CPS vs FoCal and 5Ds R vs 7D II

After I returned from Yellowstone I decided to send my 500mm, extenders, 5Ds R and 7D II in to Canon and have Canon check out the lens and calibrate the AF system on both bodies. Since the 500mm will be out of warranty next month I asked them to check it out thoroughly, they obliged. I also told them that both bodies required a focus adjustment of +4 on the lens. Without fuss they sent me a shipping label. I was only out of pocket $18 for what I paid for the packing service by UPS. Service took 5 days, however it was in transit back and forth about a week. I shipped it on a Tuesday and received it back two weeks later on a Tuesday.

So with my excessive compulsive disorder in hand and my gear back I set out to check and see how Focal and CPS compare in AF adjustment. I have a cabin / man cave that I am constructing. It has enough room to set up inside at the minimum suggest distance of 25x, about 41'. However I forgot the cable for the camera once I arrived, so I choose to take the pics and analyze at home. I had to download the new release and the tests were run on it, the beta had expired.

What I found;

The 5Ds R setting of 0 is optimum. CPS nailed it and FoCal matched it exactly.
The 7D II setting is +2, it didn't quite make it.

The precision of the 5Ds R is in line with what I always received from the 1D IV. The quality of focus didn't vary more than 2.5% in all the shots. No shots were lost. I had known it would produce like this before today, but this test once again confirmed.

The precision of the 7D II is not in the same class. It is closer to the 5D II than the 1D IV. The quality of focus varied 6.8%. Out of 12 shots at each setting it always lost one shot. The spread on the chart was much wider. Again I had know this before today, but this test once again confirmed this.


My final conclusion is that if I had a camera lens combo that was off, especially under warranty, I wouldn't hesitate to send it off to Canon to have it calibrated. Especially if still have warranty and there is no charge.

I am confused. Is +4 or 0?

The AFMA was a +4 on both bodies for the lens before I sent it in.

After CPS calibration the 5Ds R checks out at 0, no AFMA required. The 7D II needs a +2 setting.

Interesting.

Question: Did you move the camera when testing between the bodies or did the camera stay stationery?

If the camera stayed in the same place (meaning there was different framing for each body), I'm wondering if the results would be different if the framing were equalized?

Keep in mind, I'm not insinuating that the 7D should have done better than what you observed. I'm just genuinely curious if the amount of contrast in the scene would have made a difference. You'd think that moving the target farther away would make it even harder on the AF system, meaning that if the camera was moved back to equalize framing the 7D II's results might be even worse.

The +2 for the 7D II was very solid. It was tested at the same distance, to equalize I would have had to take it outside. The 7D II results were similar to other times I have tested it in the past. I received it 1 year ago and after a few months I sent it to Canon to check out. According to Canon it performs to spec.

I wouldn't take this the wrong way, the 7D II AF is good. I just have never found it to be 1D class. But then it is a $1500 body.
There is praise in my comments for the 5Ds R AF system in all this, so far what I have seen it is exceptional.

I also took this opportunity to see if the 5Ds R with it's removed / corrected filter would give additional reach. The samples shoot at the same distance to the chart were almost identical from both bodies when cropped to the same FOV. I took shots at 10 and 20% further from the target to compare. Unlike comparing the 5D II to the 7D II where the increase in resolution is obvious, with the 5DsR it is difficult to see. There might be a few percent increase with the 5Ds R but in the real world it doesn't appear to matter much when your in crop situations.

Thanks for sharing your findings!