Help with 70-200 f/2.8 focus problem

darkdragon

Here's the deal. I just got my Canon L lens today and went to take some test shots. At first everything was great and the photos came out extemely sharp. Everything was great at 200mm. Then I thought I'd switch to 70mm and test that. I had it on autofocus and it wouldn't lock focus at all. I tried switching focus points, tried switching the 1.5m/3m switch. Sometimes I got it to focus by adjusting the focus ring manually so it was in focus to my eye, then it would autofocus and lock - but that doesn't seem right.

That was inside @ f2.8 1/200th with flash

Took it all outside (7pm, lots of light outside) and put it on AV mode at 2.8 no flash. Had the same problems with focusing, focused OK on the moon once but that was it - tried trees and busshes, it wouldn't focus most of the time. Two planes passed overhead, never could get a focus on those. Tried different focus points. Same issues as inside, when I manually adjusted the lens it would sometiems focus and sometimes not.

This is all using my 40D and onboard flash.

Has anyone ever heard of this? Is it normal and just a learnin curve on my end/user error? I've never had a lens do this before.

Help me please, I was planning on using this lens tomorrow but now I might have to send it back?

:cry

Lisa

PS

Here's a couple shots. I never did get a sharp shot at 70mm because my manual focus shots were soft and auto-focus wouldnt lock.

1.

EXIF

2.

EXIF

ziggy53

Lisa,

It could be a couple of things.

Do you have a filter on the lens?

What distance from the subject?

darkdragon

ziggy53 wrote:

Lisa,

It could be a couple of things.

Do you have a filter on the lens?

What distance from the subject?

No filter on the lens, straight from the box it came in. Distances vary but for most shots I'm about 7-8 feet away. Of course much farther from the airplane and the moon ;-)


Lisa

ziggy53

OK. Minimum Focus Distance for the Canon 70-200mm, f2.8L lenses are as follows:

MFD f2.8 IS, 4.6'
MFD f2.8, 4.9'

I do try to test for critical focus at twice MFD.

A good test for long distance (near infinity) are stationary objects like buildings. Airplanes and birds in flight take some practice and the moon often will not lock focus for me. (I use manual focus and a viewfinder magnifier for the moon.)

Do try another singular autofocus point as well. If there are specs of dust over the autofocus section, diffraction can make some lenses "act up". The center dot on the 40D is sensitive to f2.8 lenses and can be especially sensitive and problematic to dust.

darkdragon

Thanks for the help Ziggy. I'll run some more tests tomorrow as it i too dark now to do anything outside and not much light in the house either.

I'll post tomorrow morning my findings, I'll be taking some shots of mountains and stuff, so i think it will be great for running tests like you mentioned.

I hope there's nothing wrong. I rented a 2.8IS and didn't have these focus problems - and got some great shots of planes with it too. Hopefully just user error on the non IS version.

Lisa

ziggy53

darkdragon wrote:

Thanks for the help Ziggy. I'll run some more tests tomorrow as it i too dark now to do anything outside and not much light in the house either.

I'll post tomorrow morning my findings, I'll be taking some shots of mountains and stuff, so i think it will be great for running tests like you mentioned.

I hope there's nothing wrong. I rented a 2.8IS and didn't have these focus problems - and got some great shots of planes with it too. Hopefully just user error on the non IS version.

Lisa

I notice that you also list the Canon 10D in your signature. Do try the lens on that body as well to rule out a body related issue.

darkdragon

ziggy53 wrote:

I notice that you also list the Canon 10D in your signature. Do try the lens on that body as well to rule out a body related issue.

Oh no, not a body issue NOooooo.

yeah, I'll do that. Now i know why everyone says "gotta have a backup body"

PineapplePhoto

Some has one too many DS games...

darkdragon

PineapplePhoto wrote:

Some has one too many DS games...

There is no such thing. Besides, when you have 3 players in the house - you end up with a lot of games.:D


Bad news on the lens issue. Took it out today and it was working great, but only if I had it at f16 or higher. Once I took it down to f4 it wouldn' focus even on a mountain while the cam sat on a tripod. On the way home I took it to my camera shop and they checked it out. They never did get it to autofocus, not even to hunt for focus. Thier expert opinions were that it has to go back to Canon.

So, I'll be getting a replacement sent out from Amazon.com and sending this one back. cry

ziggy53

darkdragon wrote:

There is no such thing. Besides, when you have 3 players in the house - you end up with a lot of games.:D


Bad news on the lens issue. Took it out today and it was working great, but only if I had it at f16 or higher. Once I took it down to f4 it wouldn' focus even on a mountain while the cam sat on a tripod. On the way home I took it to my camera shop and they checked it out. They never did get it to autofocus, not even to hunt for focus. Thier expert opinions were that it has to go back to Canon.

So, I'll be getting a replacement sent out from Amazon.com and sending this one back. cry

Bummer. I hope you get it sorted out soon. Hang in there.

darkdragon

ziggy53 wrote:

Bummer. I hope you get it sorted out soon. Hang in there.

Yeah, really sucks. This is why I buy from Amazon.com though - they already have a replacement on the way (should go out Monday actually) and I don't send the broken one in until the new one gets here. So at least I wont be lens-less in the meantime, just have to deal with the issues if I want to take some shots.

ziggy53

darkdragon wrote:

Yeah, really sucks. This is why I buy from Amazon.com though - they already have a replacement on the way (should go out Monday actually) and I don't send the broken one in until the new one gets here. So at least I wont be lens-less in the meantime, just have to deal with the issues if I want to take some shots.

If you choose "Live View" on the camera and manual focus mode on the lens, can you focus and shoot clear images?

darkdragon

ziggy53 wrote:

If you choose "Live View" on the camera and manual focus mode on the lens, can you focus and shoot clear images?

Yep, sure can.

NeilL

Did I miss something? Did you test the lens on your other body? Reason I ask is the first 40D copy I had didn't accept any lenses! Maybe you had the try-out 70-200 on the other body?

Forgive me mentioning it, which I am reluctant to do, so forgive me, but unless the person's trousers in your challenge entry are spotted there is really bad noise in that image, not only in the trousers. The second copy 40D I had was noisy in an identical way. Terrible IQ with no apparent cause, and at low ISO! (I'm eat-my-hat certain that image didn't come out of any other body!)

After some weeks of shooting, sending images and eventually the camera to Canon, they exchanged it. The first copy I have already mentioned was exchanged on the spot in the shop when the salesman also couldn't get any lenses to work with it. Those two copies had sequential serial numbers.

There seems to have been a bad batch of 40Ds. Read the user comments on Fred's site and you will quickly see that a small subset of owners comment negatively about 40D noise while the majority are very happy with IQ. Through my involvement with those first two bad copies I saw in my online searches this same evidence of a small subset of defective copies. I could however be mistaken.

My present copy seems to be good, though I have yet to test it with the kind of lighting you have in your challenge pic.

I hope all turns out well!

Neil

darkdragon

Hi Neil,

yes, when I took my camera to the shop they tested it on 2 other bodies with the same issue. I've had the cam since Sept or Oct of last year and this is the first issue I've had with a lens (other than a soft Sigma I had for a couple days).

The noise in my challenge entry may or may not be related to a camera problem, I don't know at this time - It could be related to me messing with the file in Lightroom. I have noticed that my camera seems to be a bit noisier than what most people report the 40D is capable of. As soon as I get some time, I'll be taking the camera back to the place i got it and exchanging it for a new one (when i got it, it was the last one in town!)

Thanks for your concern, I'll be checking out the camera issue in a few days I hope. The new lens is actually on its way to me today.

PS: The pants in my challenge entry do have a texture to them and i think the shininess of them caused the texture to pop and make it look like more grain than was actually in the photo.

NeilL

darkdragon wrote:

Hi Neil,

yes, when I took my camera to the shop they tested it on 2 other bodies with the same issue. I've had the cam since Sept or Oct of last year and this is the first issue I've had with a lens (other than a soft Sigma I had for a couple days).

The noise in my challenge entry may or may not be related to a camera problem, I don't know at this time - It could be related to me messing with the file in Lightroom. I have noticed that my camera seems to be a bit noisier than what most people report the 40D is capable of. As soon as I get some time, I'll be taking the camera back to the place i got it and exchanging it for a new one (when i got it, it was the last one in town!)

Thanks for your concern, I'll be checking out the camera issue in a few days I hope. The new lens is actually on its way to me today.

PS: The pants in my challenge entry do have a texture to them and i think the shininess of them caused the texture to pop and make it look like more grain than was actually in the photo.

Please let's know what comes from all this.

I recognise the type of noise in your challenge pic, it's very characteristic of the #2 copy I had. I think you are being a bit kind in explaining it away with material texture and shine. But I sympathise, because we all want to believe we have faultless equipment.

Neil

darkdragon

Resolution
Alright, so I got my new replacement from Amazon today. Pretty good turn around since I just called them Saturday.

Ran a few different tests and the lens works perfectly. Fast focus, sharp images. I'm happy. Even ran it with my 2x TC and it worked perfectly.

Here's a couple shots unedited from my tests tonight.







I definately have some noise issues with my camera even at ISO 400, so I'll be taking that into the store to get a replacement this weekend.

ziggy53

darkdragon wrote:

Alright, so I got my new replacement from Amazon today. Pretty good turn around since I just called them Saturday.

Ran a few different tests and the lens works perfectly. Fast focus, sharp images. I'm happy. Even ran it with my 2x TC and it worked perfectly.

Here's a couple shots unedited from my tests tonight.


I definately have some noise issues with my camera even at ISO 400, so I'll be taking that into the store to get a replacement this weekend.

Congrats on the lens. Good luck with the camera.

NeilL

The serial numbers of my 40D copies #1 / # 2 were (21)0630332595/6. Any resemblance to yours?

Great about the lens.

Neil

darkdragon

NeilL wrote:

The serial numbers of my 40D copies #1 / # 2 were (21)0630332595/6. Any resemblance to yours?

Great about the lens.

Neil

Mine is not the same, it is a lot smaller of a number, it starts with 05 rather than 06 (same number of digits). Thank you for posting your numbers, if it was in the same group, that would deafinately be important.