7DII (not another focus thread)

This is just a rundown of where I stand with my copy of the 7DII which I've had for 5 weeks now. Based on posts related to focus issues I started trying to determine if I had any of the posted issues. To date it doesn't look like it. At least not as far as inconsistent focus is concerned.

If it matters, I usually have the camera set to Av, one shot focus, centre point and continuous shooting at 5 fps and ISO 100 or 200. These settings usually only change when moving targets are involved or low light.

To start, the first few shots I took were indoors with the 70-300L and resulted in auto ISO speeds of 6400. The shots were fine for that ISO setting. No apparent focus issues. An outing with the tamron 150-600, AI servo, the centre goup of AF points active and a landing jet produced soft images. First suspect was user error.

Shortly after that I started experiment with AFMA and dot tune. A subsequent outdoor excursion with the 70-300L produced acceptable shots but due to subject matter I was not able to determine precise focus operation although the shots were fine when viewed at 100%.

For the past few weeks I have been concentrating my efforts on the tamron. I did my best using the dot tune method indoors to adjust the lens. Subsequent tests in bright sunlight and a distance of about 120 feet gave me slightly different numbers for AFMA. A quick outing today and I've revised the numbers again but have yet to see really sharp images at 100%

It's all getting too confusing. Too many conflicting statements, suggestions and comments such as:

sensor pixel density will mean pictures will not look sharp when viewed at 100% but most shots posted related to focus sharpness are 100% crops; even most my bad shots look ok at 50%
sensor pixel density will make the resolution of your lenses a factor in picture quality; sounds reasonable
correct AFMA distance - is it MFD, 25x, 50x
higher F-stop values (as in using F8 instead of F4) will negate the effects of AFMA; this didn't have any positive effect on tests today as far as image quality goes

This has all been a great learning experience but at the end of the day I bought this camera to take pictures and not just test pictures. Sooo, my next outing I will be concentrating on taking pictures that aren't necessarily test pictures. As weather conditions prevent me taking large numbers of pictures outside (-43 C today with the wind chill) it will be easy to play with the AFMA settings in a controlled manner and still be able to monitor adjustment effects while still enjoying what this camera has to offer.

RE AFMA: current tamron settings are +4 on the wide end and +4 on the long end so I have a folder appropriated named w+4-t+4 to place the pics. Will create another folder similarly named for the next AFMA settings so over a period of time I can review the effects of AFMA in real world shooting conditions and not just some artificial test shots.

Of course I will continue to follow the focus threads and others but for me it is time to do something besides read about issues.

To those with real issues - good luck
To all the people ready to help - thanks
To everyone with no problems - how come you aren't out taking pictures

Rod

I hear you on the conflicting reports. I'm one of those with no problems (so far), and concerning all the comments on POTN I'd suggest scanning for Hollis' posts/comments. And though testing with a TC combo I was out today; these also with the AF-On set to AI-Servo Case 1 and 9 point expansion, handheld, pulled highlights down a bit in LR and minimum crop:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/q3FN​rq

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/qhWg​To

Nice shots. I've attempted to take pics of what I am guessing are similar sized small birds at a distance of about 50 feet with the tamron but they are no were near as sharp as these. Now, to be fair they are SOOC jpgs with no post processing and I really have difficulty with hand held shots once I pass 400mm.

Had my 7d mk2 for 5 weeks also.
Settings are (af-on for af, shutter button for meter and shutter. Sub menu set for aiservo.) Expanded 5 point focus.
(Star button for one shot and spot focus. Sub menu for one shot.)
Keeper rate for BIF compared to my 1d mk4 and old 7d was very bad. Maybe one out of 10 at best.
Installed focus point program to show the points in lightroom, to see if I had developed a bad technique or missed the bird altogether. Most were right on the bird, which was out of focus. Settings were displayed and to my surprise
**one shot** was listed on all shots. It clearly showed aiservo on the view finder and settings menu.
Shutter speed was 1250 or 2000, f5.6 and auto iso.
Found that when I pushed the af-on button to start the auto focus, the camera switched to one shot, could see it happen on the lcd. Verified the settings in the menu and sub menu were set correctly. Note, there is a sub menu option for this, but I had it set to aiservo, correctly.
Spent 45 minutes with CPS to see if this is a common problem, they could not recreate it, I reset everything back to default and went through setting up again. So far so good, when I start the aiservo with the af-on button it says aiservo and on the show focus points program it says aiservo.
CPS thinks it is a one of a kind glitch, and with only a few shots since it looks good.
Clearly the reason the previous shots were out of focus was the camera switched to one shot on a moving bird.
Will try tomorrow on some birds by the pond.

Hope this helps someone else.
Also hope it brings up the keeper rate to where the 1d mk4 and old 7d was. Both were great.

Switching into One Shot from Servo would definitely have that affect. I have experienced that kind of focus failure on my 7D when I have accidentally left it in One Shot and thought I was in AI Servo ( which I use 98 per cent of the time) while shooting birds.

That could definitely be a camera firmware bug, and a tough one to find if Canon can't easily replicate it.

MedicineMan4040 wrote in post #17319478
I hear you on the conflicting reports. I'm one of those with no problems (so far), and concerning all the comments on POTN I'd suggest scanning for Hollis' posts/comments. And though testing with a TC combo I was out today; these also with the AF-On set to AI-Servo Case 1 and 9 point expansion, handheld, pulled highlights down a bit in LR and minimum crop:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/q3FN​rq #2 with 2.0 TC + Canon 300mm 2 by MedicineMan4040, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/qhWg​To 2.0 TC + 300mm 2 by MedicineMan4040, on Flickr

I can save you a lot of time scanning for Hollis' comments. Hollis knows what he is talking about, is very analytical and will tell you to MFA your equipment. There not much you can add because the 7D2 because it is not that complicated. You should be nailing 90% of your day to day shots if you keep it simple.

What I have been seeing is more than normal front focusing on my 7D2, to the point I had to push it to + 13 to get shots in focus at distance. One lens has been on every crop since my 30D and needed nothing.

I put a different lens on that was serviced at canon and has produced excellent shots with no MFA on both my 5D3 and 7D. Back to back tests in the field with my 5D3 and 7D2 was no contest.

So there are two camps. You accept this and MFA what I consider is a more than normal correction or you don't and then decide what is your best course of action.

I don't own Focal and it can't MFA the 7D2 yet last I heard and I have tried every other one out there. Preliminary MFA tests @ 25x did not show very much.

-43 C ! OMG!

I have also had my 7DII since the first week of November. Love it.

First time out I had issues, but due to operator error. There is a ton to learn about this camera. I've set everything to focus priority for all the af options - usually I'm running manual with single point AF, switched it off the 'spot af' after I figured out that wasn't the best option for me and I've been very happy with most being crisp focus, and a few that are slightly a miss, but still usable.

I've had the camera 'act up' a couple times, sometimes it moves the single AF point over to a closer point of subject on the subject before I touch anything... so I think there is some 'predictive' things that may be happening for the settings I've chosen that I don't understand yet, but it has been in my favor so far so while I notice the behavior I'm not unhappy with it.

BWChase, WOW that would explain the 'soft focus' issues that some are having if that is a common bug that people don't know is happening - some sort of combination of settings that throw it out of servo mode. Kudos to you for digging that out of your camera, and I hope you have perfect success now! I will keep watch on that - there are so many combinations you can put this into I bet we have a software bug.

I did switch to ai focus - the one between AI servo and one shot and my crisp rate seems to be better now - I did have it in One Shot previously.

One thing of note, this camera seems to understand on camera flash exposure MUCH better than anything I've ever had before. Usually I bounce, but I had to hand the camera over to someone who really needed a P&S - put it on Program, activated the AF full screen and slapped the flash on top pointed forward and the exposures they took are really really nice for this setting.

There is a ton to learn but if you stay out of zone AF, keep to at single or expanded, maintain an appropriate shutter speed for the shooting conditions you can nail most of your images with factory settings. People have done this and posted images.

I should say that I'm not referring to first time DSLR owners. I'm referring to people that have some experience, particularly using AI Servo on relatively stable, not erratic moving objects. AI Servo is a whole new learning curve with any body.

doogiebee wrote in post #17320263
-43 C ! OMG!

He said that was with the wind chill. So it is not a real temperature. Wind chill is used by the media to exaggerate and dramatize the weather. They never use wind chill in the summer, only in the winter when it makes it seem worse.

I've shot in close to that. It is not the cold so much, it is that wicked wind.

MedicineMan4040 wrote in post #17319478
I hear you on the conflicting reports. I'm one of those with no problems (so far), and concerning all the comments on POTN I'd suggest scanning for Hollis' posts/comments. And though testing with a TC combo I was out today; these also with the AF-On set to AI-Servo Case 1 and 9 point expansion, handheld, pulled highlights down a bit in LR and minimum crop:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/q3FN​rq #2 with 2.0 TC + Canon 300mm 2 by MedicineMan4040, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/qhWg​To 2.0 TC + 300mm 2 by MedicineMan4040, on Flickr

Birds are the best test subject. Eye, beaks and claws tell you right away. Nice captures.

Yeah, the wind is the killer. Ambient temperature, I think, was about -29 at 9am and had climbed to around -24 when I was out. Look on the bright side, we still have almost two weeks to the official start of winter so enjoy the warm weather while it lasts

Rod

RodS57 wrote in post #17319469
Of course I will continue to follow the focus threads and others but for me it is time to do something besides read about issues.

To those with real issues - good luck
To all the people ready to help - thanks
To everyone with no problems - how come you aren't out taking pictures

Rod

Taking your advice, here's one from tonight. An Oklahoma roadside photo. I've been concerned about my 7d2 because I've read so many bad reports, but I think mine is good. I am used to seeing some color fringing around tree branches against the sky with my 50D. The 7D2 seems to do much less of that.