70-200 II Micro Adjustment Problems

I bought the 70-200II from Adorama last week after selling the rest of my old gear. I took it to the horse track and found that a lot of my shots were focused on the horse a couple of rows back, not the horse I was focusing on. I assumed that the 5D2 wasn't keeping up with the action as I was used to with the 7D. But I thought I better check the micro adjustment. I taped a magazine page flat to my house and stood about 30 feet away. I used mirror lock up and 2 second delay, and zoomed to 200mm. I tried -10, 0, and +10. -10 was clearly the best. I tried -20 and it was even better. I narrowed it down until I found -16 to be the best. I wasn't too concerned. When at -16, everything seemed perfect. Until I was photographing my daughter and getting close-ups near the minimum focus distance. I kept getting shots with her eyes out of focus. I switched it back to 0 adjustment and everything was perfect. Maybe I need to see if this is happening at every focal length. I'm a bit concerned that I need to send this back soon if I want a different one. Any words of wisdom for me?

Something doesn't sound right. My 70-200 on both 5dmk2 bodies are set to zero "0". Regardless of short or long end and subject distance the sharpness is like a prime lens. Sounds like your zoom is out of cal in some of the focal lengths.

I am at +2 on the 7D

AlanU wrote in post #12632325
Something doesn't sound right. My 70-200 on both 5dmk2 bodies are set to zero "0". Regardless of short or long end and subject distance the sharpness is like a prime lens. Sounds like your zoom is out of cal in some of the focal lengths.

"0" on my 1DM3 as well. I tried every test possible to determine if there was a more optimal setting and it all came back to zero. Sounds like something in your case definitely isn't right.

I will run the tests again, but if I find the same results, should I just exchange it with Adorama for another one?

When you micro adjust at one end of a zoom your setting yourself up to be off at the other end of the zoom. Its just the way it is. I would say your technique for the event was off.

I don't understand exactly what you wrote ! ... how can you managed to adjust micro adjustment with mirror locked up ? .. are you using lifeview ? or are connected with a PC ?
AF micro adjustment can only be done with mirror down ! way of AF is totally different between lifeview (by contrast) and reflex (by dédicated sensors) micro adjustment only applies to reflex view

So you recommend that I adjust for 135mm and just accept that it won't be perfectly sharp at 70 or 200mm? Your reasoning makes sense, but that's a tough compromise to accept on a $2500 lens.

If it is truly off, you can replace it or send it in to Canon. I'm not sure which is the best option. If you replace it and find he same problem then I would not fault the lens.

I would try the short distance test again but, this time on a tripod.

Smthrz wrote in post #12632301
I bought the 70-200II from Adorama last week after selling the rest of my old gear. I took it to the horse track and found that a lot of my shots were focused on the horse a couple of rows back, not the horse I was focusing on. I assumed that the 5D2 wasn't keeping up with the action as I was used to with the 7D. But I thought I better check the micro adjustment. I taped a magazine page flat to my house and stood about 30 feet away. I used mirror lock up and 2 second delay, and zoomed to 200mm. I tried -10, 0, and +10. -10 was clearly the best. I tried -20 and it was even better. I narrowed it down until I found -16 to be the best. I wasn't too concerned. When at -16, everything seemed perfect. Until I was photographing my daughter and getting close-ups near the minimum focus distance. I kept getting shots with her eyes out of focus. I switched it back to 0 adjustment and everything was perfect. Maybe I need to see if this is happening at every focal length. I'm a bit concerned that I need to send this back soon if I want a different one. Any words of wisdom for me?

I have found that you can't do micro adjustments accurately by shooting text perpendicular to the lens axis. You need to put the test paper/chart on a table and use a tripod to angle the lens axis to a 45 degree angle, that way you can see the shift in the DOF plane as you cycle from -20 to +20 when reviewing the photos on your computer.

newworld666 wrote in post #12633129
I don't understand exactly what you wrote ! ... how can you managed to adjust micro adjustment with mirror locked up ? .. are you using lifeview ? or are connected with a PC ?
AF micro adjustment can only be done with mirror down ! way of AF is totally different between lifeview (by contrast) and reflex (by dédicated sensors) micro adjustment only applies to reflex view

I just meant that I had mirror lockup enabled so that the mirror slap was not affecting sharpness. This is pretty standard, no? It was not up while focusing.

Poe wrote in post #12633941
I have found that you can't do micro adjustments accurately by shooting text perpendicular to the lens axis. You need to put the test paper/chart on a table and use a tripod to angle the lens axis to a 45 degree angle, that way you can see the shift in the DOF plane as you cycle from -20 to +20 when reviewing the photos on your computer.

I will try this tomorrow. Thanks for the advice.

For that price, I'd expect it to be perfect. Exchange it if the MA means you are OK at one focal but the others suffer.

Smthrz wrote in post #12636190
I will try this tomorrow. Thanks for the advice.

If you have your focus target at 45º then you'll have no idea which bit it actually focused on.

Poe wrote in post #12633941
I have found that you can't do micro adjustments accurately by shooting text perpendicular to the lens axis. You need to put the test paper/chart on a table and use a tripod to angle the lens axis to a 45 degree angle, that way you can see the shift in the DOF plane as you cycle from -20 to +20 when reviewing the photos on your computer.

Disagree with this. I tape a $5 dollar bill to my garage wall and MA all my lenses from 15-25 feet away, including my 500. Focus on the center in LV, then shift the view (not the focus) to the lower left hand corner of the bill. If your lens is MA'd correctly, it should resolve the small lines in the corner. Hasn't let me down yet.

To the OP, my 70-200 required no MA on my 50d and is spot on on my 5D.