7D mark II still focus issues?

[langdonb]

Hi all, just my observations. I own a 1DX and 7D2. I love the 7D when I really need reach but it does have one big problem and its an odd autofocus issue. Taking shots of motorcycle racing and it nailed them all, tack sharp, excellent images. But....I then go off two years running lay on the beach doing grey seal shots. Its awfull, virtually all mis focused. I had tried microadjustment which didn't cure anything. Took it again the next year and again the same problem. Then the light changes, the seals get darker and it worked. Small waders pass by and it nailed them. Hmmm I thought. High contrast bikes fine, birds fine, seals in poor light fine but seals in decent weather poor. Except the seals when I look at the pics that misfocused had poor contrast, all the others have lots, birds bikes etc. The 1DX nailed every shot but then again its 3 times the cost. Very weird!Still an excellent camera but mine just seems to like contrast. Very odd.

Mick,

Exactly what I have found with my 7dII experience in 8000 images over four months in Africa. Low contrast subjects have been soft focus, no front/back focus, just soft. It is a fault in auto focus sensor that many have recorded. I am returning my 7DII for replacement or at least a new AF system to be installed.

 

[Mikehit]

Low contrast subjects have been soft focus, no front/back focus, just soft. It is a fault in auto focus sensor that many have recorded.

How can the focus be soft but not front/back focus? It has to be focussed somewhere. That sounds like a lens issue (but probably not if you are happy in good conditions) or noise.

 

[Otus]

From AF Issues to the reliability of wikipedia ... :-\

Look at the soccer players in this thread. There is also no front/backfocus. Just nothing in focus at all. And thats the issue i was talking about.

http://www.dforum.net/showthread.php?660282-7DII-AF-bei-zu-viel-Licht-(bei-mir)-nicht-zu-gebrauchen/page5

Thats what the user here complains too. Nothing in the image is sharp ...

http://www.dforum.net/showthread.php?660282-7DII-AF-bei-zu-viel-Licht-(bei-mir)-nicht-zu-gebrauchen/page3

 

[Mikehit]

From AF Issues to the reliability of wikipedia ... :-\

Look at the soccer players in this thread. There is also no front/backfocus. Just nothing in focus at all. And thats the issue i was talking about.

http://www.dforum.net/showthread.php?660282-7DII-AF-bei-zu-viel-Licht-(bei-mir)-nicht-zu-gebrauchen/page5

Thats what the user here complains too. Nothing in the image is sharp ...

http://www.dforum.net/showthread.php?660282-7DII-AF-bei-zu-viel-Licht-(bei-mir)-nicht-zu-gebrauchen/page3

Unfortunately I don't speak or read German.
But I ask again - how can it be a focus issue? If it is focused and not sharp surely it is not a focussing problem.

 

[NorbR]

From AF Issues to the reliability of wikipedia ... :-\

Look at the soccer players in this thread. There is also no front/backfocus. Just nothing in focus at all. And thats the issue i was talking about.

http://www.dforum.net/showthread.php?660282-7DII-AF-bei-zu-viel-Licht-(bei-mir)-nicht-zu-gebrauchen/page5

In both of these pictures there is visible ghosting around the players. Easily visible on the second picture, look at the head of the player with the striped jersey, or the white shoe on the other guy's left foot. It's more subtle on the first pic, but it's also there. This points to a movement issue.

My first guess would have been an issue with IS, that's exactly how it would look like imho ... but you say it was turned off, so if you're sure it was, it must be something else.

Camera movement is still possible, even at high shutter speeds (I'm guessing >1/1600 actually means faster than 1/1600?), if you were moving the camera swiftly.

In any case, whatever the cause, this is not a focussing problem imho (at least not just a focusing problem).

 

[Otus]

Those are not my own pictures. Its just from a german forum i was reading about this issue too.

I dont have any technical knowledge so i cant explain it. But the users in the linked forum are telling that they have these issues only with the 7d II. So the same lens on another body works perfect and on the 7d II it is at least very inconsistent. As you can see in the first post of the topic in the german forum the user does show the example with the flower. The flower was between 10-12 meters away with the 600 L II and the 1,4 TC and you can see that it is the inconsistence they are talking about. One image sharp and one just blurry. Of course, this could happen to everyone with every camera. But the flower should just be a example. He said that almost 99% of the images are blurry when taken in sunlight.

 

[kklerikk]

I have the focus issue. I have the 40D, 7d mkI, the 5dmkII, 5dmkiii and 7dmkII from one year and alf. After a wedding season I see all the photos of my second using that camera. 50% are misfocused using Canon and sigma. At first I got angry with the second photographer. But then looking at the pictures with 7dmki not missed a shot. Then we realized that it was the fault of the camera. I also used I 7dmkii for an event and 50% of the photos were wrong. If shooting a burst to a few still subject are right and others are wrong. Unfortunately between taking pictures to see and understand the problem is the past year warranty.If I make a simple camera tests the problem is not known. If few click, under normal conditions hardly the problem arises or is attributed to a personal mistake. I also noticed that the pictures appear blurry than moves. I'm selling it.

 

[hbr]

Just trying to be helpful here to potential purchasers of the 7D2 with a few random thoughts and observations. As I said earlier, I have owned two of these - the first one purchased right after the initial release and the second one about 8 months later as a replacement for the first one which was stolen. I love this camera and I have not experienced many auto focus problems that were not due to my poor techniques or as part of the learning curve. That being said,

I don't have the camera in front of me, so feel free to correct me on this point, but I believe there was a setting that allowed one to start shooting even if the camera was not in focus. I observed that when I saw a bird starting to fly towards me, if I raised the camera to my eye and fired off a burst, most - or at least the first several shots would be out of focus. But, if I rapidly tapped on the shutter a few times until my eyes clearly saw that the bird was in focus, almost every shot in the burst would be in perfect focus.

When shooting stationary perched birds from my back porch, subjects not in full sunlight would appear soft in DPP, especially when viewing at over 200%. In direct sunlight the subjects would be tack sharp.

Many of my "soft" action shots were due to poor lighting, too slow of a shutter speed or my poor panning techniques. (Operator Error). When looking at the soccer players on the German forum it appears to me by looking at the fence behind the players and the player's heads that the photographs suffered from a combination of all of these problems. (IMHO).

While I acknowledge that there defective cameras out there, both of my 7d2s have been wonderful cameras. I would recommend to someone considering purchasing on of these to pull the trigger and get one. If there are problems with the camera and it was purchased from a reputable dealer you can always return it.

 

[tron]

Contrary to my (now returned) 5D4 banding issues in blacks my 7D2 is just fine. The issue with 7D2 is I have to use it on a sunny day to get top results. And even then the ISO should be modest. Apart from this which applies to all 7D2 units - and which is not an issue it is the current limit of the sensor.

There are some autofocus quirks similar to what hbr mentioned (I also press the shutter a few times ... sometimes) but nothing serious. Now where is my 7D3? ;D

 

[Mikehit]

I believe there was a setting that allowed one to start shooting even if the camera was not in focus.

Yep. You can choose shutter priority or focus priority in the AF options

I observed that when I saw a bird starting to fly towards me, if I raised the camera to my eye and fired off a burst, most - or at least the first several shots would be out of focus. But, if I rapidly tapped on the shutter a few times until my eyes clearly saw that the bird was in focus, almost every shot in the burst would be in perfect focus.

That's a technique called (by some) 'pump focus'. The technique as I have read it is to follow the bird with the focus point on the bird, even though it is OOF then when you are steady tap the shutter button a couple of times then fire.

When shooting stationary perched birds from my back porch, subjects not in full sunlight would appear soft in DPP, especially when viewing at over 200%. In direct sunlight the subjects would be tack sharp.

The 7D2 can be a bit variable when focussing on a low-contrast target

When looking at the soccer players on the German forum it appears to me by looking at the fence behind the players and the player's heads that the photographs suffered from a combination of all of these problems. (IMHO).

You need to be careful with the 7D2 because the AF area on the sensor is slightly larger than the square the viewfinder so if you are not careful it will hit on an area that is of higher contrast than the one you are trying to focus on. Some say that this is partly because of the higher density pixels give it more chance to pick up the wrong target and that sounds reasonable to me.
But one you understand its limitations I agree that it is a great little camera.

 

[kklerikk]

No no. If you don't Se the problem your body is OK. If you have a problematic body you can see the problem. I shoot Hundreds of thousands of photos at year...only with this camera I have the problem. The problem is random and frustrating.

 

[Mikehit]

What I said is not inconsistent with the issue you say you are having and several people have commented on these specific parts of using the 7Dii, and also say that once you recognise how to improve technique the hit rate increases dramatically.
You also say you are having these issues with a Canon body and Sigma lens - maybe it is that combination? The AF algorithms change with each camera and there is a definite issue with matching third party lenses across generations of product development.

In my experience of products across different technologies, a 'fault' that is random is often down to how it is used. Genuine problems are often repeatable.

The 7Dii does have its quirks but I am not yet convinced from your description that the body is the issue.

 

[East Wind Photography]

I have the focus issue. I have the 40D, 7d mkI, the 5dmkII, 5dmkiii and 7dmkII from one year and alf. After a wedding season I see all the photos of my second using that camera. 50% are misfocused using Canon and sigma. At first I got angry with the second photographer. But then looking at the pictures with 7dmki not missed a shot. Then we realized that it was the fault of the camera. I also used I 7dmkii for an event and 50% of the photos were wrong. If shooting a burst to a few still subject are right and others are wrong. Unfortunately between taking pictures to see and understand the problem is the past year warranty.If I make a simple camera tests the problem is not known. If few click, under normal conditions hardly the problem arises or is attributed to a personal mistake. I also noticed that the pictures appear blurry than moves. I'm selling it.

My copy now works flawlessly. Had an AF issue early on and canon determined a faulty mounted AF sensor. They replaced the mirror box and performed a complete factory recalibration. I would say the AF accuracy and repeatability is now on par with my 1dxii.

One symptom mine had was that it would not hold afma one day to the next....as if the AF sensor was loose. It would fluctuate 3-5 afma clicks which of course is quite a bit of variance with many lenses.

Rather than sell it, maybe have canon check out the AF sensor and do a factory recalibration. Might be worth paying for it if it's out of warranty than take the loss selling it. It is in fact a great camera and should work exactly as you expect it should.