Need help with a new 90D

ttownvstrom wrote in post #19350220
I will give it a try.

If you need some tips for it, feel free to reach out and ask. It can be a little unclear as to what you're looking for/at as you make adjustments.

I'm going to give it a try after work today.

Just to finish this off. I took identical shots on a tripod with the 90D and my 7D2. The 7D2 were much sharper. I went out and took around 100 shots of Gulls flying with both cameras and the same lens. The 90D had zero sharp photos, must were not even close. My 7D2 had about 95 percent sharp. This was not a hard shot for the auto focus. Large Gulls (Ringbilled) flying slowly back and forth in front of me in good light. I called Canon and they wanted me to end it in and let them try to fix it. I said no, I want to exchange it for another Refurbished 90D but they didn't have anymore. So I returned it for a refund. I'm thinking about buying a new one but now I'm gun shy.

Not sure why you would be gun shy, just one bad body doesn't make the entire model line bad. So many people have praised the 90D and the results they get, with threads dedicated to that 90D. I would suggest not being too worried and try again in the future.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #19353717
Not sure why you would be gun shy, just one bad body doesn't make the entire model line bad. So many people have praised the 90D and the results they get, with threads dedicated to that 90D. I would suggest not being too worried and try again in the future.

I agree with TeamSpeed. I don't think that an improperly refurbished 90D should deter you from getting a new one.

ttownvstrom wrote in post #19353571
... I called Canon and they wanted me to end it....

OK, that seemed pretty drastic when I first read it.

Did you do micro focus adjust on the 90D/500mm combo?

Does sound like one bad apple. I'm curious to see a couple of test shots from the 90D though vs the 7Dii ... ?

I deleted all the 90D photos off my computer. I couldn't stand to look at them, they were bad. I know that it had to be a bad camera, but they were so bad, especially the birds in flight shots and that's my favorite thing I do. The still shots I took were a little off, but the birds in flight were way way off. Like unrecognizable Blobs bad and I thought the AF in the 90D maybe was vastly inferior to my 7D2. When I think about it can't be. I had a T1i and a T2i and a 7D before and they all took good flight shots, so the AF in the 90D must as good or better than those. I probably will buy a new one.

Just throwing this out, If you are doing BIF shots, you may want to look at one off the new mirrorless canon's. Some of the posts I'm seeing on this forum are amazing IMHO.

Lou

I don't know how well my lens 100-400 mm v2 and 500mm v1 would work with them.

You never really got into your settings with the 90D. If your birds were blobs, then it likely wasn't an issue with the camera, but rather settings. I have never heard of any Canon camera being that bad. What AF mode (spot, single point, zone?) and AI servo?

I was using zone ,AI servo, 1/2500 shutter speed. Same as I was doing on my 7D2 and those were sharp.

ttownvstrom wrote in post #19353995
I was using zone ,AI servo, 1/2500 shutter speed. Same as I was doing on my 7D2 and those were sharp.

I use a 90D and get a lot of very sharp BIF photos with the 100-400LII. I'd suggest you look at your AF tracking settings. There are several options that can greatly impact on how well the camera can grab and hold focus.

I tried several different settings. I changed most of them, I can't remember the exact settings but I several different ways. I had the camera set so a red square showed on the focus point. Most times it was right on the bird but completely out of focus when I looked at them. I'm not saying it wasn't user error but I've managed to get sharp BIF shots with several different cameras for the last 12+ years.

ttownvstrom wrote in post #19353995
I was using zone ,AI servo, 1/2500 shutter speed. Same as I was doing on my 7D2 and those were sharp.

It sounds like if you didn't have birds that were at least very well defined as a bird but not super crisp in detail, then the zone AF wasn't working as intended or needed adjustments in the AF settings under the covers. There are 3 such settings for AI Servo AF that have to be managed (under the Case settings). You cannot use the same case setting either from one model to another, they don't work interchangeably.