70-200 f2.8 non IS bad focussing

Hi.

My 70-200 mm 2.8 L non IS seems to be out of focussed on the 3M mode.

I am thinking of sending it to the canon service centre, Does any one know the address for the london/uk center.

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as you can see from these pics the images are too soft.. at 1/200th there isnt much camera shack either....

2802 x 2108

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1828 x 1676

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The first two photo's seem rather sharp, but the third looks out of focus, and I can't quite see what it was focused on. Two out of three aint bad

Did you just get this lens?

You can clearly see the 2nd pic is front focused assuming the focus point was the bird. The fence in the foreground is razor sharp.

EDIT: also in the first pic, if you look at the part of the rope that is closest to the camera, its sharp.

Definitely front focus

davidc502 wrote in post #12779647
The first two photo's seem rather sharp, but the third looks out of focus, and I can't quite see what it was focused on. Two out of three aint bad

Did you just get this lens?

both images look extremely soft at 100 crop. I am not sure if the lens or if My hands are too shaky.

no I got the lens quite a while ago but never really had the chance to use it due to University.

@fiveohmike:-

Do i have to send it back to canon to fix the front focussing issue or is there something i can do my self.. I still have my warranty so it should be fixed free hopefully

abuha wrote in post #12780229
both images look extremely soft at 100 crop. I am not sure if the lens or if My hands are too shaky.

no I got the lens quite a while ago but never really had the chance to use it due to University.

@fiveohmike:-

Do i have to send it back to canon to fix the front focussing issue or is there something i can do my self.. I still have my warranty so it should be fixed free hopefully

If you 100% crop on the fence portion just to the left of the bird in the second photo is it sharp?

Also Micro Adjustment can be done by you, just check a seach on the forum, there are tons of threads on it

What ISO did you shoot these on? And which body? NVM see it now 550D so it's crop at ISO 400.

Ok a few things. 1/200 isn't exactly correct for this lens. It's a 1.6 crop with smaller pixels you should be using 1/320. 1/400 if you can make it happen would be even better.

These tiny birds also move fast. So hight shutter is a good thing. The first time I shot an NBA game on the 70-200 2.8 IS I noticed that I needed higher shutter speed than I first thought.

One of your shots it looks like it focused on the board instead of the bird. I notice the bird's on directly in the center of the image. Where you using the center AF point? The AF points are actually not that small so sometimes if you have other things it can focus on the camera can choose something else to focus on.

fiveohmike wrote in post #12780582
If you 100% crop on the fence portion just to the left of the bird in the second photo is it sharp?

Also Micro Adjustment can be done by you, just check a seach on the forum, there are tons of threads on it

Yeah that part is sharp however I wasn't focussing on the fence. Also I thought the 550d doesn't have micro adjustment feature?

I am going to search for those thread.

gotak wrote in post #12780601
What ISO did you shoot these on? And which body? NVM see it now 550D so it's crop at ISO 400.

Ok a few things. 1/200 isn't exactly correct for this lens. It's a 1.6 crop with smaller pixels you should be using 1/320. 1/400 if you can make it happen would be even better.

These tiny birds also move fast. So hight shutter is a good thing. The first time I shot an NBA game on the 70-200 2.8 IS I noticed that I needed higher shutter speed than I first thought.

One of your shots it looks like it focused on the board instead of the bird. I notice the bird's on directly in the center of the image. Where you using the center AF point? The AF points are actually not that small so sometimes if you have other things it can focus on the camera can choose something else to focus on.

Iso 400.

The bird was completely still so that cant be a problem but I know what you mean.

abuha wrote in post #12780684
Yeah that part is sharp however I wasn't focussing on the fence. Also I thought the 550d doesn't have micro adjustment feature?

I am going to search for those thread.

No, the 550D does not have the micro adjustment feature. The camera and the lens would need to be sent to Canon to have them calibrate.

I recommend further testing before considering sending it off.

Test in controlled condition. Use a flat high contrast target free from the sensor latching onto bits it's not suppose to. Shoot wide open using a tripod. First use live view 10x zoom, manual focus it. Then go back to normal mode and see if the AF moves the lens. You'll be able to see how far off it is by how much the lens focus moves when you use phase AF.

The first image looked about right focus-wise to me. It's not the sharpest photo in the world but I couldn't call it a disaster either - the problem is that you've got this tiny little bit lost in the frame, and so you have to crop it way too tightly. Viewing the image as a whole it doesn't look particularly soft.

The 2nd image shows similar sharpness, unfortunately it's on the fence rather than the bird. That could be front-focus due to a focusing problem with the equipment, but without further evidence I'd suggest that you simply didn't appreciate that the focusing square doesn't exactly represent the complete coverage of that AF point, and it has locked onto the fence. The exact centre of the image also appears to more closely align with that part of the fence rather than the bird, which backs this up. It's an issue that is worsened by having a subject so small within your frame.

The third is clearly soft due to camera shake.

And for all images it must be said that 1/200s is not a very safe shutter speed and may be contributing to softness for all of them. I'd not go below 1/400s @ 200mm on such a dense APS-C sensor. Step up to the next ISO level - grainy is better than blurry.

thanks all of you for your replys

Going to do some test before i send it off

also the seems to move ever so slightly where it mounts on the camera non of my other lenses do this.

abuha wrote in post #12784333
thanks all of you for your replys

Going to do some test before i send it off

also the seems to move ever so slightly where it mounts on the camera non of my other lenses do this.

That's normal for this lens. Keep in mind that the F2.8L is a bit soft at F2.8. There is a good reason why they came out with the II.

hey! keep me posted on how the testing goes, i cant wait to find out! Im not sure if i have the same problem with my lens.