focussing a nifty fifty

[Andywilliams]

Hi All,

I think this may have been asked before but I am still not getting this right.

My nifty fifty canon 50mm prime lens.

I cant focus well due to

a) it wont auto focus for obvious reasons.

b) when I attempt to manually focus the drive wont engage and therefore the focusing ring just goes around and around with no change in focus.

I know that you are meant to be able to depress the shutter button halfway to engage the focus ring? but that doesn't seem to work either?

Do please educate me .

Cheers,

Frustrated Andy from NZ

[alacant]

2 hours ago, Andywilliams said:

it wont auto focus

Hi. If other lenses work then the 50mm is faulty or the contacts between the lens and mount are dirty. Anyway, I find a better way with short lenses is to focus on the moon [1] using auto focus. Switch the lens to manual focus and tape the ring to prevent it moving. 

[1] You'll have to wait until next week for the moon to become bright enough and with a 50mm, make sure the moon is dead centre.

HTH.

[happy-kat]

I have 3 stm lenses and can focus fine, I set my camera to back button focus (read the manual) this splits the buttons so one is shutter and metering and the back button is focus only. So when in manual mode I can engage the lens by pressing shutter button then adjust focus. DSLR Controller on android device makes canon control so much easier.

[Alien 13]

As above, the STM lenses need to be set to manual and the camera needs to be "awake" for connection to be made.

The use of back button focus does make the whole thing easier for me although I did make a wired remote that separates shutter and focus when in normal mode which I use often now (details in one of the diy threads).

Alan