7D Mark II - Focus Discussions

Kickflipkid687 wrote in post #17353302
This is the kind of result I can consistently re-produce with my 2nd Mark II.
Random focus in Live View, on a tripod, center point only , One Shot, on a static target. I rack focus, try to refocus, it says "it's good", but it's not.

I wasn't seeing issues like this with my 60D or Nikon D750 with the same lens.

I will get varying degrees of focus. Sharp, very soft, soft, sharp, ect. It's definitely going in. No more testing.
I'll keep using it, but when I return the Nikon D750 rental, this is going at the same time. Probably my Tamron 150-600 as well.

I know the shutter speed is slow, but this isn't motion blur. I was using mirror lockup and a timer as well, with nothing moving around me.
I could also see it being outta focus on the LCD before taking the shot.

100% view. Target about 12ft away or so

Sounds like your test range is 5-6x focal length. Canon recommends testing at 50x for MA. I suspect the reason for this is small variations in focus plane position just like this.

Having said that I tested at about 30ft with the 150-600 which is well below also.

You need to establish the distance movement in relation to depth of field. Canon on specify focus accuracy to within depth of focus, so this may be in spec.

I wouldn't recommend a slanted test chart because that can confuse the focus sensor, but some additional targets in front and behind the target spaced by the depth of field limits.

Yeah. I was going to wait, but I'll send it in tomorrow. Tired of testing stuff over and over.

from vacation last week. still not convinced the Ai servo AF is right but had a few that look decent. 7d2 with kit 18-135mm.

Can't view 100%, so hard to say exactly, but they seem good.

This is one of the in-focus pictures on the second 7DM2. This is my first upload to POTN; comments are welcome!

^ nice. Yeah, that seems good to me.

What I often am seeing is all fine detail lost, from being slightly outta focus.

Going through my test shots today, basically every 60D shot is good. But 50% or more of my 7D II shots were soft/outta focus.
I have the forms ready, and just need to drop it off at UPS tomorrow.

Sounds like it might be a couple weeks before I get it back though.

Kickflipkid687 wrote in post #17354622
^ nice. Yeah, that seems good to me.

What I often am seeing is all fine detail lost, from being slightly outta focus.

Going through my test shots today, basically every 60D shot is good. But 50% or more of my 7D II shots were soft/outta focus.
I have the forms ready, and just need to drop it off at UPS tomorrow.

Sounds like it might be a couple weeks before I get it back though.

Thanks; I really wish this camera had worked for me

I'm heading South in a few days and I'll give mine a good workout in more favourable weather. I'm picking up my 70-200 II along the way which Newport found was mis-calibrated so I'll have a factory calibrated lens and the new 100-400 to work with.

digital paradise wrote in post #17354733
I'm heading South in a few days and I'll give mine a good workout in more favourable weather. I'm picking up my 70-200 II along the way which Newport found was mis-calibrated so I'll have a factory calibrated lens and the new 100-400 to work with.

The best of luck with this system which has so much potential. Looking forward to seeing some sharp results here.

digital paradise wrote in post #17354733
I'm heading South in a few days and I'll give mine a good workout in more favourable weather. I'm picking up my 70-200 II along the way which Newport found was mis-calibrated so I'll have a factory calibrated lens and the new 100-400 to work with.

Please post pictures from the new 100-400 when you get back if you have time. I'm very interested in that lens.

Thanks.

I'm hoping to do that. I'm leaving my tried and true 300L F4 IS behind as it is tentatively sold. I have not gone without it since 2006.

I'm having some issues getting consistent focus on this snowy owl. Took more than 50 shots ... happy that half a dozen were sharp, but the others were blurry. That's scary, so I'm doing checking to see if I can figure out what went wrong.

As part of that, I'm displaying AF points in DPP, and I noticed sometimes the AF squares are depicted black, and sometimes red. Does anyone know the significance? I would really like to know, because for these shots, only the shots with red AF points gave sharp results.

I can't seem to find a manual for DPP 4, and the DPP 3 manual doesn't talk about AF points.

Beautiful bird. He doesn't have a lot of contrast for the AF to use. Difficult for most AF systems I suspect. Was that one shot or AI Servo?

pwomble wrote in post #17355030
Beautiful bird. He doesn't have a lot of contrast for the AF to use. Difficult for most AF systems I suspect. Was that one shot or AI Servo?

The examples had no PP and are shown too bright here. Darkened down, it seems there was enough contrast for AF.

This thought is supported by the fact that six shots in a row were in good focus. All six had the red AF squares. So I would like to know the significance.

Those 6 shots also had other things in common, so the red marks could be red herrings - but I still want to know what they mean.

These were all AF Servo shots.

Archibald wrote in post #17355051
The examples had no PP and are shown too bright here. Darkened down, it seems there was enough contrast for AF.

This thought is supported by the fact that six shots in a row were in good focus. All six had the red AF squares. So I would like to know the significance.

Those 6 shots also had other things in common, so the red marks could be red herrings - but I still want to know what they mean.

These were all AF Servo shots.

The red square means the focus point was active at the time of capture, black square means it wasn't. Eg, if you are using AF-On to enable focus but let it go the AF isn't active when the image was captured (and all you'd need to to is sway a little on your feet forward or backwards to through the focal plane off the subject).

Since there's only one point showing in your image above, I'd hazard a guess that these images were captured in live view with a single point selected and you have AF removed from the shutter.
Edit: This may depend on your "AF point display settings" - I have this set to show all AF points in DPP 4, which in non live view images shows all the points with active or focus confirmed points in red, others are black. The other option is to show only the AF points that achieved focus.