, there is a small chance you got a defective unit, but it's only a cheap lens anyway, personally if packaging was indeed open when it arrived (the uv if you ordered one) i'd have sent it back, contact amazon, they will exchange it for you. good luck

Thanks! I tried both AF/MF. Since I got pretty weirded out that the UV filter I purchased (Tiffen 52mm UV Lens-$5) was outside of it's original packaging, I assumed the shipping process might have been rough. I'm just about to send the box back to Amazon tomorrow for an exchange. Thanks for your help!

 

[gnd]

The Lens filter I purchased was from Tiffen, and to me it seemed like a decent quality filter. I got it for just about $5.

There is no such thing as a decent quality filter that costs $5.
I don't think there is anything wrong with what you got that would warrant a return.

 

[TheDrift-]

I used to have that lens and its a good lens for the money, as someone else mentioned the 1.4 is a step up in quality (and price ) I looked between that and the sigma 1.4, both are good lenses and about the same price.

As for your 50mm you are not going to be able to focus that close as has already been stated, but if you are used to using the kit lens, remember the 1.8 does not have Image stablisation, If you have a crop sensor camera you looking around 70/80 mm focal length so to eliminate camera shake you need to be shooting a shutter speed of at least 100-150 to make sure its not the lens.

Also if you are coming from a Kit lens and you are suddenly shooting at f1.8 you DOF is very much narrower so if you miss focus even a little it will look very soft, go out on a sunny day and shoot at least 150 at around 5.6 or greater that lens should look really crisp...if it doesnt or you have tried that already then yeah send it bacK.

 

[robbieduncan]

You could buy some cheap extension tubes off eBay to get more of a macro effect...

 

[I AM THE MAN]

There is no such thing as a decent quality filter that costs $5.
I don't think there is anything wrong with what you got that would warrant a return.

Alright, thank you!

I used to have that lens and its a good lens for the money, as someone else mentioned the 1.4 is a step up in quality (and price ) I looked between that and the sigma 1.4, both are good lenses and about the same price.

As for your 50mm you are not going to be able to focus that close as has already been stated, but if you are used to using the kit lens, remember the 1.8 does not have Image stablisation, If you have a crop sensor camera you looking around 70/80 mm focal length so to eliminate camera shake you need to be shooting a shutter speed of at least 100-150 to make sure its not the lens.

Also if you are coming from a Kit lens and you are suddenly shooting at f1.8 you DOF is very much narrower so if you miss focus even a little it will look very soft, go out on a sunny day and shoot at least 150 at around 5.6 or greater that lens should look really crisp...if it doesnt or you have tried that already then yeah send it bacK.

I've shot around all the Aperature settings as well as different types of shutter speeds. When I tried the lens out, it was quite a sunny day and I tried shooting both MF and AF as well as different Shutter speeds. The images didn't really look too clear (I had taken about 70 photos). So Im just sending it back just to stay on the safe side. Thank you for your answer!

You could buy some cheap extension tubes off eBay to get more of a macro effect...

That seems like a great idea! Thanks.

 

[marsmissions]

As others have said, your lens can not macro focus.

 

[jji7skyline]

The f/1.8 50mm by Canon can only focus to 45cm (if my memory is corrrect) so it's not actually a macro lens.

There are probably 50mm macro lenses, but they would be much more expensive