soft 10d

[ifurlong]

so I got a soft one. Fortuantly I live right nex to the us canon servic center so I took it in yesterday. My question to you is, if you had a 10d and had it fixed, were you happy with the results? was it really fixed and is it tack sharp? thanks, Ian.

[soumya63]

I also had the same experience and my lenses are all Canon, 20mm f2.8, 24mm f2.8, 50mm f1.8, 70-200f2.8L 300mmf4L, so I knew it was not my lenses. I also have confirmed it was not the focussing issue. So I have returned 10D and waiting for something in between 10D and 1Ds.

I may buy a Digital Rebel just for the low ISO noise till I can justify shelling out for 1DS or Canon comes out with Digital EOS3.

Soumya

www.mitraphoto.com

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

Hi,

You need to do some USM in postprocessing.
Compared to a digicam de 10D (and all semi pro DSLR's) are very soft.

Greetings,
Frank

[soumya63]

J.A.F. Doorhof wrote:
Hi,

You need to do some USM in postprocessing.
Compared to a digicam de 10D (and all semi pro DSLR's) are very soft.

Greetings,
Frank


I shoot Digital D30 and 1D and even with no post processing, none of them produces that soft result. I am planning to buy a Digital Rebel as a stop gap, so I am concerned about it. I have earlier bought a 10D and have seen similar soft result compared to my other bodies. Digital Rebel is built of 10D sensor and microprocessor, so I am wondering if it is also behaving the same.

Unless one compares 10D sharpness with other EOS series digital body, it is hard to explain.

By the way, 10D and Digital Rebel is fantastic at low ISO noise and that is my prime motivation to buy one.

Soumya

[rodbunn]

My 10D is going back for it's 4th trip to repair. It went two times to Irvine. Now it's on it's 2 nd trip to New York. The reapir "Managers" have "Fixed it themselves" and it keeps getting worse and worse each time it comes back. They keep passing me from one "Tec manager" to another. After I get the camera back from this 4th trip I will havd a VERY INTERESTING post of names, numbers, and e.mails.....

I WILL NEVER BUY CANON AGAIN ;-( I wish I would have known about Canon's repair policy/ability $15,000 dollars ago.

Good luck to all Canon users! Pray your Canon doesn't break.

Rod

[soumya63]

rodbunn wrote:

Good luck to all Canon users! Pray your Canon doesn't break.

Rod



I have similar horror story for my Canon GL1, the 3CCD Digital video camera, but the fault was not with Canon, but with Ritz/Wolf Camera. Three times it went for repair and came back without anything done. After 7 month ordeal, I eventually got my camera back.

I agree, as long as they work, you are happy. Never know what is stored for you in the service Dept. I have heard Nikon guys are equally indifferent, but it is unfair to generalize. People vary from place to place.

Lastly I have no hangover for the camera manufacturer,. To me Camera is a tool which enable me to shoot Photograph. If tomorrow, the price of Leaf Digital back falls for Mamiya, I would be the first person to invest on it.

Soumya

www.mitraphoto.com

[rodbunn]

Hey, the Canon guy just let me know they are
sending a new 10D for me to use until they can
resolve my cameras problems.

Hey, better than nothing. It's been 6 months that
I havn't had a good working camera! Hooray !!!

I'll let you know what happens.

ps. Thanks for the info on Nikon repair! I kinda figured
they are all the same.....

[dmalek]

i'm glad you got a replacement camera, it's never fun when such a toy is broken

a few years ago i dropped my EOS 1N, no problem, a few weeks later i got it fixed in Paris (not for free of course) and then i went on using it for years ;)

I guess you've been quite unlucky (at least i hope canon's service is better than what happened to you !!!).

[PacAce]

rodbunn wrote:
Hey, the Canon guy just let me know they are
sending a new 10D for me to use until they can
resolve my cameras problems.

Hey, better than nothing. It's been 6 months that
I havn't had a good working camera! Hooray !!!

I'll let you know what happens.

ps. Thanks for the info on Nikon repair! I kinda figured
they are all the same.....


Good thing they gave you "loaner" but why can't you just keep the new camera and tell them to keep the one that's broken? ???

[lightandlife]

ifurlong wrote:
so I got a soft one.

Do you mean front or back focusing? If not, what is the difference between soft focusing and front/back focusing?

[CyberDyneSystems]

"soft" simply means "out" one way or the other,.. no?

[KennyG]

No, soft means the images don't have those hard over-sharpened edges that P&S cameras have fooled everyone into thinking that is what makes a good image.

If that's what people want straight out of the camera, then they shouldn't buy a 10D, 300D, 1Ds, etc. They should spend their money on an up-market P&S.

[who10]

There is softness inherent to Canon's 10D which can be adjusted to taste with software, and then there is out of focus softness. My 10D was unquestionably incapable of producing a sharp point of focus, soft or otherwise. Literally every picture taken between aperatures F1.8 thru 4.5 was blurry. So I tested the AF calibration as objectively as I could with four lenses and returned the camera to Canon Service with my results. The first thing I did when it came back was retest all four lenses. What exactly they did (Canon Irvine) I don't know, but they did return the camera recalibrated to my satisfaction.


"Out of focus" soft looks like this. Here's a before and after calibration link.


http://www.haskellct.com/EE_Galleries/Gallery1/webguests/50mmWideOpen.jpg

_____
David

[availlant]

Who 10,

TO me it seems clear that you suffered from a back focusing issue. Glad you got it fixed.

[ifurlong]

Who 10, thanks for the reply, could you elabrate on the 'inharent softness' is this what they are going to chang at the service center? thanks, Ian

[who10]

Ian,

Softness is an awkward term because it doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone who uses it. An image can be in perfect focus and absolutely soft (no sharp contrast edges) – portraits are often deliberately softened. What I meant by “inherently soft” is the same thing J.A.F. Doorhof was referring to in his response to your thread:

J.A.F. Doorhof wrote:
You need to do some USM in postprocessing.
Compared to a digicam de 10D (and all semi pro DSLR's) are very soft.

Greetings,
Frank

On the other hand, an AF system that front or back focuses (depicted in my initial post) produces images that look soft because the point of intended focus lies outside the depth of field at a particular aperture. In many cases Canon can recalibrate a camera’s AF circuitry to “fix” a front/back focus problem – in some cases they cannot fix it. In my case Canon re-calibrated my 10D from +10 back-focus (a problem) to zero where it belongs.

Frank’s point was excellent and is equally true. A 10D with perfect AF calibration will still produce an image that appears soft to the human eye until you, the user, “sharpens” it with software (in camera JPG processing, Photoshop USM filters, etc.). If this kind of softness is your complaint, returning the camera to Canon Service will not solve your issue – it could even make the problem worse.

My intent was to help you determine what to expect from Canon Service; a poorly calibrated AF system they can probably fix, as an owner I would insist on it – DSLR soft edge contrast is a characteristic of the 10D design, this must be “adjusted to taste” by each user…

this link provides a good description of how to test your AF system if you’re interested.

http://www.photo.net/learn/focustest/

David Hooten (AKA who10)

[ifurlong]

thanks who10, so what is this UCM sharpening? and, just for my reffrence, could you send (email is ifurlong@csulb.edu) me a pic you took with a 10d THAT YOU SAY IS SHARP, I want to compare this to mine, maybe its just me. Thanks, Ian

[justme_dc]

Three trips to canon repair, 30days in transit over $100 in shipping and insurance. I still have a camera that will predictably, repeatedly backfocus. Now canon is not returning my emails or phone calls.

Just give me a camera that works as advertised and I'll be happy.