7D mark II

[sedwards]

i decided to start another thread as not to hi-jack the "show you best bird pics" one.
my thoughts on this dont weigh much because i have never tried anything better than a 7dII . however compared to my 70D the focusing system is much better although i am still having trouble with trying to get sharp in focus images. i have tried just about every subject and situation i can think of but sharp images are about 60%. it a lot better than the 70D but i believe it should be a lot better . my last subject was a horse at about 75 feet focusing on the eye. i tried multiple pocus point combinations , ai servo and one shot tripod , hand held. nothing i did would increase the number of in focus shots. i tried a white horse ,brown and black. i even tried in the sun in the shade and as clouds were blocking the sun. as for iso ,if the light is good and i dont have to crop i can get decent images at 1600 when they are in focus . 3200 is kinda pushing it. is this as good as autofocus gets ? or am i probably doing something wrong ? this camera with all its options is still very new to me. it took me a week to figure out what Joel meant
when he said he uses ai focus surround lol.
if you walk up to a subject in decent light , are you confident it will be in focus or do you take multiple shots just to be sure ?
also for low light ,like i said i am coming from a 70D so i find it will focus in lower light than before , although focus isnt right lol in the same light the 70d would just hunt and never lock on. im not talking dark just a little dim in the shade. i also find it will lok on to subjects at much greater distances. yesterday i was able to lock on a deer at 463 meters with a 400mm+1.4 . of course once cropped there isnt a whole lot of detail left but the 70d had a maximum of about 120 meters ,anything farther and it was manual focus only.

[HDNitehawk]

I had to do a AFMA on mine when I first got it. It still had problems.
There might be a learning curve when moved up to it, but that isn't the only problem people are having.
If you use single point AF you should get decent results, and if you did an accurate AFMA then you should be getting keepers.
Mine had trouble with precision, the AF systems ability to hit a small area front to back.
I would get keepers, but then have a portion that just missed critical focus.
FoCal has a option to check AF accuracy, it was scoring in the low 90's.
I sent it in to Canon, they found a few things wrong and sent it back.
On FoCal it is hitting 98% now. So far mine is doing better. I haven't yet been able to check it out on birds in flight or in AI Servo like Joel mentioned.
Others have posted problems with the AF system and Canon made corrections, some have no problem and say it is great.
I suggest you send it to Canon and have them check it out. It just takes a few days.

[Joel Eade]

I am confident the camera will work correctly and I can get sharp images if I do everything right.

1.Using a super-tele lens there are some shooting techniques that can help optimize sharpness and practicing these will help. (you may already be doing this)

2.Very high shutter speeds and stopping the lens down slightly whenever possible will make a big difference in my opinion. Also make sure you perform a micro AF adjustment with your lenses. This is especially true when using the teleconverters.

3.With a static subject at a decent distance, using good shooting techniques and a decent shutter speed you should get sharp images most all the time. Moving subjects and slow shutter speeds make it much more technique dependent and you will get better the more you practice.

4.I do not expect much detail in my bird pics from more than 30 to 50 feet so a deer at 400+ meters would be impossible to see any fine details.

In any case, I seldom shoot just one image of anything whether I trust the camera or not.

If you are doing all the above and still not getting results as expected I would send the camera back to Canon for a check up.

[sedwards]

I did afma my lenses with and without the extender. I tried manually using a printed target similar to lensalign and then used focal pro. Both methods are quite consistant but but focal says +4 and test target looks like it should be -6. I have run the tests at least 10 times each and they always give the same results.
I wasnt expecting any detail in the deer pic at 400+ meters but i was quite impressed the camera could lock on to something that far away.

[Joel Eade]

Try this:

Tape a dollar bill on a flat wall with really good light.

Use a tripod and a cable release (or 2 sec shutter delay)

Set the camera for manual mode, AF One Shot, use a single AF point in the center and the highest shutter speed you can, push the ISO if needed to get to 1/1000 sec or faster

Check to see if you can get a sharp image this way. If you can, then try AF Servo mode. If that works then try slower shutter speeds and different ISO settings to see if you can get the camera to miss.

If your camera randomly misses focus with this set up then I think you need to send it in.

[sedwards]

Thanks Joel ! I really hope i dont have to send it in but it would be encouraging if i find out its not me lol. I will try that after work.

[HDNitehawk]

I did afma my lenses with and without the extender. I tried manually using a printed target similar to lensalign and then used focal pro. Both methods are quite consistant but but focal says +4 and test target looks like it should be -6. I have run the tests at least 10 times each and they always give the same results.
I wasnt expecting any detail in the deer pic at 400+ meters but i was quite impressed the camera could lock on to something that far away.

Trying to figure out what you are saying.
But if you are using two different methods and getting two different results one of your tests is in error. Since you are saying you are using something similar to lensalign I am going with that one.

[sedwards]

well i tried the dollar bill test and i wont have to send in the camera. that sucks cause it means im not as good as i thought i was lol. as for afma , if i use focal the miss rate is much higher. using a target and ruler like lensalign , at least 80% of the shots are sharp. i will kep at this and try figuring out wat im doing wrong. thanks for your help guys .

[HDNitehawk]

Technique can certainly cause you to have shots OOF. If you are on a tripod shooting lensalign you should not have a problem.

If you are stationary using single point on lensalign you shouldn't be loosing any.
The problem I had with mine was precision not AF accuracy. When your AF system finds focus it doesn't find the exact same point each time. It might be right dead on with the target on the center or it may be a bit in front or behind. In most instances you will never know this as it falls between the DOF. How much it falls in front or back can vary. If for instance the difference between the variance from front to back is small, you wouldn't notice. However as that variance gets wider you are more likely to have a percentage that are out of focus. The wider the variance the more that will be oof.

If you are only getting 80% on target using a tripod with lensalign, using a 2 second delay in single point AF mode send it in for service.
That isn't acceptable.

I sent mine in, I had a low percentage as you describe. Canon found a few things loose and they recalibrated the camera. It seems ok now.

[peety3]

Thanks Joel ! I really hope i dont have to send it in but it would be encouraging if i find out its not me lol. I will try that after work.

(Asking a more generic question here) Why do I see this "I don't want to send it in" fear/paranoia so often? I recognize that sometimes the manufacturer will declare a unit OK when it actually isn't, but wouldn't you rather the peace of mind to know that the people who built it have checked it, and either declared it good (for the cost of shipping and perhaps a modest bench fee), fixed it under warranty (for the cost of shipping), or offered to fix issues not covered by warranty (out of warranty or out of scope, for a modest repair fee plus shipping)?