7D Mark II - Focus Discussions

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #17278678
is surround the same as expansion? I may be using old 1D2 terminology.
Its my go to setting.

No expansion uses the center and 4 points in a plus pattern and surround uses center plus the 8 points adjacent to the center point.

Mike-G wrote in post #17278979
Guys, I think we are loosing focus on the focus subject here..! I think there is the need to better understand what is really happening and how many of us are in trouble. Best would be to understand how many have problems over how many total buyers..
If you agree, I suggest that each of us answer the following questions :
Seller :
Body only : ( Yes/No )
Serial No.:
Focus problem : ( seriuos/occasional/No )
Will return : ( yes/don't know/No )

Just for the sake of clarity !
Thanks

Adorama
Kit
Maybe later
Not that I know of, but my long range tracking opportunities have been few and far between, I have it dailed in on a focus chart and standard distance shooting, and shot to shot it is very consistent
No plans to return it.

Mike-G wrote in post #17278979
Guys, I think we are loosing focus on the focus subject here..! I think there is the need to better understand what is really happening and how many of us are in trouble. Best would be to understand how many have problems over how many total buyers..
If you agree, I suggest that each of us answer the following questions :
Seller :
Body only : ( Yes/No )
Serial No.:
Focus problem : ( seriuos/occasional/No )
Will return : ( yes/don't know/No )

Just for the sake of clarity !
Thanks

Also we should add what cases are being used and if they have been modified and how, One Shot or AI Servo, are you using Spot, Single, Single plus expansion, Single Plus Surround, Zone or all 65.

Keith R wrote in post #17278709
For the most part, the 70D "issues" have been user error, uninformed/unrealistic expectations, and a very small number of actually faulty individual cameras.

You have no idea if that's true. "For the most part" people with 70Ds don't come on POTN. I rather suspect that most people with 70Ds don't have f/2.8 lenses to test with, as until the 40mm pancake those were relatively expensive except for the 50mm, which was known to have poor autofocus anyway. The setups to prove the existence of this issue were also very specific and probably too involved to interest the bulk of 70D owners who were likely looking to shoot pics and videos of family gatherings and the like. The bottom line is, we don't know exactly how many were affected. Especially in Europe.

Mike-G wrote in post #17278979
Guys, I think we are loosing focus on the focus subject here..! I think there is the need to better understand what is really happening and how many of us are in trouble. Best would be to understand how many have problems over how many total buyers..
If you agree, I suggest that each of us answer the following questions :
Seller :
Body only : ( Yes/No )
Serial No.:
Focus problem : ( seriuos/occasional/No )
Will return : ( yes/don't know/No )

Just for the sake of clarity !
Thanks

Adorama
Later
No, with 18-135 kit + Camranger (Adorama kit)
Serious
Already returned, second on its way back

Adorama
body only
Occasional
Don't know
I use Cases 1,3 and 6. I had sped up the settings but now have returned them to normal
AI Servo
I use Single Point and Single Point plus Surround. I had been using Spot but went to Single Point.

After making the changes my focus issues have gone away for what little testing I did yeaterday the first day after the changes.

I had a couple of times that the camera would choose a focus and stay with the focus no matter how I tried to get it to focus accurately. It would focus great up close on non moving target but as the distance increased it would have a rapid decrease in accuracy. Moving targets were hit and miss. So far all have been eliminated. I am waiting to see if the first issue returns to see if I can figure out if it was me or the camera.

2n10 wrote in post #17279075
Adorama
body only
Occasional
Don't know
I use Cases 1,3 and 6. I had sped up the settings but now have returned them to normal
AI Servo
I use Single Point and Single Point plus Surround. I had been using Spot but went to Single Point.

After making the changes my focus issues have gone away for what little testing I did yeaterday the first day after the changes.

I had a couple of times that the camera would choose a focus and stay with the focus no matter how I tried to get it to focus accurately. It would focus great up close on non moving target but as the distance increased it would have a rapid decrease in accuracy. Moving targets were hit and miss. So far all have been eliminated. I am waiting to see if the first issue returns to see if I can figure out if it was me or the camera.

Sounds like you may have discovered what your issue were/are. One that jumps out at me is spot AF, ai servo and long distance shooting, which is a no no or will be a gamble at the least. I use spot AF for one shot - like when trying to get a photo of a football player with a helmet.

Methodical wrote in post #17279103
Sounds like you may have discovered what your issue were/are. One that jumps out at me is spot AF, ai servo and long distance shooting, which is a no no or will be a gamble at the least. I use spot AF for one shot - like when trying to get a photo of a football player with a helmet.

I was able to get away with that on my 7D and that is how I shot my 7D2 with about the same success as the 7D today. I have a large house on hill that is 2.25 miles away that I used. I came out as well as could be expected given atmospheric interference for the distance. I will need to go with one shot to see if that improves things. Thanks.

I am hoping it is resolved. I am glad that I was reading all posts about the 7D2 or I might have missed the one about slowing the settings down on the 5D3 and 1DX when you have focus issues and how it should likely work on the 7D2.

2n10 wrote in post #17279126
I was able to get away with that on my 7D and that is how I shot my 7D2 with about the same success as the 7D today. I have a large house on hill that is 2.25 miles away that I used. I came out as well as could be expected given atmospheric interference for the distance. I will need to go with one shot to see if that improves things. Thanks.

I am hoping it is resolved. I am glad that I was reading all posts about the 7D2 or I might have missed the one about slowing the settings down on the 5D3 and 1DX when you have focus issues and how it should likely work on the 7D2.

Canon specifically states that accuracy will be limited if trying to use spot AF in the same manner as with "one" AF point or surround etc. because it's not design to handle it. It's mainly for those times when you need a smaller focus area to shoot between a fence, football helmet etc. and not for tracking, say birds, at long distances. Notice, they did not say it would not ever work, but it's not as accurate. Good for shooting those animals at the zoos through those cages and such.

Definitely slowing down "tracking" will help to keep AF from jumping all over the place, which will then cause missed shots. That's something I learned the hard way with the 1D3 and 1D4. I have my Wildlife/Birding AF settings very similar to my football settings - tracking at -1 (sometimes -2). I want tracking as a priority so that when something comes between what I am tracking and the camera, the camera's focus does not jump on it (definitely works as I confirm it when taking multiple shots of a running back and it sticks with him even when tacklers come in the scene.). If for any reason it does jump on another object, I just quickly pump the back button AF to reacquire the subject.

Check out Peter Read's football settings.

Do you use back button AF?

Directly from The II's AF Guide:

Single-point Spot AF is a great AF area option for carefully and precisely placing sharpest focus on one part of a subject or scene. It's not just for portraits... it can work well for close-up and macro shots, and also when shooting through foreground subjects (such as a bird through the leaves of a tree). Helmeted subjects in sports are another potential subject where spot AF can be helpful, to avoid sharpest focus accidentally falling on a surrounding helmet area instead of the subject's eye. Since it reads a smaller area of the subject, it tends to be most effective where you can take your time and carefully place the AF point over the critical area of the subject. Accordingly, spot AF is usually not the best choice for action shots of moving subjects with AI Servo AF.

Methodical wrote in post #17279164
Canon specifically states that accuracy will be limited if trying to use spot AF in the same manner as with "one" AF point or surround etc. because it's not design to handle it. It's mainly for those times when you need a smaller focus area to shoot between a fence, football helmet etc. and not for tracking, say birds, at long distances. Notice, they did not say it would not ever work, but it's not as accurate. Good for shooting those animals at the zoos through those cages and such.

Definitely slowing down "tracking" will help to keep AF from jumping all over the place, which will then cause missed shots. That's something I learned the hard way with the 1D3 and 1D4. I have my Wildlife/Birding AF settings very similar to my football settings - tracking at -1 (sometimes -2). I want tracking as a priority so that when something comes between what I am tracking and the camera, the camera's focus does not jump on it (definitely works as I confirm it when taking multiple shots of a running back and it sticks with him even when tacklers come in the scene.). If for any reason it does jump on another object, I just quickly pump the back button AF to reacquire the subject.

Check out Peter Read's football settings.

Do you use back button AF?

Directly from The II's AF Guide:

...is a great AF area option for carefully and precisely placing sharpest focus on one part of a subject or scene. It's not just for portraits... it can work well for close-up and macro shots, and also when shooting through foreground subjects (such as a bird through the leaves of a tree). Helmeted subjects in sports are another potential subject where spot AF can be helpful, to avoid sharpest focus accidentally falling on a surrounding helmet area instead of the subject's eye. Since it reads a smaller area of the subject, it tends to be most effective where you can take your time and carefully place the AF point over the critical area of the subject. Accordingly, spot AF is usually not the best choice for action shots of moving subjects with AI Servo AF.

I didn't use the Spot for action shots but just to get, hopefully, between obstructions for bird shots. I did the AI Servo because the little buggers are always rocking about.

I do use BBF.

It sounds as though a lot of folks have learned the hard way that the most advanced AF system Canon offers does not need accelerated tracking.

I have adjusted my main focusing away from spot and put it on another BBF as an option. I have set the * and AF-On buttons for BBF. I use Single Point plus Surround for BIF as my main AF option and have set 65 point as my alternate. I have yet to try the 65 point yet so that one has me intrigued.

Interesting on Peter Miller.

I use Case 1 on my Custom bird settings, Case 3 on my M setting for grins and giggles at least right now, and Case 6 for BIF. I will need to see how this goes since I have just tried it. I will need to see about Case 4 in there somewhere.

2n10 wrote in post #17279214
I didn't use the Spot for action shots but just to get, hopefully, between obstructions for bird shots. I did the AI Servo because the little buggers are always rocking about.

I do use BBF.

It sounds as though a lot of folks have learned the hard way that the most advanced AF system Canon offers does not need accelerated tracking.

I have adjusted my main focusing away from spot and put it on another BBF as an option. I have set the * and AF-On buttons for BBF. I use Single Point plus Surround for BIF as my main AF option and have set 65 point as my alternate. I have yet to try the 65 point yet so that one has me intrigued.

Interesting on Peter Miller.

I use Case 1 on my Custom bird settings, Case 3 on my M setting for grins and giggles at least right now, and Case 6 for BIF. I will need to see how this goes since I have just tried it. I will need to see about Case 4 in there somewhere.

Like you, I assigned the Spot AF point to the back button also - AF-On back button to quickly use it. I use the * for main focus. I'm going to try the large zone for Eagle shots. I plan to hit Conowingo Dam thanksgiving weekend. I have also customized my favorite settings for the 2 "my folders" with AF adjustments (tracking, acceleration etc.) just in case I need to make quick changes.

I can see using the faster tracking and main focus when shooting runners and bike racers if you want to continuously go from one person to the leader. The focus will quickly jump to where ever you point it.

Mine was front focusing, so I use the Dot Tune AF and had to adjust by +4. So far shooting the birdies out back has shown that focus is better.

Good luck...Al

Methodical wrote in post #17279255
Like you, I assigned the Spot AF point to the back button also - AF-On back button to quickly use it. I use the * for main focus. I'm going to try the large zone for Eagle shots. I plan to hit Conowingo Dam thanksgiving weekend. I have also customized my favorite settings for the 2 "my folders" with AF adjustments (tracking, acceleration etc.) just in case I need to make quick changes.

I can see using the faster tracking and main focus when shooting runners and bike racers if you want to continuously go from one person to the leader. The focus will quickly jump to where ever you point it.

Mine was front focusing, so I use the Dot Tune AF and had to adjust by +4. So far shooting the birdies out back has shown that focus is better.

Good luck...Al

Thanks Al. I set up the AF-On and * like you did. I did MFA and need about +10 on my 100-400 and +16 with the 1.4TC. Having MFA is great.

Have fun and let us know how the large zone goes.

gschlact wrote in post #17275615
What was the status of your IS on your lens? If not in mode 2, you might have been fighting the IS as you panned.??

My 'old' lens doesn't have 'IS'... So... Again... User error on my part... Thx for asking!!!

I always use mode 2 but on occasion have forgotten and left it on 1. I have never really noticed any major issues. Images came out OK. It might have taken longer to lock.

I also got my 7D2 yesterday. From the initial indoor test shooting around in my office, the high ISO performance looks great. I can probably produce some usable uncropped images even at ISO 16,000.

Anyway, what I notice is when I was shooting with my 7D2 with EF 300mm f/2.8L IS (not the version II lens) with a Canon 1.4x TC II, the focus motor was very slow when trying to aim for dimly lit subject. My 7D, on the other hand, did not have any issue. However, when I removed the TC, i.e., 7D2 with 300/2.8L IS only, the focus motor spin very quickly with ease. Does anyone have similar issue?

Thanks,
Raymond