7D Mark II - Focus Discussions

There are no settings you can set that will reduce noise if you shoot raw and don't use DPP to create your jpgs. If you shoot jpg in camera or out of DPP, there are a few things you can do to make the jpgs easier to process and have less noise. However shooting raw and setting up the jpg for proper cleanup will always provide you even a better jpg result.

Jpg/DPP settings:
- turn off ALO
- turn high iso nr to standard or high
- use a picture style that will ratchet up sharpness, but lower contrast
- shoot to the right a bit

Process the jpg to remove remaining noise, reduce brightness if needed, then add back in contrast.

This has worked for me in the past, but right now I work with raw and convert to jpg and run custom actions on them.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #17842414
There are no settings you can set that will reduce noise if you shoot raw and don't use DPP to create your jpgs. If you shoot jpg in camera or out of DPP, there are a few things you can do to make the jpgs easier to process and have less noise. However shooting raw and setting up the jpg for proper cleanup will always provide you even a better jpg result.

Jpg/DPP settings:
- turn off ALO
- turn high iso nr to standard or high
- use a picture style that will ratchet up sharpness, but lower contrast
- shoot to the right a bit

Process the jpg to remove remaining noise, reduce brightness if needed, then add back in contrast.

This has worked for me in the past, but right now I work with raw and convert to jpg and run custom actions on them.

Is this what you meant to say? Either these two statements directly contradict each other, or I am confused. When I shoot high-ISO, I shoot raw, low sharpness & contrast, ETTR, and process almost exclusively in LR. I do OK with noise.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #17842414
There are no settings you can set that will reduce noise if you shoot raw and don't use DPP to create your jpgs. If you shoot jpg in camera or out of DPP, there are a few things you can do to make the jpgs easier to process and have less noise. However shooting raw and setting up the jpg for proper cleanup will always provide you even a better jpg result.

Jpg/DPP settings:
- turn off ALO
- turn high iso nr to standard or high
- use a picture style that will ratchet up sharpness, but lower contrast
- shoot to the right a bit

Process the jpg to remove remaining noise, reduce brightness if needed, then add back in contrast.

This has worked for me in the past, but right now I work with raw and convert to jpg and run custom actions on them.

For years I had. High ISO nr set to standard. About two years ago, I found better results usong LR NR along with High ISO NR = Off. Have you tried to compare? I found images ultimately had better shrpness/detail left.

I was setting up a new camera, I didn't say I was redefining the raw image or found something everyone else missed !! This is my last post on this thread, I'm going back to only posting my images and talking about that. because on this thread everyone is just a little over the top. Maybe we should have Jake delete it so we can move on. I say delete this thread from existence. !! Thats my vote !!

Pondrader wrote in post #17842582
I was setting up a new camera, I didn't say I was redefining the raw image or found something everyone else missed !! This is my last post on this thread, I'm going back to only posting my images and talking about that. because on this thread everyone is just a little over the top. Maybe we should have Jake delete it so we can move on. I say delete this thread from existence. !! Thats my vote !!

I agree. A 'focus issue' thread with 5000+ postings is more than suggestive of a real problem.

Bassat wrote in post #17842710
I agree. A 'focus issue' thread with 5000+ postings is more than suggestive of a real problem.

Huh ? Wha ?? You mean to tell me these issues have been the product of everyone's over worked imagination ?

Nahhhh.... I can attest, this one is a bit more than mere "suggestive" of a problem and anyone coming behind with a new 7D2 should have this information as a resource if for nothing else but to keep their sanity and confidence.

I will admit the thread has deteriorated somewhat and probably found it's natural end, but others facing these troubles shouldn't be left to think it is all them and that there is no recourse.

Bassat wrote in post #17842420
Is this what you meant to say? Either these two statements directly contradict each other, or I am confused. When I shoot high-ISO, I shoot raw, low sharpness & contrast, ETTR, and process almost exclusively in LR. I do OK with noise.

I did mean to say that. DPP is the only raw converter that honors the in-camera JPG settings. If you shoot raw and don't use DPP, the settings you use in camera that could impact noise in your resulting JPG, other than exposure, really won't help much.

itw wrote in post #17842800
Huh ? Wha ?? You mean to tell me these issues have been the product of everyone's over worked imagination ?

Nahhhh.... I can attest, this one is a bit more than mere "suggestive" of a problem and anyone coming behind with a new 7D2 should have this information as a resource if for nothing else but to keep their sanity and confidence.

I will admit the thread has deteriorated somewhat and probably found it's natural end, but others facing these troubles shouldn't be left to think it is all them and that there is no recourse.

Actually there are only a handful of people that posted issues that look to be the same issue as Pondrader. Also, big chunks of this thread has NOTHING to do with the AF issue on some 7D2 bodies, for example, there is something like 9 pages dealing with the inadequacies of a particular Canon repair facility. The last several pages also are photo sharing and general discussion of other 7D2 topics and not AF issues. If you were to distill this thread down to just potential AF issues on the 7D2 with examples and discussions, I suspect it would be about the 1/2 the size or even less.

My guess based on nothing but gut and memory, is that maybe 15-20% of this thread are posts discussing any possible issue with AF. The specific number of people that have come to this thread with complaints, as opposed to mere questions is minuscule.

The vast majority of the posts are related to how to get the most from the 7D2, or sharing great images. Case in point, the last several pages have been very "focused" on specific in camera noise reduction settings.


Anyway, maybe I could change the title to;

7D Mark II - Focus Questions (or 7D Mark II - Focus Discussion)

Does that seem reasonable?

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #17842997
My guess based on nothing but gut and memory, is that maybe 15-20% of this thread are posts discussing any possible issue with AF. The specific number of people that have come to this thread with complaints, as opposed to mere questions is minuscule.

The vast majority of the posts are related to how to get the most from the 7D2, or sharing great images. Case in point, the last several pages have been very "focused" on specific in camera noise reduction settings.


Anyway, maybe I could change the title to;

7D Mark II - Focus Questions (or 7D Mark II - Focus Discussion)

Does that seem reasonable?

7D Mark II - Focus Discussion seems good.

gschlact wrote in post #17842573
For years I had. High ISO nr set to standard. About two years ago, I found better results usong LR NR along with High ISO NR = Off. Have you tried to compare? I found images ultimately had better shrpness/detail left.

I am not sure. I use DPP and my own recipes wrapped around Imagenomic/Noiseware.

Per my comments earlier, here is a sample ISO 12800 from the game last night. This is a JPG right out of the camera, full size, then a 100% crop.

This is okay, easy enough to work with, however, if I take the raw file and tweak it further with settings I cannot obtain in-camera, then process them with CS5/Noiseware and some other filters, I get this 100% crop, and a partial full size final result. I end up with a bit more detail this way, allowing me to be more creative in the noise removal. As to comments about IQ, keep in mind this is a 12800 from an APS-C body.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #17842915
Actually there are only a handful of people that posted issues that look to be the same issue as Pondrader. Also, big chunks of this thread has NOTHING to do with the AF issue on some 7D2 bodies, for example, there is something like 9 pages dealing with the inadequacies of a particular Canon repair facility. The last several pages also are photo sharing and general discussion of other 7D2 topics and not AF issues. If you were to distill this thread down to just potential AF issues on the 7D2 with examples and discussions, I suspect it would be about the 1/2 the size or even less.

I thought Pondrader's situation was unique. Who else sent a camera to the Canadian repair facility for a wonky button only to have the camera destroyed. Other than that the actual posts which reported what is generally considered a real problem could probably fit on three pages. The other about 370 pages at this time are consumed by posts indicating a problem can't exist, posts offering suggestions, posts offering sample images and more than anything a generally civil discussion of the problem that doesn't exist.

Rod

There may be an AF issue that plagues some 7D2s. Who knows for sure? I know last night, I had several photos where I was tracking somebody making a dash for the basket, and I had several where it seemed like NOTHING was in focus. I had the crowd in the stands all the way to a player near me, and when I go through the image, I can find where there is a plane of the frame that is mostly in focus, however, nothing was sharp.

This shouldn't happen, especially when the IS is turned off, and I am shooting at 1/2000th. This tells me that the issue, if there is one, has something to do with the lens assembly being driven even as the shutter is being opened and closed. This is not a good situation. It is the only conclusion I can come up with on several of my photos last night. I also just installed 1.0.5. I might go back to 1.0.4. I won't rule out an issue, and again IMO if there is a problem, it is that the lens is being driven while the frame is being exposed. I have done this for years now, and 1/2000th is enough to stop sweat in the air on a hit, and I should not have an image where there is an area that is somewhat in focus in the image, but even that isn't very clear.

So I won't rule out an issue that some are seeing, as I have seen some strange behavior from time to time, more so than I have seen from the 1D3, 1D4, 5D3 and 7D that I have been using in the past for sports. Other than the issue above, any other issue was with the AF points shifting onto a different part in the scene, because of the AF mode and AF use case settings I was using, which I can manage.

As to ISO performance, something I thought I saw with the original 7D (across copies), I think I might be seeing here too. I have no idea if there is some of electronics burn-in that makes the camera better, but since I shoot thousands of high ISO shots, it seems like the high ISO gets better with usage. I have no idea if this is the case or not? However here is a raw where I tweaked a few sliders, and output the JPG. The only thing I did on the JPG was to use smart sharpen and add saturation. No NR beyond what DPP created from the raw data... I have some that are noisy, but plenty are about this clean.

Perhaps it is all just speculation or wishful thinking however... Perhaps it is nothing more than DPP just being improved more and more each release?

Also, when the AF locked on (which was often), it was spot on. I kept tweaking settings, and found that AF expansion with just 4 expansion points turned out a bit better than 8.