7D Mark II - Focus Discussions

Updated to 1.04 today, gave the camera a good going over in good light and good contrasting subjects . Tried every setting and mode I could think of, all razor sharp.

Took 40 shot burst in AI SERVO on stationary bird, not something I would normally do, all razor sharp which wasn't the case before

Lens used Canon 300mm f/2.8 MK 2 + 1.4 TC

Couldn't fault anything

How about servo performance on moving subjects?

wisv1k wrote in post #17556236
How about servo performance on moving subjects?

All razor sharp, excellent

Canon-Chas wrote in post #17556244
All razor sharp, excellent

Had you ma'd your lenses prior to 1.04?

Triplexbee wrote in post #17556430
Had you ma'd your lenses prior to 1.04?

Yes, I only use the 300mm with or without the 1.4 or 2 x TC

+5 for front focusing for 300, 420 or 600mm

Excellent news as this would suggest that any tinkering that Canon might have done to the AF system is not going to demand a recal.

Thank you.

Canon-Chas wrote in post #17556232
Updated to 1.04 today, gave the camera a good going over in good light and good contrasting subjects . Tried every setting and mode I could think of, all razor sharp.

Took 40 shot burst in AI SERVO on stationary bird, not something I would normally do, all razor sharp which wasn't the case before

Lens used Canon 300mm f/2.8 MK 2 + 1.4 TC

Couldn't fault anything

So in your opinion it operates better than before?
Does the lens still stutter when in AI servo on a stationary object?

I may have to take the leap of faith and try it.

Thanks
Rod

RodS57 wrote in post #17556507
So in your opinion it operates better than before?
Does the lens still stutter when in AI servo on a stationary object?

I may have to take the leap of faith and try it.

Thanks
Rod

Yes I would say I can't find any faults whatsoever. This is with a 300mm f2.8 MK 2 , but I can't comment on other combinations..
As stated before, AI Servo on stationary gave sharp images, I took some 350 images in multiple modes and focal point options, and the camera was faultless.

Canon-Chas wrote in post #17556232
Updated to 1.04 today, gave the camera a good going over in good light and good contrasting subjects . Tried every setting and mode I could think of, all razor sharp.

Took 40 shot burst in AI SERVO on stationary bird, not something I would normally do, all razor sharp which wasn't the case before

Lens used Canon 300mm f/2.8 MK 2 + 1.4 TC

Couldn't fault anything

This is very encouraging. I would expect ANY camera to apply some "servo jitter" at some point during that burst.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #17556553
This is very encouraging. I would expect ANY camera to apply some "servo jitter" at some point during that burst.

Absolutely, I would never attempt a huge machine gun burst in AI Servo on a stationary subject for real, the camera really was faultless, no jitter at all which left me gobsmacked . I was well impressed.

If I had tried that previously I would have expected at least 10% blurred images
I should add I used M JPEG for the burst and an Ultra UDMA CF card, can't remember which one but the fastest available on the market.
I normally shoot RAW Largest files, I will try a max burst in RAW tomorrow

That sounds encouraging. I mainly shoot sports with the 7DM2 and the sigma 120-300. Have just updated the firmware last nite. Tonite, will be going to a football (soccer) game. Will see if there is any changes.

Looking forward to trying mine out.

Very encouraging feedback - but let's hope others can report similarly positive experiences.

The update sounds good so far. I wonder if it has to be on a CF card. I don't have one and can't buy locally.

On Monday evening I was out trying my hand at BIF shots. I had zoomed in on three ducks sitting in the water.. Having a closer look as it were. After about 10 seconds they took off flying directly toward me. Started shooting. The first one or two shots were close to in focus then the camera lost focus completely for 6 or so shots then picked it up again for the rest of the burst (shooting at 4 fps). At 1/1000 the shutter speed probably wasn't high enough but then most shots are a little soft. Close but no cigar.

Back to something else: when I took the test shots I sent in to canon I also took the same shots with my T3i. These shots are noticeably sharper than the 7D2 shots but not by much and not as sharp as I had expected considering the sharpness I've seen in real world shots. It has been mentioned many times before but it was still surprising when viewing the 7D2 and T3i shots in side by side windows that for the 7D2 I had to zoom in to about 125% to get the approximate size of the T3i at 100%. Now, no guarantee that the shots were taken at exactly the same distance from the subject either. At 12 feet +/- six inches can make a big difference. Still interesting though.

Rod

RodS57 wrote in post #17556758
The update sounds good so far. I wonder if it has to be on a CF card. I don't have one and can't buy locally.

I just updated my firmware from an SD card.