Sometimes, one just needs to admit....

when they are an idiot. It can be a bit therapeutic. My hit rate with my Mark IV is usually 90+ % and many times nearly 100%. So today I was perplexed when I was only achieving about 60 to 70%. I was shooting basketball in possibly one of america worst gyms for lighting. I kept fiddling with settings: tracking sensitivity, expansion points, main point or continuous and I never figured it out at the basketball game.

I got home and download pics and review the AF point in DPP and everything was on high contrast areas so no excuse for the AF point to miss. Went outside and could not get good in focus shots of my old dog running. Started dreading having to send it to CPS for evaluation and then the light went off: I remembered doing some lens calibrations right before the game. I set it to One Shot (something I never have it on) so the AF wouldn't twitch after locking on the target. What do you know, the darned thing was still set to One Shot. We were running late for the game and I had to walk in and start firing and it totally escaped me I had it on one shot. Guess I'm surprised I actually got 60 to 70% shots sharp and in focus.

So yes today I was an idiot. The moral of the story you ask? If you believe you have AF issues, don't completely rule out being a knucklehead like me. It happens. I am not a noob and this is the first time this has happened to me. Just be open to the possibility that it could be you and not the camera. How odd the camera did exactly what I told it to.

Therapy session over

Good story there. I am also surprised you got that high of a keeper rate in one shot mode. After using the 7D and getting great results, any time I have problems, I have learned to immediately suspect user bone-headedness instead of just blaming the 7D.

That kind of stuff happens all the time with me

I normally find that it's that loose nut behind the viewfinder that's the problem when something like that happens !!!

I display the shooting information on the LCD screen. I quickly review the settings before a shoot.

My problem was having the lens not set up properly. As in the wrong IS mode (off, on, mode 2) and focus range limiter switch settings. Experience has taught me to check those now as well.

At least you got a decent amount of keepers. Even with the awesome 3" display on the 7D you cannot always tell a pictures quality with a quick review.

I have done the same thing once.
My more frequent foul up is knocking the AF/MF switches in the side of the big lenses.
All the lenses I use everyday have a big stripe of gaffa tape over them, and the big lenses I use have a stripe of gaffa on the hood, which I pull off and cover the switches with, then return to the hood after use.

I did have a very soft 600 (don't know why, it was very sharp when I used it 10 days prior) I was shooting cricket with one day.
I knocked the AF switch and didn't notice for 2 overs (12 balls for those of you who dont watch cricket). And the sharpness wasn't actually far off what the AF was doing

Hey Abpho... outstanding macro work on your flickr.

Do you mean the the 1D series cameras don't just KNOW what and how you want to shoot and set themselves? I'll stick with my 40D.

I've done that, I left the battery on the charger and yes I have forgotton to put the CF card back in the camera...still the camera's error though..

Ha! Flashback to the film days when I was out in the middle of the night, in the rain, and decided to take some shots of red railroad signals glinting off the rails of a double-track railroad line. Spent quite a lot of time setting up, playing with the exposure settings. These could have turned out beautifully - if only I had film in the camera!

Misery loves company! Glad I am not the only one.

I was taking a group shot of 15 kids in a dimly lit room. I thought my 17-50 OS would manage fine. I was wondering why I was getting blur. After the shots were done, I realized I had the OS turned off.

stevewf1 wrote in post #13785702
Ha! Flashback to the film days when I was out in the middle of the night, in the rain, and decided to take some shots of red railroad signals glinting off the rails of a double-track railroad line. Spent quite a lot of time setting up, playing with the exposure settings. These could have turned out beautifully - if only I had film in the camera!

That's pretty funny! I learned the hard way to check and make sure I had film and hadn't run it out! Now it's battery memory card, settings, etc!

haha...similar story, different hobby...after a year of being away in Korea, I came back to Canada for a vacation last week. I got my car out of hibernation, grabbed my sub and amp from the attic, lugged it down, hooked it up, cranked the stereo andddd....NOTHING. Checked the amp, it was getting power, all the other speakers were putting out sound fine, set up the head unit again (high pass, low pass, etc filters, sub output, and so on)...everything's great. Not a peep out of the sub.

Check the wires from the amp to the sub, cut them, re-trim the ends (just in case), nothing. Grab the drill, take the sub out of the box to check to see if maybe the wires had come loose, they're all good. Take the sub down to the nearest audio shop to test it...pounds on their bench. Scratch head. Go to car. Realize the whole time I forgot to plug the audio RCAs into the amp from the head unit. There's an hour of my life I'll never get back

jase1125 wrote in post #13785332
Hey Abpho... outstanding macro work on your flickr.

+1