Please point us to where Canon states this so we can all share in the information. Also, if they did indeed make an official statement about focus issues, it is only on some of the bodies, not all. I'm a 7D owner and haven't noticed any issues yet, other than being inexperienced with the AF system itself. It does seem to be more precise (and requiring more skill to get it right) as far as focusing, compared to how my XSi was...but that's not a bad thing, considering the end result. I'm sure a % of the problems reported are due to focus issues with the body, but a small %. Every model camera used has posts from people asking if there is a focus problem...nothing different with this model.
I too upgraded from the XSi and have been very happy with my images. I struggled with the XSi and focusing on a moving target while shooting my boys in sports. I find the 7D to be much better at the task and my keeper rate is way up. I do find the focus system of the 7D to be more difficult to operate because it has more options but I think I have finally adjusted to that and it's not a problem.
CANON ADMITS THE 7D HAS PROBLEM AND HAS ISSUED A NOTICE OF THE FIRST FOCUS FIX. NEVER BUY EARLY RELEASES OR TAKE ANYWHERE WITHOUT TESTING WITH ALL YOUR LENSES AND VARIED DISTANCES FOR FOCUS ACCURACY!
Ed, as far as i can tell there is no "admission" of a problem with AF on the Canon 7D, only an advisory about possible issues (none of which involve a hardware "fix"):
Thanks for the link Ziggy. I think I said in an earlier post that I spoke to Canon tech support in Hong Kong on the phone and they said they never were contacted about a "focus problem" with the camera. Canon Singapore and Beijing said the same thing. I wrote to Canon eos tech support (about two weeks ago) and a supervisor there told me he had never heard of any issues before.
Thanks for the link Ziggy. I think I said in an earlier post that I spoke to Canon tech support in Hong Kong on the phone and they said they never were contacted about a "focus problem" with the camera. Canon Singapore and Beijing said the same thing. I wrote to Canon eos tech support (about two weeks ago) and a supervisor there told me he had never heard of any issues before.
If I hear anything even remotely connected to your possible issues, I'll report them in this thread. I encourage everyone to do the same, but I would discourage rumors and such.
I thought I already said it: my first copy of 7D was mis (short-)focusing at leat 1-2 inches, so I had it replaced. I didn't report it anywhere but here at dgrin... Second copy is spot on.
My new 7D shoots tack sharp but I noticed that the thumbnails in the JPGs are not sharp (I currently shoot raw+jpg) while the jpg itself is sharp. Very strange. The thumbnail in the raw is sharp.
cheers,
Nick.
ciao!
Nick.
my equipment: Canon 5D2, 7D, full list here
my Smugmug site: here
My new 7D shoots tack sharp but I noticed that the thumbnails in the JPGs are not sharp (I currently shoot raw+jpg) while the jpg itself is sharp. Very strange. The thumbnail in the raw is sharp.
cheers,
Nick.
Strange. What are you using to view the thumbnails? ACR has a preference setting for thumbnail quality (quick/high quality), so you might want to check that, but I'd be surprised if it treated RAW and JPG differently.
Strange. What are you using to view the thumbnails? ACR has a preference setting for thumbnail quality (quick/high quality), so you might want to check that, but I'd be surprised if it treated RAW and JPG differently.
I used the included Canon software. When I display both raw and jpg thumbnails (not hiding the jpg's) you see the difference. Also, Windows XP can how the thumbs in folder-view and they are the same un-sharp images.
But.... I upgraded the camera firmware and the problem is gone.... how about that ;-)
cheers,
Nick.
ciao!
Nick.
my equipment: Canon 5D2, 7D, full list here
my Smugmug site: here
You are shooting lovely portraits of faces, very tightly cropped with very shallow depths of field and wide open apertures. This style of imaging will demand very precise focusing technique with a perfectly performing camera, a good optic, and very precise placement of a single AF point and then, no further movement of the camera before tripping the shutter with a fast shutter speed. The fact that you say some of your flash-lit images seem sharper, may indicate camera movement is more of a factor than you believe it is.
I still don't do may first (capture) pass on importing my images, but wait until after I cull out the keepers and rank them since I do purposely want some unsharpened. Of all of the various threads and comments on the topic, Bruce's comment to always do my capture sharpening at 100% actual pixels (1:1) sticks in my mind as the most important first step.
"Don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to. Oh well."
-Fleetwood Mac
I still don't do may first (capture) pass on importing my images, but wait until after I cull out the keepers and rank them since I do purposely want some unsharpened. Of all of the various threads and comments on the topic, Bruce's comment to always do my capture sharpening at 100% actual pixels (1:1) sticks in my mind as the most important first step.
I've been having problems with mine... doing my head in.
On a shoot I zoom (kit lens 18-125mm I think, I'm at work and can't remember) into a model's eye, grab the focus with the AF and then rack back the zoom to show the full figure.
I've been using this technique for years since I had the film camera canon eos 500, I've always shot like this. I take the shot and find it's soft, even though I zoomed into the eyes and got perfect focus.
I've played with the micro adjustment, which hasn't really helped.
So I did an experiment, same condition above apart I was using a static print of a model with the camera on a tripod tethered to a laptop, and did what I usually do; zoom in, grab focus, zoom out
Soft focus resulted, and this went on for half an hour.
And then something strange happened, I decided to shoot with the zoom already racked back and used the AF as above to grab the focus... the result was pin sharp.
So I have a theory, and bear in mind I'm in no way an expert on photography, is that the Canon 7D is that bloody clever it knows when you rack the zoom back and for some reason changes something. It's that clever that it can get pin sharp images without zooming into an eye to get the focus.
I know some people will think I'm mad but to those who've had problems please give it a try by doing an experiment with the following:
1: Zoom in, grab focus with AF, rack zoom back
2: Zoom in, grab focus with AF and take the shot
3: Do not zoom in, grab focus with AF and take the shot
If anyone tries this then let me know... you can email directly at zero_effect(at)hotmail.com
1) The most likely problem is being too close to use focus-recompose.
In order to successfully use a focus-recompose strategy, the distance to subject needs to be large compared to the shift in view in order to recompose the scene. In other words, if you need to dramatically shift the camera angle in order to recompose, focus-recompose will probably fail because the geometry of the scene shifts with the camera. Focus-recompose would work if you used a lift to shift your position up to attain focus, and then lower the lift to the shooting position to recompose the shot. It is vital not to change the angle of the camera lest you change the geometry of the scene.
For a further discussion of focus-recompose and when it works and when it doesn't:
I bet that's what the problem is... the parfocal you mentioned.
I've been on other threads and the majority seem to be using the kit lens that I have.
Thanks for that... I wonder if that's why a lot of people are having problems. People mention the kit but don't discuss how they're composing the shot like i did... It's probably why when they send it back to Canon they haven't found a problem with the camera's
I'll see if I can grab my old 18-55 off my girlfriend at the weekend and give it a crack.
is the Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM a parfocal lens???
There is no such thing as a truly parfocal zoom lens. All zooms will drift from telephoto to wide. Whether the resulting drift is noticeable depends partly on the DOF, which is largely determined by your aperture setting and the focal length, and partly on the resolving power of the system.
The larger issue is that you found a solution and now you are reluctant to use it.
The proper procedure for accurate focus in this situation (full length portrait) is to choose a single autofocus point, closest to the ideal point of sharpest focus (in your scenario the eye of the subject), and "do not" focus and recompose, because focus and recompose is known to cause focus error.
For candids I will often focus and then crop in post to recompose the subject in the scene.
Another method that works for studio and posed shots, where a model can hold a position, is Live View at 100 percent on the area of critical focus and manual focus.
Comments
I too upgraded from the XSi
Wayne G
Ed, as far as i can tell there is no "admission" of a problem with AF on the Canon 7D, only an advisory about possible issues (none of which involve a hardware "fix"):
Go to this page at Canon:
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&tabact=SupportDetailTabAct&fcategoryid=215&modelid=19356#SupportDetailAct
Make sure you have the Service and Support tab selected.
Choose "Frequently Asked Questions".
Select, "6. The image is soft or blurred."
Please, no more "all caps" messages. I regard that sort of post as "shouting" and any further posts like that will be deleted.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
If I hear anything even remotely connected to your possible issues, I'll report them in this thread. I encourage everyone to do the same, but I would discourage rumors and such.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
cheers,
Nick.
Nick.
my equipment: Canon 5D2, 7D, full list here
my Smugmug site: here
Strange. What are you using to view the thumbnails? ACR has a preference setting for thumbnail quality (quick/high quality), so you might want to check that, but I'd be surprised if it treated RAW and JPG differently.
I used the included Canon software. When I display both raw and jpg thumbnails (not hiding the jpg's) you see the difference. Also, Windows XP can how the thumbs in folder-view and they are the same un-sharp images.
But.... I upgraded the camera firmware and the problem is gone.... how about that ;-)
cheers,
Nick.
Nick.
my equipment: Canon 5D2, 7D, full list here
my Smugmug site: here
If you give it some sharpening in post processing it come up looking nice and sharp.
More Sharpening Resources, including Bruce Fraiser's 3-pass workflow and Jeff Schewe's Why We Sharpen Pixelgenius article (PDF)
I still don't do may first (capture) pass on importing my images, but wait until after I cull out the keepers and rank them since I do purposely want some unsharpened. Of all of the various threads and comments on the topic, Bruce's comment to always do my capture sharpening at 100% actual pixels (1:1) sticks in my mind as the most important first step.
-Fleetwood Mac
Cheers
On a shoot I zoom (kit lens 18-125mm I think, I'm at work and can't remember) into a model's eye, grab the focus with the AF and then rack back the zoom to show the full figure.
I've been using this technique for years since I had the film camera canon eos 500, I've always shot like this. I take the shot and find it's soft, even though I zoomed into the eyes and got perfect focus.
I've played with the micro adjustment, which hasn't really helped.
So I did an experiment, same condition above apart I was using a static print of a model with the camera on a tripod tethered to a laptop, and did what I usually do; zoom in, grab focus, zoom out
Soft focus resulted, and this went on for half an hour.
And then something strange happened, I decided to shoot with the zoom already racked back and used the AF as above to grab the focus... the result was pin sharp.
So I have a theory, and bear in mind I'm in no way an expert on photography, is that the Canon 7D is that bloody clever it knows when you rack the zoom back and for some reason changes something. It's that clever that it can get pin sharp images without zooming into an eye to get the focus.
I know some people will think I'm mad but to those who've had problems please give it a try by doing an experiment with the following:
1: Zoom in, grab focus with AF, rack zoom back
2: Zoom in, grab focus with AF and take the shot
3: Do not zoom in, grab focus with AF and take the shot
If anyone tries this then let me know... you can email directly at zero_effect(at)hotmail.com
1) The most likely problem is being too close to use focus-recompose.
In order to successfully use a focus-recompose strategy, the distance to subject needs to be large compared to the shift in view in order to recompose the scene. In other words, if you need to dramatically shift the camera angle in order to recompose, focus-recompose will probably fail because the geometry of the scene shifts with the camera. Focus-recompose would work if you used a lift to shift your position up to attain focus, and then lower the lift to the shooting position to recompose the shot. It is vital not to change the angle of the camera lest you change the geometry of the scene.
For a further discussion of focus-recompose and when it works and when it doesn't:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=5642
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=11863
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=154492
2) The zoom lens may not be "parfocal".
Not all zoom lenses are "parfocal"; i.e. not all zoom lenses maintain focus zoomed in to zoomed out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parfocal_lens
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
I bet that's what the problem is... the parfocal you mentioned.
I've been on other threads and the majority seem to be using the kit lens that I have.
Thanks for that... I wonder if that's why a lot of people are having problems. People mention the kit but don't discuss how they're composing the shot like i did... It's probably why when they send it back to Canon they haven't found a problem with the camera's
I'll see if I can grab my old 18-55 off my girlfriend at the weekend and give it a crack.
Jamie
There is no such thing as a truly parfocal zoom lens. All zooms will drift from telephoto to wide. Whether the resulting drift is noticeable depends partly on the DOF, which is largely determined by your aperture setting and the focal length, and partly on the resolving power of the system.
The larger issue is that you found a solution and now you are reluctant to use it.
The proper procedure for accurate focus in this situation (full length portrait) is to choose a single autofocus point, closest to the ideal point of sharpest focus (in your scenario the eye of the subject), and "do not" focus and recompose, because focus and recompose is known to cause focus error.
For candids I will often focus and then crop in post to recompose the subject in the scene.
Another method that works for studio and posed shots, where a model can hold a position, is Live View at 100 percent on the area of critical focus and manual focus.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums