How 'bad' is the AF in the 5d MK II

cdifoto wrote in post #13723034
Yes, because amazing in focus pictures are proof that all those misses don't exist.

Oh and that cliche that you give credit to Jarvis for simply means something is better than nothing. It doesn't mean I can or should use my cell phone to shoot a wedding for a client.

Really, if you're good enough to transcend your equipment, why did you waste your money?

One more thought: anyone who says they have NO problems with their camera is either lying, or doesn't challenge it at all. NO problems with autofocus means every single frame you shoot is perfectly in focus. Not even the 1 series is capable of that.

sorry but I've heard all this before and from owners from 1DIIIs as well and I never said I never got a crap shot at some stage, although Id say my keeper rate with 5DII is around 90%, my 7D Id say around 85%. Like I said before, no camera is perfect and if your telling me that there is one, please let me know which one it is and who the photographer is that never has a miss with it so I can liaison with them and I will sell my 5DII, 7D and Fuji X100 to help towards financing it

aladyforty wrote in post #13723771
sorry but I've heard all this before and from owners from 1DIIIs as well and I never said I never got a crap shot at some stage, although Id say my keeper rate with 5DII is around 90%, my 7D Id say around 85%. Like I said before, no camera is perfect and if your telling me that there is one, please let me know which one it is and who the photographer is that never has a miss with it so I can liaison with them and I will sell my 5DII, 7D and Fuji X100 to help towards financing it

I have one for you. The Canon 1D X!

aladyforty wrote in post #13723771
sorry but I've heard all this before and from owners from 1DIIIs as well and I never said I never got a crap shot at some stage, although Id say my keeper rate with 5DII is around 90%, my 7D Id say around 85%. Like I said before, no camera is perfect and if your telling me that there is one, please let me know which one it is and who the photographer is that never has a miss with it so I can liaison with them and I will sell my 5DII, 7D and Fuji X100 to help towards financing it

"I have no problems with autofocus on my 5D" by definition means there aren't any misses. After all, the point of autofocus is...well...focus.

Here's the thing. I know there is no perfect camera. But I don't sit here and say I have no problems with my 1 series either. I also don't sit here and accuse people who have more problems than I do as being incompetent.

aladyforty wrote in post #13723771
sorry but I've heard all this before and from owners from 1DIIIs as well and I never said I never got a crap shot at some stage, although Id say my keeper rate with 5DII is around 90%, my 7D Id say around 85%.

How much of the keeper rate with the 5D2 is the result of you intentionally limiting your use of it to those things where you know from experience that the autofocus will do the job?

How many of the missed shots you get with the 7D are the result of using it in situations that would be very demanding of any autofocus system?

Since you have both bodies, it stands to reason that you'd intentionally limit the use of the 5D2 to situations where you know it won't be hampered by its autofocus system, and that you'd use the 7D for everything else, no matter how demanding.

Every camera out there will work just fine as long as you stay within its limits. The question isn't how well it works under those conditions, the question is what those limits are, and how those limits affect your ability to do the things you want to do.

Many/most 5D series users are relatively undemanding of their autofocus system, because if they weren't, their autofocus system wouldn't do the job and they'd go off and use something else. People who need top-notch autofocus generally go with the 1D series cameras or, if they can't afford that, the 7D.


It goes without saying that the more capable the camera is, the less likely a given person will find himself limited by it. And just as 5D2 owners can be critical of the 7D's image quality because it makes you work harder to get good results, so too can 7D owners be critical of the 5D2's autofocus because it makes you work harder to get good results. And just as the image quality limits are higher on the 5D2, so too are the autofocus limits higher on the 7D.


Tell me something: would you own a 7D if the 5D2 had the 1D series autofocus system and the 7D's speed, for the price you paid for the 5D2? My bet is that you wouldn't, because you wouldn't need it. And that, ultimately, is the point here. Canon has artificially limited you in terms of what you can do with the 5D2. We all have to accept that, but we don't have to be happy about it.


Perhaps we should call the 5D2 what it really is: a Rebel with a full frame sensor. You can take that as pejorative or not, as you choose. But it is accurate.

Well said... Very well said.

kcbrown wrote in post #13723854
How much of the keeper rate with the 5D2 is the result of you intentionally limiting your use of it to those things where you know from experience that the autofocus won't do the job?

How many of the missed shots you get with the 7D are the result of using it in situations that would be very demanding of any autofocus system?

Since you have both bodies, it stands to reason that you'd intentionally limit the use of the 5D2 to situations where you know it won't be hampered by its autofocus system, and that you'd use the 7D for everything else.

Every camera out there will work just fine as long as you stay within its limits. The question isn't how well it works under those conditions, the question is what those limits are, and how those limits affect your ability to do the things you want to do.

Many/most 5D series users are relatively undemanding of their autofocus system, because if they weren't, their autofocus system wouldn't do the job and they'd go off and use something else. People who need top-notch autofocus generally go with the 1D series cameras or, if they can't afford that, the 7D.


It goes without saying that the more capable the camera is, the less likely a given person will find himself limited by it. And just as 5D2 owners can be critical of the 7D's image quality because it makes you work harder to get good results, so too can 7D owners be critical of the 5D2's autofocus because it makes you work harder to get good results.


Tell me something: would you own a 7D if the 5D2 had the 1D series autofocus system and the 7D's speed, for the price you paid for the 5D2? My bet is that you wouldn't, because you wouldn't need it. And that, ultimately, is the point here. Canon has artificially limited you in terms of what you can do with the 5D2. We all have to accept that, but we don't have to be happy about it.


Perhaps we should call the 5D2 what it really is: a Rebel with a full frame sensor. You can take that as pejorative or not, as you choose. But it is accurate.

Until I could afford one, I thought that Gitzo CF tripods were a waste of money.

kcbrown wrote in post #13723854
Perhaps we should call the 5D2 what it really is: a Rebel with a full frame sensor. You can take that as pejorative or not, as you choose. But it is accurate.

It's actually more of an XXD by design. It's basically a 30D with a fat sensor. Rebels don't have the command wheel on the back or the LCD up top. And Rebels are cramped.

cdifoto wrote in post #13723898
It's actually more of an XXD by design. It's basically a 30D with a fat sensor. Rebels don't have the command wheel on the back or the LCD up top. And Rebels are cramped.

I was thinking more in terms of the capabilities. Modern XXDs are quite fast. In fact, the 5D2 is even slower than the 20D.

So consider it a Rebel with a full frame sensor, a control wheel on the back, and an LCD display on the top.

kcbrown wrote in post #13723952
I was thinking more in terms of the capabilities. Modern XXDs are quite fast. In fact, the 5D2 is even slower than the 20D.

So consider it a Rebel with a full frame sensor, a control wheel on the back, and an LCD display on the top.

Well the 30D was current when the original 5D was current, so I call them about the same. The 5D II is the same as the original except they added video and more pickles.

Or when you say "fast" do you mean the buffer?

Glenn NK wrote in post #13723884
Until I could afford one, I thought that Gitzo CF tripods were a waste of money.

Gitzo is totally worth it.

cdifoto wrote in post #13723970
Well the 30D was current when the original 5D was current, so I call them about the same. The 5D II is the same as the original except they added video and more pickles.

Or when you say "fast" do you mean the buffer?

I mean the responsiveness (which includes things like shutter blackout time) and FPS.

kcbrown wrote in post #13723983
I mean the responsiveness (which includes things like shutter blackout time) and FPS.

Ah I gotcha. I tend to forget those two specs.

Not sure I'd agree that the 5D2 is "worse" than the 20D. I've swopped my 30D for a 5D2 only recently and although I've not had much oportunity to take "real" pictures, I have played with the camera quite a bit. What I see is very similar to what I'm used to seeing on the 30D.

I admit I'm never likely to want ANY fps so the fps the 5D2 offers is wasted on me. Nor am I ever going to want more than 400ISO, even 400 is extremely rare.

Of course the 5D and 5D2 were designed to fit into the pricing and features hierarchy already established by the 1D/1Ds at the top and the 20/30/40/50/60 below (don't ask me where Canon think the 7D sits cos that an oddball).

As the world turns. Hey...I got a question for you guys. Do you ever take a photo, or do you just get onto forums and complain?

From a layout and operation point of view, the 5DII is very much like older XX bodies released about the same time. I got the wife a 5DII for Christmas. It replaces her 40D. At first she was afraid the 5DII would be as complex as 7D. But no, she took to it very quickly. Very flat learning curve from older XX bodies. But the 5DII is not NOT just a wide sensor version of an older XX body. You have to own and use a 5DII to appreciate how that design still holds up well today.