7D Mark II - Focus Discussions

gschlact wrote in post #17764836
At least it males for a good back story,... "Yeah, the windows were stuck down with the truck power off, and I got to use myself as the bait for these big cat photos. "
pretty cool.

Sounds like a good shooting partner to me.

Truck will be off from now on I have enough trouble getting a good shot as it is I don't need to add any more hurdles.

I have missed focus because I was in AIServo and shot like I was in one shot. This was only because I did not hold the shutter/BBF button down long enough. It is an easy mistake to make when you are just taking a snapshot type photo and pick up the camera and click the shutter without realizing what mode you are in. A new user will probably also do this without even realizing they need to hold the BBF and/or shutter down for a second before taking the photo when in servo. This would be why a tech would tell a user to use one shot instead of servo.

Of course in my opinion I would not expect a person with a 7d/6d/5d/1d series camera to be a beginner user. That canned response to me would be more appropriate for someone with a new Rebel or P&S.

LOL I've done this a few times.

That is why I did not disable the shutter button. Shutter for one shot and AF-ON for Servo. The * button enables 65 point zone, case 6 and Servo. I hope canon adds drive mode to the detail detail set. I have to leave it on high speed continuous which is a mild irritant when shooting stills.

I always shoot with the the vehicle running. I just don't use the window as a support. When I do I shut the vehicle off.

digital paradise wrote in post #17765348
That is why I did not disable the shutter button. Shutter for one shot and AF-ON for Servo. The * button enables 65 point zone, case 6 and Servo. I hope canon adds drive mode to the detail detail set. I have to leave it on high speed continuous which is a mild irritant when shooting stills.

I always shoot with the the vehicle running. I just don't use the window as a support. When I do I shut the vehicle off.

^
This. The ability to have drive customizability would be awesome. Perched bird: click-click-click. Takes off: clickclickclick. Does something amazing: clclclclclclclick.

Triplexbee wrote in post #17765409


^
This. The ability to have drive customizability would be awesome. Perched bird: click-click-click. Takes off: clickclickclick. Does something amazing: clclclclclclclick.

There are quite a few of us hoping...

When does one decide that perhaps it's not the body, but the lens thats giving us fits ?

itw wrote in post #17765962
When does one decide that perhaps it's not the body, but the lens thats giving us fits ?

By trying different lenses and bodies. Or by asking Canon. (They might not give you a straight answer, though.)

itw wrote in post #17765962
When does one decide that perhaps it's not the body, but the lens thats giving us fits ?

That may be happening with me. Having problems with focus on birds in flight AND landing with Tamron 150-600 although the still photos of less active subjects are great (7Dii) so it's not the AF or lens sharpness (I did do the MF adjustment on this one). Can't seem to lock on to BIF until they slow down and land and even then I am missing a lot of them, more than I think I should be. Could be me and the weight and camera shake although with high shutter speed and vc on it still happens. I acknowledged that it could be user error. I don't seem to have that problem with the kit 55-250 on either the 7Dii or my old T3i. The Tamron also misbehaved on the T3i. In both cases the non or slowly moving wildlife come out fine.

I took out the 7Dii last evening with a Canon 400 5.6L and even in fading light, high ISO and somewhat lowered shutter speeds most of my BIF and especially the landing photos came out amazing. Some of the best ones I have ever taken! They're on some other threads here including the big 7Dii photo thread..

Granted it was only one outing and I plan to do a few more, hopefully this weekend (when I am not attending the conference I have to be at) and see if this finding is consistent.

Great info on this thread, BTW, I am working my way through the whole thing slowly.

Ed

edmidlifecrisis wrote in post #17766135
That may be happening with me. Having problems with focus on birds in flight AND landing with Tamron 150-600 although the still photos of less active subjects are great (7Dii) so it's not the AF or lens sharpness (I did do the MF adjustment on this one). Can't seem to lock on to BIF until they slow down and land and even then I am missing a lot of them, more than I think I should be. Could be me and the weight and camera shake although with high shutter speed and vc on it still happens. I acknowledged that it could be user error. I don't seem to have that problem with the kit 55-250 on either the 7Dii or my old T3i. The Tamron also misbehaved on the T3i. In both cases the non or slowly moving wildlife come out fine.

I took out the 7Dii last evening with a Canon 400 5.6L and even in fading light, high ISO and somewhat lowered shutter speeds most of my BIF and especially the landing photos came out amazing. Some of the best ones I have ever taken! They're on some other threads here including the big 7Dii photo thread..

Granted it was only one outing and I plan to do a few more, hopefully this weekend (when I am not attending the conference I have to be at) and see if this finding is consistent.

Great info on this thread, BTW, I am working my way through the whole thing slowly.

Ed

I have the tamron as well. Most of my shots are not as sharp as I would like but I have the same problem with the camera in general. Back to your issue: use the zoom lock to keep the tamron at 400mm and see if it makes any difference. I can manage to hand hold at 400 but it is a lot more difficult at 600.

The second point: not long after the tamron was released there was a firmware update to correct focus hunting issues with some canon bodies. If your lens is a recent purchase than it may have the new firmware already. Mine was ordered shortly after release so it probably has the original version of the firmware. The update requires a trip to tamron but they have a six year warranty (listening canon ߙ) so I am in no hurry.

Rod

edmidlifecrisis wrote in post #17766135
That may be happening with me. Having problems with focus on birds in flight AND landing with Tamron 150-600 although the still photos of less active subjects are great (7Dii) so it's not the AF or lens sharpness (I did do the MF adjustment on this one). Can't seem to lock on to BIF until they slow down and land and even then I am missing a lot of them, more than I think I should be. Could be me and the weight and camera shake although with high shutter speed and vc on it still happens. I acknowledged that it could be user error. I don't seem to have that problem with the kit 55-250 on either the 7Dii or my old T3i. The Tamron also misbehaved on the T3i. In both cases the non or slowly moving wildlife come out fine.

I took out the 7Dii last evening with a Canon 400 5.6L and even in fading light, high ISO and somewhat lowered shutter speeds most of my BIF and especially the landing photos came out amazing. Some of the best ones I have ever taken! They're on some other threads here including the big 7Dii photo thread..

Granted it was only one outing and I plan to do a few more, hopefully this weekend (when I am not attending the conference I have to be at) and see if this finding is consistent.

Great info on this thread, BTW, I am working my way through the whole thing slowly.

Ed

There is a lens firmware update to allow panning with VC on (I don't have this) I find even small panning movements with the VC on reduce sharpness, with VC off no problems.

I would suggest turning off VC for inflight, the update may solve it but certainly turn it off if you have not had the update done.

Of course 400 is easier than 600, mostly I find for keeping track of the bird, but if you can keep on target then 600 should still give good results.

Lastly I am finding the centre area focus points better than single point with expansion on the 7DII, the multipoint seems to work much better than it did on the 7DI.

Lester Wareham wrote in post #17766622
There is a lens firmware update to allow panning with VC on (I don't have this) I find even small panning movements with the VC on reduce sharpness, with VC off no problems.

I would suggest turning off VC for inflight, the update may solve it but certainly turn it off if you have not had the update done.

Of course 400 is easier than 600, mostly I find for keeping track of the bird, but if you can keep on target then 600 should still give good results.

Lastly I am finding the centre area focus points better than single point with expansion on the 7DII, the multipoint seems to work much better than it did on the 7DI.

Thank-you. I will find out if the firmware update has been done.

I got my 7D2 back Friday. It was fairly late in the afternoon but I repeated the series of photographs I had taken after I have done a factory reset on all values. It appears, with this limited sample, that I'm back in business.

Of course, I will head out next week and put it through a real test, i.e., birds in flight and stationary at 400mm but so far, I'm hopeful.

The note from the service tech said he adjusted the AF due to intermittent back focusing and also reinstalled the latest firmware in case what I had done was corrupt.

I'll let you all know what I find out next week. I work Sat-Mon so I'll be out Tuesday or Wednesday, putting it through its paces.

Phoenixkh wrote in post #17767100
I got my 7D2 back Friday. It was fairly late in the afternoon but I repeated the series of photographs I had taken after I have done a factory reset on all values. It appears, with this limited sample, that I'm back in business.

Of course, I will head out next week and put it through a real test, i.e., birds in flight and stationary at 400mm but so far, I'm hopeful.

The note from the service tech said he adjusted the AF due to intermittent back focusing and also reinstalled the latest firmware in case what I had done was corrupt.

I'll let you all know what I find out next week. I work Sat-Mon so I'll be out Tuesday or Wednesday, putting it through its paces.

Here's hoping you'll have no more problems!