My name is John, and I'm an EAV (1D X AFMA issue)

[neuroanatomist]

John, try this - Enter an AFMA for an older lens (one without the serial number on the chip, like the 70-200 II), then power off the camera. Turn it back on, and the AFMA menu should show zero and the serial number will be zeroed out (though if you take a photo I'm willing to bet it will still show the adjustment you made). Now without powering off the camera, remove the lens and put it back on (or at least turn it enough so the contacts aren't touching). Go back into the AFMA menu. I'm willing to bet you'll see your adjustment value and the serial number.

Trowski, you are a genius! It's kludgy, but it's a workaround. After doing so, it seems to persist for one power cycle, too. After doing that with my 70-200 II, I put on my 40/2.8, and it showed the previously set -2 straight off. Power cycling then zeroed it out again, but just loosening and remounting the lens with the power on brought the correct -2 back. Also, changing the AFMA then doing the workaround results in the new AFMA being applied, and restored after a repeat of the workaround, as long as you change the AFMA setting right after the lens unmount/remount, when the previous setting is visible. The new setting also shows up in the EXIF.

Some (including Bryan, now) have reported this issue, others say they don't have the problem. Personally, I always power off the camera before changing lenses - I wonder...if I routinely changed lenses with the camera powered on, would I not have noticed the issue? As stated above, the value seems to be saved, and recorded in the EXIF, just not displayed on-camera until it's forced to re-recognize the lens.

Thanks bunches!!!

--John

[ahab1372]

Trowski, you are a genius! It's kludgy, but it's a workaround. After doing so, it seems to persist for one power cycle, too. After doing that with my 70-200 II, I put on my 40/2.8, and it showed the previously set -2 straight off. Power cycling then zeroed it out again, but just loosening and remounting the lens with the power on brought the correct -2 back. Also, changing the AFMA then doing the workaround results in the new AFMA being applied, and restored after a repeat of the workaround, as long as you change the AFMA setting right after the lens unmount/remount, when the previous setting is visible. The new setting also shows up in the EXIF.

Some (including Bryan, now) have reported this issue, others say they don't have the problem. Personally, I always power off the camera before changing lenses - I wonder...if I routinely changed lenses with the camera powered on, would I not have noticed the issue? As stated above, the value seems to be saved, and recorded in the EXIF, just not displayed on-camera until it's forced to re-recognize the lens.

Thanks bunches!!!

--John

It does make sense that the camera tries to adjust the AFMA values after Power-On, because the lens may have been changed while the camera was off. But obviously there is a hickup and it does not not work right. So the camera does not forget the AFMA values over power off and on, it is actually supposed to overwrite them based on the attached lens. It just cannot set them correctly.

However, de- and attaching a lens (while camera is on) does trigger the execution of the "do AFMA" routine correctly and sucessfully.

So it is only half-broken, am I right?

Arnt

[neuroanatomist]

Lol. Makes sense. Except that I half broke a dinner plate tonight, and I still can't eat off it....

[ahab1372]

Lol. Makes sense. Except that I half broke a dinner plate tonight, and I still can't eat off it....

That's where the camera beats the plate, even with half-broken AFMA you still get fun out of it.

Btw, now you haven't eaten and you are getting sick, you should take a day off or two ...

[Trowski]

It does make sense that the camera tries to adjust the AFMA values after Power-On, because the lens may have been changed while the camera was off. But obviously there is a hickup and it does not not work right. So the camera does not forget the AFMA values over power off and on, it is actually supposed to overwrite them based on the attached lens. It just cannot set them correctly.

However, de- and attaching a lens (while camera is on) does trigger the execution of the "do AFMA" routine correctly and sucessfully.

So it is only half-broken, am I right?

Arnt

It seems that the camera firmware isn't doing the steps necessary to recognize the lens when the camera is initially powered on, but does when you switch lenses while the camera is on. Sounds like a simple firmware bug to me, something that can easily be fixed in an update. In the meantime, once you enter an adjustment, the camera uses the value for a lens of the same model, even though it initially thinks it's a new lens. I can see where this bug could have been overlooked. Most testers probably didn't micro adjust their lenses, and if they did, the value entered is still used when you take a photograph, even it doesn't show up correctly in the AFMA menu.

So yes, it seems it's only half-broken.

[ahab1372]

Agree, that seems more likely. How did you come across this, just try and error?

[Trowski]

Agree, that seems more likely. How did you come across this, just try and error?

I noticed that the camera had zeroed out everything for a lens, and I knew I had entered information for it, so I switched lenses and the camera showed the adjustment I had entered for that lens. Then I switched back to the first lens and the information appeared. The only thing I had done is power cycle the camera with the lens on, so though experimentation I found that adjustments and serials were correctly recalled if the lens was changed with the power on, but powering off the camera may cause them to not be recalled. I experimented a bit more after my first post, and it does appear that the adjustment data persists through one power cycle, but then a second power cycle zeroes out the data unless the lens is changed (or at least turned enough so the contacts move).

Had I not gone back in the menu to make another AFMA change, I probably wouldn't have discovered the problem either and reported that my camera is fine. I rarely turn off the camera to change lenses, and sometimes leave it on for days at a time if I'm busy taking photos, so it's really only dumb luck that I found the problem.

Does anyone know how we can go about reporting this subtle problem to Canon so they can get this fixed?

[neuroanatomist]

I emailed Canon tech support yesterday. Heard back from them today with the statement that they could not reproduce the issue on their two 1D X bodies, and asked me to provide the detailed steps I took when trying to set an AFMA (I chuckled a bit at the implication that I don't know how to set an AFMA...). I replied to the email (including the fact that Bryan mentioned he's also affected), and when I got home I took a short video clip documenting the issue, and I've just sent that to Canon as well.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dr_brain/7600237574/

[Jayson]

Time to give up and just send it to me since it is a pile of junk now. I'll trade you my 7D straight up and will just live with your problem. I'll even pay shipping!

In all seriousness, I hope they come back with something soon to get this mess fixed you can dazzle us with it's awesomeness!!!

[Trowski]

Great video, but it is somewhat confusing because the adjustment values change when you remount the lens. You're entering +4 and -6 for lens 21. When you remount the lens, it recalls the lens and uses a previously entered set of values (+2 and +6). If you went one menu level deeper, it would show a different lens number.

You might want to clarify that the bug doesn't relate to the camera forgetting the adjustment values for a particular lens, but rather the camera failing to recognize the lens upon power-on or wake as a previously used lens, thus the camera registers a new lens with adjustment values and serial number of zero.

EDIT: I posted a comment on the video better explaining what I mean.