Haze Issue on 50mm & 85mm f1.4

[scpleta]

I bought these two lenses (AF 50mm f1.4D and 85mm f1.4D) several weeks ago from the internet. All the photos I take from these two lenses appear with some apparent haze (soft focus?). I have read some article bits about the sharpness of these lenses and their awesome. However, I'm getting confused of why these two lenses appear on the contrary. Or, is it because I am just unlucky of getting "lemon" lenses. :(

However, I can remedy the haze during post processing but it just to cumbersome as I can't just use the jpg file/s where the haze is quite prominent.

Note that even with a filter in front of the lens, the same haze is evident.

Is there anyway I could correct this issue? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks all in advance!

72763

[kiwi]

What filters you using ? I'd take them all off

I think its simply out of focus

Shooting at 1.4 in that lights simply not necessary

[jjphoto]

What do you mean by haze? Can you be more specific, descriptive?

I'd point out that you have a photo of a moving target where it is very difficult to get a sharp photo in the first place. I'd suggest you take several test photo's of a static subject and at every aperture so that you learn how those lenses perform. You need to also consider camera shake (the shutter speed that you are using may be too slow for a sharp image). You will always find that lenses are less sharp wide open than they are 2-3 stops down.

JJ

[scpleta]

What filters you using ? I'd take them all off

I think its simply out of focus

Shooting at 1.4 in that lights simply not necessary

Yup, the image is not quite focused but the image itself doesn't seem to have distinct lines, if you like. It's like there is a soft focus effect, thus, the haze.

I initially used filters but decided not to. Are you suggesting that I use a filter to eliminate the haze?

[scpleta]

What do you mean by haze? Can you be more specific, descriptive?
JJ

It's something like a soft focus effect on the image. Hope I made it clearer to you. :o

[kiwi]

To me it simply looks out of focus alltogether, i suppose that is similar to your description of hazy

Like I suggest to everyone complaining about lens iq you need to do controlled testing of still objects well lit tripod mounted

[N*A*M]

test it with no filters attached, and with the lens hood on and not shooting into a light source

my 85/1.4D can behave that way (exhibiting lack of contrast/flare) when shooting into light
a big front element, and no super duper coatings will do that

i don't own a 50/1.4 so can't comment on that

but i agree that you need controlled testing to isolate the problem
then possibly af microadjustment and technique discipline will probably yield your answer
or at least it will give you more shooting time with the glass, to help you work around the issue

if you still can't isolate the problem, try the lenses on a different camera
if they are 2nd hand lenses, you may possibly have bought defective lenses
but if these are your first F/1.4 lenses, you will need more practice to get the most out of them

[arthurking83]

Good advice given by all so far.

As Darren said, the image is misfocused(if focus on the kid's eyes was the intent).
Telltale is the slight red fringing on the outer edges of the eyes, meaning that the in this instance the lens is back focused.
The plane of focus appears to be at about the front of the ear lobes.

The haze you refer too is simple over exposure of the red channel. As the jumper is a magenta colour and it's blown out detail is lost, so it looks hazy.

WB correction of the raw file(you shoot in NEF mode, yeah!) and a touch of -ve exposure compensation may help to regain some detail, but this would have best been done at the time of capture.
Unfortunately there is no cure for misfocussing.

There does appear to be some kind of circular pattern in the grass either side of the kid's head. What or why this is, is a bit of a mystery. If this is what you mean by haze.. I'd be less worried about that and focus more on getting more accurate focus first. Just make sure the lens's front element is fairly clean too.

[kiwi]

As nam said that could be flare

[scpleta]

thanks guys for all your advise and comments. i'll conduct some controlled testing to check the lenses. i appreciate all your replies! :D