7D Mark II - Focus Discussions

TeamSpeed wrote in post #17454570
[Q
UOTE=Bernd1;17452957]D​oes that also apply to the AF point indicator in the viewfinder of the camera?
Yes, the display in the viewfinder are merely lcd boxes integrated into the lcd screen, and the actual AF sensors reside elsewhere. They should be close but people have mapped the actual AF sensors to the viewfinder results, and some are quite off.

WOW! I did not know that! And this is disappointing! It probably does not matter if your subject fills the frame, but for small subjects it is a significant disadvantage in my opinion. If that is really the case than it is mandatory from any company to describe that in the manual. I have never seen that in any camera manual!

Bernd1 wrote in post #17454578
WOW! I did not know that! And this is disappointing! It probably does not matter if your subject fills the frame, but for small subjects it is a significant disadvantage in my opinion. If that is really the case than it is mandatory from any company to describe that in the manual. I have never seen that in any camera manual!

The actual sensing area for each AF point is bigger than shown in the viewfinder. I have tested my central AF point and it is effectively about double as wide as shown (about 50% bigger on the left and 50% bigger on the right). So it is significant but not really that big.

You can do your own testing - it's easy. Select one AF point and focus on a small isolated object, moving the AF point around. See what the camera focuses on.

This is a different situation to where the AF points are compared to where DPP shows where they are. If you are shooting in One Shot, then you can lock focus and recompose. So the AF point could be anywhere when you actually take the shot. DPP will show the picture as taken and will display the AF point used, but not where it originally locked focus.

Update: Had a long discussion with Canon CPS (Canada). Samantha was extremely sensitive to my concerns, my body is on the way back and another loaner body is on the way. If I flame them, then I have to be honest and say when they're good to me too.

Apparently the "tech" that called me was not a tech. He was from the call centre and they are not supposed to deal with CPS issues. Only CPS reps are allowed to speak with members. (It's nice to know that they actually appreciate their customers.) My body was not supposed to be shipped out, the tech was speaking with Samantha and it was shipped to me when he was out of the office. I appreciate the fact that errors occur.

I pointed out that I was disturbed that Purolator dropped off $10K worth of gear on my porch and left, even though I have a no-sign sticker. She advised me that they have an agreement that EVERY parcel from Canon must be signed for. I could have called Canon, told them that I had not received my body, or their body/lens loaner, but I'm not like that. I signed my email to them : "I'm not looking for something for nothing, I just want what I paid for."

Lots of honey, always time for vinegar. Hoping for good Karma....

Lucky they didn't just chuck it over the fence. I have heard of that happening.

New body on the way

At this point, my 7D2 is producing good focused images only when I used single center AF point. The following image was made by using single AF point, none of the other images made with 4 assist points were close to this sharpness.
BTW, 5d3 and 1DX were set with 4 assist points by default, never needed to change to single AF point. I am starting to believe that there is AF sensor design flaw in this camera.
AISERVO, case1.

I still can't use my 70-200 f2.8L IS II wide open.
at f4 I get sharp images. But at f2.8 they're quite soft.
With the football season coming up (less light), I need to get this sorted.
Any ideas?

Markd102 wrote in post #17459169
I still can't use my 70-200 f2.8L IS II wide open.
at f4 I get sharp images. But at f2.8 they're quite soft.
With the football season coming up (less light), I need to get this sorted.
Any ideas?

Have you tried micro adjusting the auto focus for this lens? F4 gives you greater depth of field which would be more forgiving than f2.8.

DotTune method is a pretty straight forward to do it. You can see how to do it on the youtube video:
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=7zE50jCUPhM

Numerous times

There may be bodies with specific issues, but I don't believe there is a "AF sensor design flaw in this camera.". I took hundreds of photos this weekend and all of them on AISERVO. This does not look soft to me.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/r7PN​ti

I received a loaner 7D2 and 70-200 2.8 IS II late this afternoon. The pictures are amazingly sharp, sharper than I've seen on the body yet.

Unless: you put the AF into Servo and shoot a stationary object. I tried the same 3 shots, on a rock on my end table.

7DII: Single Shot: sharp, AI Focus: sharp, AI Servo: fuzzy
5D3: Single Shot: sharp, AI Focus: Sharp, AI Servo: sharp

The flaw is perhaps the "advanced" AF unit gets fooled if pointed at a stationary object in AI Servo? If someone else can try this out too and let us know the results, that'd be awesome.

Well, my saga continues. I sent a message to Canon Canada today for advise. On Feb 22 I found an old tree stump with lots of fine cracks etc, a guard rail post and snow bank for support. I took shots using the tamron from 150-600 in 50mm increments with MFA disabled then enabled MFA and ran through the same shots again. The shots with MFA on we're much better than with it off. But still a bit soft. Of course, this wasn't going to be easy or simple. One shot in the middle of a burst with MFA off was probably the sharpest shot I have seen come out of my copy of the 7D2. So out of about 60 shots I ended up with one that I can say looks like it is supposed to.

I've switched to the 70-300L. So far it looks like dot tune was close but no cigar.

I will wait for Canon's response and would like to get this resolved but it is unlikely I will buy into the Canon camera lottery again.

Rod

rejay14 wrote in post #17459432
I received a loaner 7D2 and 70-200 2.8 IS II late this afternoon. The pictures are amazingly sharp, sharper than I've seen on the body yet.

Unless: you put the AF into Servo and shoot a stationary object. I tried the same 3 shots, on a rock on my end table.

7DII: Single Shot: sharp, AI Focus: sharp, AI Servo: fuzzy
5D3: Single Shot: sharp, AI Focus: Sharp, AI Servo: sharp

The flaw is perhaps the "advanced" AF unit gets fooled if pointed at a stationary object in AI Servo? If someone else can try this out too and let us know the results, that'd be awesome.

Just tried it with my 7d2 and 100-400II on some things sitting here on the desk and what not. Look plenty good to me.

My first couple bodies had this problem. They got sent back. I would, however, agree with your statement that the camera is looking for movement when there is none and getting confused.

RodS57 wrote in post #17459433
Well, my saga continues. I sent a message to Canon Canada today for advise. On Feb 22 I found an old tree stump with lots of fine cracks etc, a guard rail post and snow bank for support. I took shots using the tamron from 150-600 in 50mm increments with MFA disabled then enabled MFA and ran through the same shots again. The shots with MFA on we're much better than with it off. But still a bit soft. Of course, this wasn't going to be easy or simple. One shot in the middle of a burst with MFA off was probably the sharpest shot I have seen come out of my copy of the 7D2. So out of about 60 shots I ended up with one that I can say looks like it is supposed to.

I've switched to the 70-300L. So far it looks like dot tune was close but no cigar.

I will wait for Canon's response and would like to get this resolved but it is unlikely I will buy into the Canon camera lottery again.

Rod

The Tamron isn't optimally sharp wide open. Can't blame that on the camera.

What was your shutter speed/aperture/ISO for your test shots?

rejay14 wrote in post #17459432
I received a loaner 7D2 and 70-200 2.8 IS II late this afternoon. The pictures are amazingly sharp, sharper than I've seen on the body yet.

Unless: you put the AF into Servo and shoot a stationary object. I tried the same 3 shots, on a rock on my end table.

7DII: Single Shot: sharp, AI Focus: sharp, AI Servo: fuzzy
5D3: Single Shot: sharp, AI Focus: Sharp, AI Servo: sharp

The flaw is perhaps the "advanced" AF unit gets fooled if pointed at a stationary object in AI Servo? If someone else can try this out too and let us know the results, that'd be awesome.

I have never shot my 7DmarkII in one shot, AIServo since I picked it up.

Shot this morning,, Im using half the sharpening with the 100-400L II than I did with the 70-300L ,..Lens matters a ton

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/qvTu​PZ