My new half soft XTi!!

If I may ask an obvious question, since it looks like a lens mounting issue, are you aligning the correct color dots on the body and lens before locking the lens onto the body?

The second shot was not underexposed and pasted to wall. There is no apparent loosening or movement of lens mount.
Though this is my first digital SLR I had a film SLR for long time. In fact I followed a diploma course in photography last year. The camera was bought to keep developing my skills practically.
I agree any manufacturer can have defective products in the market. I didn't believe Canon can be a victim of that. Because I love Canon. Even after when I upgrade I will go for Canon despite my bad luck with XTi this time.

I have to disagree with the exposure thing. While the contrast of that shot won't span from black to white, your general image is on the dark side. The only thing saving your histogram is probably the obvious blue cast. If you had set a custom white balance or removed that first, you would have seen that your histogram would probably be pretty far left.

Anyway, that doesn't matter THAT much. the concern wasn't whether the chart was flat (ie taped to wall) it's whether you were square to it (ie equal distance to left and right edge).
If you look, your edges (especially top and bottom) aren't parallel with the image boundaries. It looks like either your tripod wasn't level or that you were off center to the right shooting to the left. In that case, the right side would be closer to the camera and thus wouldn't be in the same focus plane.

That chart is just FILLED with markers... use them to square your image and camera.
All that being said, I don't think that's the issue.

This is a disposable world now. Unfortunately, the established companies don't bother spending the money on QC (or anybody for that matter) since things are changing so much and product is changing hands so frequently. The mentality seems to be "push out as much product ASAP and deal with issues later if people notice."
Quite frankly, I'm kind of a sharpness nut (as well as others I know) and when I had calibration issues (out of the box), it drove me nuts. At the same time, most other people wouldn't notice or care.

There a numerous things this could be, the only way to know for sure is to send it to Canon. You will be without your camera for 10 to 14 days, but Canon will make it rite.

If you bought it in the UK and I assume live in the UK. Then Under the 'Sale of Goods' act you are entitled to a refund or exchange of the faulty goods from the dealer. If you send it for repair to Canon then your 'Contract' with the dealer is no more. Take it back to the shop. If they dont want to play get in touch with the local Trading Standards office. They will brief you on what legislation to quote to the dealer. I had a Minolta scanner exchanged by the dealer after almost a year with help of Trading Standards.

2.8 with flash and picture lines aligned accordingly. I even measured the distance from both ends of camera to chart!!!

Right corner is disgusting!!

Interesting.It doesn't look very gradual... it just looks messed.
I'm wondering if you can get that right side looking any better or worse by actually shooting on an angle from the left or right (thus making it either closer or farther away).
Know what I mean? In that case, your left side would probably be out of whack.

I'm guessing this won't help... but I don't know. You mentioned this was happening with all the lenses you've tried.

I would think that it's a sensor problem... but the fact that you can SEE the problem through the viewfinder is very weird.

Take it back immediately... as mentioned, it doesn't seem like we can help you. It looks like a major defect of some kind.
At least go and ask if you can mount one of your lenses on a demo model XTi and see if it's still an issue with that one.

Get an exchange pronto... this doesn't look good.

Assuming that the camera is perfectly perpendicular to the chart, then the right side is soft. Since this is happening with multiple lenses, either all the lenses you have are soft on the right side or there is something wrong with the camera.

I'm more inclined to think the latter, as mentioned before, perhaps a problem with the lens mount being slightly misaligned, as if you are seeing this in the view finder as well, then it's already soft on the right side at it hits the mirror, before hitting the sensor.

I think the body needs to be sent to Canon.

Send the thing to Canon and let them take care of it instead of bantering back and forth here.

And having a course in photography, owning an SLR for years, etc etc etc doesn't make those shots any less underexposed.

Yes it will go to Canon depending on their response! I just wanted to highlight the problem I have and get some opinions. I am waiting for Canon's response over the weekend.
Thanks to all for valuable inputs.
I can humbly say I am a learner and will be a learner till to the end! We all are learners of this world till the day we die.
I admire canon products for their feature rich revolutionary products. I will be a Canon fan in many years to come. Its just a case of bad luck in my case.

cdi-ink.com wrote in post #2690915
...And having a course in photography, owning an SLR for years, etc etc etc doesn't make those shots any less underexposed.

LOL... sorry... but that made me giggle.

Just proof that you should never just rely on your histogram... in this case, with such a strong blue cast, it looks like it's exposed correctly... "That's a negative GhostRider!" Those whites are barely mid grey.

Kaushama, check out the "Custom WB" section of your XTi manual if you're shooting JPEGs. It'll help keep your shots free from colour cast. Just snap off a shot of some white paper or a grey card and use your menu to set the CWB. Then change your WB mode to the one that looks like a ball between 2 ramps. (don't forget to change that after).
There are all kinds of links around here that will also help.
For example... http://www.photography​-on-the.net …hp?p=1285496&po​stcount=13

This is by no means perfect, but the following image represents various areas of "white" from the last image (not the entire histogram--there's darker stuff).

Isn't it interesting how in the top (before) image there are 2 humps? Well, that's your Red/Green data on the left... and your blue data on the right. That shows there's something wrong with your colour.

In the bottom section, this has colour correction applied to the image so that the RGB values are almost the same (thus making the colour neutral). Notice how there's only 1 hump?? Also notice how that hump is somewhere between the previous 2? This is because all of the colour values are now within the same range.... but as the brightest values in the image, they're still a FAR way from the right edge (pure white).


Anyway, like I said before... this isn't your issue (why your right frame is blurry) but when you're taking test shots... lighting and exposure are very important. Lenses will focus faster and more accurately with more light... and there are digital noise issues if your images are underexposed.

I'm not saying "expose to the right" all the time... just expose correctly.

Good luck man!!

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I just ran into something that you might want to hear...

http://media.podshow.c​om …2-21-2007_pshow_57491.mp3
(start listening just left of halfway)

What were your shutter speeds for these shots? Lighting set-up?

The answer to the question was a typical sync speed response... which didn't address the blur. Interesting...