Vintage lens with X-E1 produces soft/out of focus images

[zuluviper]

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I am using a X-E1 camera with a vintage Canon FD 50mm F1.8 lens. 

When I take an image the result is always soft, even though the viewfinder or screen show a very sharp image, however as soon as I press the shutter pre-view the image is soft, and when I take the photograph, the result is soft - like it is very slightly out of focus. I have used this with focus peaking and everything looks sharp. Am I correct in assuming that images seen on the screen when focusing is via the lens? is it the lens? or my setting or my manual focusing ability. some help will be useful, TIA.

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Hi,

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[mdm]

When I shoot "street" with adapted lenses I use f8 - f11, if I want utilize max aperture (1.2 - 1.8) I try to focus without focus peaking as it might cheat you.

[zuluviper]

Thanks for the reply. I think 1 found 2 issues,

1. The FD mount defaulted to fully open position, I did not realise the outer ring on the adapter should be set to lock. This allows the aperture to be set. 

2. On the tripod the sharpness was better. Hand held shots suffered from some camera shake.

I have turned off focus peaking, however I still believe I am not getting the full sharpness of the Canon FD 50mm lens and would be grateful for any further suggestions on how to improve the images, esp when hand held. TIA.

[mdm]

As we know any camera shake could be omitted by reducing shutter speed, so I tend to use at least 1/250 with wide and normal lenses. And of cause keep in mind that wide open vintage lens almost always would look soft, so close it down one stop to gain sharpness.

[Clemson]

The vast majority of the photos I take with my X-E3 are with manual lens. I do not like the peak focus setting, rather I opt to move the joystick focus point to the area I want to make sure is in focus, then press the dial wheel which zooms in on the selected area for fine focusing. 

I agree with mdm that blur will be due to shutter speed, and since I use Aperture Priority setting, if with my chosen stop  the shutter is too slow, I change my ISO to suit.

On a wider angle lens like my TT Artisan 17mm which has a very wide focus range at f/8, even f/4 is pretty good, I just point and shoot.

I hope this helps.