User Error or Camera Error?

Ok I have some very detailed pictures and information regarding my issue but ill start with keeping it very short. I get very inconsistent results with all my lenses (50, 70-200, 300) and its becoming very annoying. I have tried several different focusing settings and shutter speeds. Even went as far as 1/1000th and above with IS off. From f3.2 to f11 gives decent results but also harder to tell if the focus is off. My main issue is shooting with the 70-200 at f2.8. It is extremely inconsistent to the point I can't even shoot at it. I had the same issues with my 300mm f4L to which I sold and now I am really starting to think my camera is off. I have had bad results with my 50mm too but I don't really want to compare those two because of the huge weight difference, That could easily be user error. My main concern is the soft focus at f2.8 with the 70-200.

Below are two images. The first one is default Micro Adjust meaning Disabled. The second Image is -11 or -16 Micro Adjust, Can't remember off the top of my head. Either way, The second image is much better and achieves this every time. Perfect right? Not necessarily. Now After shooting the iguanas several times, -16 worked great and then I walked away and started shooting other subjects like a car about 40 feet from me. Took the picture and it was soft. Took another picture of a different car, Soft. This alone tells me it's a distance issue. Leaving the micro adjustment off does give me the best results but today shooting the iguanas to which were perfectly lit in bright sunlight, The camera or lens just could not achieve proper focus. In the video I recorded, I tried everything from turning off IS, changing the shutter speed to even using difference focusing modes. Nothing worked but adjusting the focus to -16 for that moment and distance between me and the iguanas. I did a car show two days after getting the 70-200, Walk around shooting at mostly f3.2, f3.5, f4 and they were tack sharp, even the ones I took in Al Servo of all the cars leaving. But all my shots at f2.8 were soft. how does that make any sense? Any input would be nice and I can provide more images if you need.

I don't know for sure, but the first one appears to be soft due to movement.

bumpintheroad wrote in post #17888606
I don't know for sure, but the first one appears to be soft due to movement.

No way at 1/640th I moved that much, especially considering that I was sitting down and had my elbows tucked into my stomach. I took a good 5 or 6 more shots before I started adjusting to -16, They all came out the same.

I don't think it is due to movement either. In the first shot the spines under the chin are much sharper than the eye and this is reversed when MFA has been applied for the second shot.

What firmware is your camera using? Have you tried changing the firmware?

Rod

RodS57 wrote in post #17888801
I don't think it is due to movement either. In the first shot the spines under the chin are much sharper than the eye and this is reversed when MFA has been applied for the second shot.

What firmware is your camera using? Have you tried changing the firmware?

Rod

Camera game with I believe 1.1.2 and updated to 1.1.4 to which did nothing. Had the issue since I got it.

How close were you to this lizard?

You realise that DOF is very small on f2.8 at close focus distances, so possibly the chin and spines are the only sharp part because that is where you focussed and everything else is closer or further away enough to be soft.

This would also explain why using larger apertures and shooting cars leaving would all be sharp.

I suggest you put the camera and lens on a solid tripod and do some tests shooting something closer and further away at f2.8 and say f8 and see what you get.

Looks like user error. If you run the DOF calculator at dofmaster.com you'll see that the depth of field at 2.8 with a 200mm lens and that distance is a couple of inches tops and if the focus point hits the neck at all its just missed focus.

MFA can and does vary with focal distance, as well as the focal length when you zoom. It may well be that you simply need different MFA settings when working near MFD compared to working at near infinity. All of the literature from Canon regarding MFA suggests that MFA is not a set once and forget system. It suggests that the MFA setting will to a greater or lesser extent be dependent on the actual conditions at the time of the shoot.

If you look at the Art and Sport lenses from the new Sigma Global Vision range, they offer the ability to perform MFA four different focal lengths for zoom cameras, as well as four different focus distances. That's a total of sixteen different MFA combinations. I think Sigma offer this number of MFA points to try to combat the perceived focus issues that are associated with third party manufactured lenses. I am sure that there are also very many Canon/Canon body/lens combinations that could also benefit from 16 point MFA.

Alan

It's obvious that the lizard's head shows DOF blurring. You aren't perfectly stable, no matter how much you think you are, AND the lizard looks like it moved, too.

But more importantly, are you shooting through glass, or a lens filter, or a hot/cold air boundary? There's way to much contrast loss for this to be normal. Are there smears on the lens elements that you can wipe off?

If you want to actually know what is going on, put that camera on a tripod, with a remote release, and shoot a simple black cross on white paper, in the sunlight. Then adjust AFMA. Google that if you don't know what it means.

Any other conversation is just wasting your time and ours, until you do the basics.

Showing shots of iguanas and/or cars will not help us identify the cause of the problem. You need to remove all possible variables. Set the camera on a tripod. Use a well lit target with small details, e.g., a cereal box could be a good one. Use a remote shutter release.

The fact that you get random errors with all your lenses points to either a camera fault or the user error. Impossible to tell until you do something controlled.

Have you consider that the mere act of breathing can cause your body to sway somewhat in a fore-aft motion, and can therefore contribute to focus error?

Mount the camera on a tripod, focus on a FLAT surface which is PARALLEL to your camera's focal plane, and focus over and over (manually throw the lens out of focus to both closer and farther distances between AF attempts). That pulls YOU out of the error loop, and allows you to see equipment issues (or points the finger of blame on YOU!)

The prior posts all are right in pointing out variables and factors which affect focus/MFA, and you need to pull out some of the variables to determine the real source of your issues.

Thanks for all the tips, Will do a proper test on a tripod later today.

skid00skid00 wrote in post #17889227
It's obvious that the lizard's head shows DOF blurring. You aren't perfectly stable, no matter how much you think you are, AND the lizard looks like it moved, too.

But more importantly, are you shooting through glass, or a lens filter, or a hot/cold air boundary? There's way to much contrast loss for this to be normal. Are there smears on the lens elements that you can wipe off?

If you want to actually know what is going on, put that camera on a tripod, with a remote release, and shoot a simple black cross on white paper, in the sunlight. Then adjust AFMA. Google that if you don't know what it means.

Any other conversation is just wasting your time and ours, until you do the basics.

I don't use filters at all and it was hot outside with Sunlight shinning but still kind of overcast, The light was even to which might be why it seems dull to you. See picture below.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/DmaZ​tc

Mark Kemp wrote in post #17888937
How close were you to this lizard?

You realise that DOF is very small on f2.8 at close focus distances, so possibly the chin and spines are the only sharp part because that is where you focussed and everything else is closer or further away enough to be soft.

This would also explain why using larger apertures and shooting cars leaving would all be sharp.

I suggest you put the camera and lens on a solid tripod and do some tests shooting something closer and further away at f2.8 and say f8 and see what you get.

I took several shots and focused on their eyes, nose and right before their eye. I never focused anywhere else. My whole point is there is no way I could have moved that much sitting down with elbows tucked in at 1/640th for it to be that off and there is tons of detail on the Iguanas for the camera not to be able to achieve focus. Also for those wondering, Focus expansion was disabled meaning I used 1 AF point. I tried left and right and expanded but didn't do much but focus on the grass in front of the iguanas a few times. Again, Ill do a proper test later today.