scalesusa said:
It sounds like you have your camera set to autofocus with AI-Servo and are using the manual override to focus. Then, as soon as you half press the shutter, your autofocus takes over and changes the focus point.
Be sure you have the switch on the lens set to manual focus, mount the camera on a sturdy tripod, use liveview at 5 or 10 X, and focus on the point you want to be sharpest. You are seeing the actual image on the LCD, so what you are seeing is what you will get.
No, what i got from his post was his lens was on MF however the AF in camera is still active, so the point(s) he has his AF set to will beep when the MF "hits" the focus point, however doing that for percise focusing is not very accurate because of the human element of not completely stopping when the beep sounds... even a fraction of a second delay from the beep sound to when your fingers stop turning the focus dial, it will show OOF even though you got the focus confirmation.
maharzan, I'm a pro and I use AF most of the time. The only time I use manual focus, to be honest, would be product shots, or professional commercial shoots where I trust the model to hold still enough so I can get focus using live view. Even with that, with people i'm sure you know when zoomed in 10x the slightest flinch or movement within your subject can screw up your focusing.
The 7D was praised because it was a great stride on Canon's behalf on catching up and in some reviews, beating nikons AF system on the nikon D300s. To disregard the AF all together, on this camera, would be like buying a top of the line video HD camera and shooting at SD. Plus, any mis-focus will be even more dramatized because of the high MP. Focusing in the viewfinder was a common practice with early DSLR's and film cameras, however you cant really do that anymore because of the medium.