Messages

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Service Advisory: Canon EOS-1D X f/8 Autofocus Issue, Download Firmware Fix

« on: December 04, 2012, 12:27:51 AM »

So if I'm understanding this correctly, if the camera with one of the affected serials came from the factory with firmware ver. 1.1.1, then autofocusing won't work at f/8. The simple fix is to just install ver. 1.1.1 again... weird... maybe the firmware update program actually changes something somewhere else in the hardware whereas just flashing the ROM with ver. 1.1.1 doesn't actually set it correctly.

An interesting bug. Was probably very frustrating for a few users that wondered why their camera wouldn't focus at f/8.

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Lenses / Re: Why The EF 200-400 f/4L IS 1.4x Delay?

« on: November 16, 2012, 12:24:34 AM »

There are pictures on Bob Atkins' website of the 200-400 with a 7D attached:

That DI filter isn't coming out with the lens mounted...

I'm utterly amazed that any of you are stunned at this design decision on the 200-400mm and even pretend that this might be changed. Have you looked at Canon's other super telephoto lenses? Lenses that share this exact same DI filter location (under the pop-up flash) are the 200mm f/1.8L, 200mm f/2L IS, 300mm f/2.8L IS, 300 f/2.8L IS II, 400mm f/2.8L IS, 400mm f/2.8L IS II, 400mm f/4 DO, and probably several others. Is it slightly annoying when using the 7D? Yes, but usually I know if I want to use a polarizer or not when I start shooting.

Other than the filter I could imagine accidental body/lens detachments happening when changing focusing modes and MFD.

like the switch on the left side before the bulge.
AF -> PF -> MF -> Lensinthemud

Last I checked, just pressing the lens release button doesn't immediately drop the lens off the camera. Some amount of turning was required. Maybe it's not an ideal location, but the AF/PF/MF not an often used switch. Canon could remove this switch and I wouldn't notice. However, again this design is shared with the other new super telephoto lenses. The switch location is identical on the version II 300mm and 400mm. It's only a little farther away on the version II 500mm and 600mm.

Side of the 300mm f/2.8L IS II:


I can see where the 1.4x might be causing them some design headaches since it's new to their still photography lens line-up. Perhaps there's some design challenges there that were not expected. However, including a switchable extender in a lens is not new to Canon: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/424578-REG/Canon_YJ20X8_5B_IRS_YJ20x85BIRS_2_3_20x_ENG_EFP.html

*shakes head* Honestly I think people on this forum really need to stop just trying to invent problems and letting their imaginations run wild without doing a few moments of research.

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Canon General / Re: Canon Can't Even Make a Billion Dollars Anymore

« on: October 26, 2012, 01:04:41 PM »

Another thing to remember is that cameras don't even account for 50% of Canon's revenue. They actually make more money from printers. Therefore I don't think any slightly reduced sales of the 5DIII or 24-70mm II due to price would significantly reduce their overall revenue or profit. Compared to the line of Rebels, the 5DIII and 1DX are low-volume products. Part of the reason for the very high prices on things like the 5DIII, 1DX, and line of super-telephotos is to make up for low-volume.

I would also say the slow in sales of point-and-shoot cameras has a lot to do with the improvement of smartphone cameras. While I'm sure the economy is playing a role in decreased sales, basic point-and-shoot cameras are largely on their way out.

Plus there's the whole yen vs. dollar issue, which certainly doesn't help them keep prices low in the U.S. and other places to help increase sales.

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Lenses / Re: Canon EF 24-70 F/2.8L II USM Zoom Ring Smoothness

« on: October 18, 2012, 02:17:19 AM »

The biggest change I noticed was how little friction there is when mounting the hood. If it wasn't for the clip, it would almost spin freely. I assume everyone else has noticed the same thing?

Honestly I'd welcome this change. Probably will save on wear and tear on the end of the lens and the hood.

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Lenses / Canon 180mm Focus Squeaking

« on: October 06, 2012, 06:35:37 PM »

I just received a Canon 180mm f/3.5L USM from Amazon, and I'm very impressed with the lens except that I noticed one thing that has me somewhat concerned: I can hear a faint squeaking from the focusing mechanism when it is moving, particularly on AI servo, probably because it's moving so much. It's not very loud or offensive, so my first thought was that perhaps it's normal for this lens since it is of an older design. However I've never heard such a noise from any other USM lens I've owned, so I thought I'd ask the 180mm macro lens owners on the forum, see if anyone else noticed this squeaking. If not, I still have plenty of time to exchange it with Amazon.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 1dX lubrication spray?

« on: August 05, 2012, 11:52:41 PM »

Brand new 70-200 II used on my 7D for a month or so (5000+ frames ) not a spec of dirt on the rear element.

70-200 II On the 1DX used for 2 events 3500 frames what looks like lubrication spray on the rear element.

Never had this issue with my old 1D's but none of them were this fast - anyone else have this issue?

I have had this spray on my 50mm but that's easy to clean in comparison.

Quite a few different things can result in little specs ending up on the rear element. Maybe even a little spittle if you were talking while changing lenses? Or as you suggest, oil from the new mechanism. Nothing to be concerned about, grab some isopropanol and a microfiber cloth, or better yet, some of those little packaged lens wipes. Problem solved.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: dirty 1 DX --- Dirty 5D MKIII --- does Canon have quality control at all?

« on: August 05, 2012, 11:49:19 PM »

This is no dust... It is residue from cleaning fluid or something like that, it is stuck to the sensor, and my point is no camera,should leave their assembly line like that, my last 3 cameras from canon arrived like that, you don't see this unless you take macros at f16 and up... But is pretty annoying since they show up on all my macros, I can clean it myself, since last two times I sent it to Canon to be cleaned they came back worst than when I sent them and I had to do it.... My point is 3 lasts cameras I got had residues from cleaning fluids in their sensors...

Top that the representative form CPS telling me... May be the dealer are storing the camera in a bad way... What?... These cameras have never touched the dealer storage.. And if the way they store the camera can affect the sensor... Then the camera have a problem... The other question from the CPS rep,was ... Are you sure is not a distortion or the lens that is making the sensor to not record correctly? ...........  Hate when I'm treated as an idiot....

It's unfortunate that it's not just dust on the sensor. Must be a splatter of oil. This is certainly not unheard of. I know of a guy that kept having to clean his brand new D3X because it kept splattering oil on the sensor. Took 3 or 4 cleanings before it finally stopped. While I agree that you really shouldn't have to deal with having to clean the sensor on a brand new camera, it seems to be a reality of DSLR manufacturing and is certainly not a problem limited to Canon. Get a replacement if you want, but I highly doubt the new one will have a pristine sensor (and even if it was... it won't be pristine the first time you change lenses outside). Send it to Canon to have it cleaned or get a new one. Each choice will probably take about the same amount of time.

I am a little surprised that the CPS rep would suggest that storage would cause that much dust since there are so many layers. Unless you included the sample image, I'm not surprised about the rep asking if you're sure it's not a lens. I can imagine some people confuse smudges on the lens causing distortion for smudges on the sensor. Some people have more money than photographic knowledge. Knowledge among the people answering the phones at CPS certainly varies, but if I've had any technical problem I'm usually directed to someone in-the-know.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: dirty 1 DX --- Dirty 5D MKIII --- does Canon have quality control at all?

« on: August 04, 2012, 11:23:31 PM »

Am I crazy thinking that a new camera should have a pristine sensor?

My 1DX had several pieces of dust on the sensor and a little fiber on the focusing screen. Nothing a dust blower and swipe with the arctic butterfly couldn't cure. Almost every camera I've purchased has had some amount of dust on the sensor. Often a new camera will deposit some oil on the sensor too. I've been fortunate enough to not have to deal with that problem (as of yet). Interestingly, the cleanest camera I've ever gotten out of the box was my 5D3. There was only a couple specs that were faint even at f/32.

Sensor dust is just something you have to deal with... it's surprisingly easy to get a lot of dust in there. I would think you'd be fully prepared to deal with it quickly considering you're buying a 1DX. If the camera works well otherwise, I wouldn't worry so much about a little dust. If you're uncomfortable cleaning it yourself, I'm sure Canon will clean it free of charge and get it back to you quickly (especially if you're a CPS member).

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Canon EOS M System Announced

« on: July 23, 2012, 01:21:04 PM »

Does the EOS M camera have MFA?  That would be a big factor for me for using it as a backup.

AFMA does not apply to mirrorless cameras since autofocus is done at the sensor (with either contrast detection or phase detection).

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Canon 1DX - AFMA reset when I turn off the camera (workaround found)

« on: July 23, 2012, 12:40:05 PM »

Response from Canon Tech Support:

I have sent this information to our engineers for review.  Please keep an eye on our website for any firmware updates that may become available to resolve this issue.

I guess that's another way of saying "We were able to replicate this issue on the 1D X's that we have and have notified the programmers that they have a bug to fix."

Wonder if I can get a good job sticker for the debugging I did for them (or perhaps something a little nicer than a sticker)? 

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Canon 1DX - AFMA reset when I turn off the camera (workaround found)

« on: July 21, 2012, 08:36:57 PM »

Through some experimentation, I think I determined which setting is the culprit: Orientation linked AF point. With it set to Same for both vert/horiz (the default), the lens appears to always be correctly recognized in the AFMA menu. If it is set to Select separate AF points, the camera never recognizes the lens as having been registered in the AFMA menu after sleeping then wake.

Seems like a crazy correlation, but that is what appears to be happening. Looks like the three 1D X's that Canon tested had this setting on the default value.

Try changing this John, lets see if it works on your camera too.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Canon 1DX - AFMA reset when I turn off the camera (workaround found)

« on: July 21, 2012, 08:13:14 PM »

I think that only the relatively new lenses are chipped for serial number, i.e. lenses designed after Canon decided to add that feature to the 1D X.  A CPN article states, " If the serial number of your lens isn't detected it's possible to register a serial number for a lens within the camera menu."

My 70-200 II serial number was never detected, my 40mm f/2.8 pancake serial number is shown, even as the AFMA values for it are zeroed out.

So your setting for the 40mm is being lost, eventhough it's being recognized by the camera.. Euff.. will try the 8-15 one more time.

The camera isn't recognizing the lens has having been previously registered with an AFMA value. It still reads the model name and serial number off the lens just fine. Like John said, lenses released before 2011 (even if they were purchased after then) do not have the serial number on the chip. For example, I have a 70-200mm IS II that was purchased in mid-2011 that does not show a serial number on the 1D X (and on the 5DIII).

I tried the 8-15.. settings are saved.. tried changing the lens.. (the 50 1.4) is being recognized as "01" meaning it's thinking that it's another 50 1.4.. turned off the camera, attached the 8-15.. settings are retained!!

I can't make any sense from this..

The camera numbers lenses sequentially, regardless of the model. So you have the 8-15mm registered in slot [00]. When you mounted the 50mm 1.4, that lens was set to be registered in slot [01]. If you didn't register a value and mounted another lens, it would still show [01]. If you did register a value for the 50mm 1.4, then mounting a third lens would show [02].

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Canon 1DX - AFMA reset when I turn off the camera (workaround found)

« on: July 21, 2012, 03:46:32 PM »

On a whim this morning I thought I'd try resetting everything on the camera to factory defaults and see what happens. I only had about 10 minutes to experiment, but it seems the camera is now correctly recalling previously used lenses in the AFMA menu, regardless of the lens used, if the camera is power-cycled, or upon waking from sleep. Resetting the camera settings actually did not clear out the adjustment values I entered, but I did have to change the AFMA setting back to adjust by lens. Other than this change, I did not change any settings on the camera.

Looks like this is why Canon was unable to replicate our problem. I'm guessing their 1D X's are largely still on factory settings. Apparently some change that several of us made in the settings causes this problem. Looks like it is just a firmware bug that's even more subtle that I thought.

Everyone who has this problem, try resetting your camera to factory defaults, change AFMA to adjust by lens, and see what it does.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Canon 1DX - AFMA reset when I turn off the camera (workaround found)

« on: July 20, 2012, 01:20:11 PM »

This is odd. I tried it on my 70-200 IS II and I'm not getting it to happen. I watched the video like 8 times and followed the same inputs/key-presses and it saves fine.

I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it, but before the 70-200, I tried it with a 16-35 II and it saved as well. My firmware is also 1.0.2

Did you turn the camera off/on too fast? The camera doesn't actually turn off for about 2 seconds after you turn it off, so you might have turned the dial too fast. The most repeatable way I've found to make the bug show up is to let the camera go to sleep. The mounted lens is always unrecognized as a previously registered lens after this, but un- and remounting the lens always fixes the problem.

This is crazy, I have just left the camera off for 10 minutes & tried it again and NOW its remembering the AFMF settings for both len's. WIERD
Could it be dirty lens connections???

Could you try again? I notice sometimes it does recognize the lens when powered on... not sure why yet, maybe there's a reason for this. Try letting it go to sleep like I mentioned above.

Looks like a few others will be getting their cameras from B&H soon, maybe they can test for this problem as well. I still think it's a firmware problem, but if it is, then I would think everyone would be affected and we'd see more threads on other sites about this problem.

I wish I could reinstall the firmware, just to see if that did anything, but I don't see it available for download on Canon's site.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Canon 1DX - AFMA reset when I turn off the camera (workaround found)

« on: July 19, 2012, 01:23:19 PM »

It's not really true because two friends have received their camera 2 weeks before me and they don't have problem with Af MA...
And I have not bought my camera at B&H (because I don't live in NYC)...

Question : Is that the problem would not the lens mount rather than a firmware problem...

Are your friends sure they don't have the problem? It's subtle, so it might be easy to miss, since you really have to go look in the menu to see that the value isn't being shown, since the camera still applies the adjustment when taking photos.

Well its interesting to know it wasn't just some cameras from B&H... not sure if that means anything.

If there is a hardware problem, I would think it would be in a chip somewhere, not on the lens mount.

We might just have to wait until there's more 1D X's in the wild so others can either show there is a problem or show that we are truly a minority. If so, then I guess it's off to service to have some components replaced.