Canon 6D + 24-105 L combo not that great?

[serendipidy]

For those commenting about renting a body+lens and expecting the lens to be AFMA'd to that body, I really doubt a rental house would do that, it's up to the renter (which is why it's always a good idea to be sure you have the equipment in hand a day or two before you need it).

I can see the AFMA facility on modern bodies opening a whole can of worms for rental. I believe only the 1Dx recognises lenses by serial number, so with a lesser body AFMA'd for say one 24-105 would inevitably make it inaccurate on another. Also you would have the issue of hirers playing with the AFMA and possibly getting it wrong.

It would be an unviable task for rentals companies to continually check.

I guess the moral of the story is when renting a body check the AF accuracy yourself straight away.

I have never done AFMA
Couldn't the OP have checked this by also doing a Live View focus and comparing it with the same shot using AF? If everything else is the same but the AF view is much less sharp, then would that indicate the AF needs AFMA?

 

[Sporgon]

Yes, that would be the way to check, and something that can be done easily with a hired body. I suppose another thing to do is first check that when you put your lens on a hired body it doesn't give a AFMA reading in the menu.

Regarding AFMA, so far I've only really found it crucial on larger, faster teles. Maybe I've been lucky so far.

 

[bholliman]

For those commenting about renting a body+lens and expecting the lens to be AFMA'd to that body, I really doubt a rental house would do that, it's up to the renter (which is why it's always a good idea to be sure you have the equipment in hand a day or two before you need it).

+1

I rent lenses from time to time and always perform AFMA adjustment with Reikan Focal prior to use.

 

[pulseimages]

Well I finally received an e-mail today from Borrow Lenses stating that the lens I complained as having soft focus was indeed defective. Strange that they had to test the lens 3 times to come to the conclusion that it is defective. They will be sending me a refund ASAP almost 2 months after I returned the equipment. Better than never I guess.

 

[jeffa4444]

I have the 6d with the 24-105mm f4 L and have found the sharpness to be fine generally and normally if it is off its me not the equipment.
At my day job we rent high performance cinematography lenses and I use the same test methods we use to check my Canon lenses so I can do mirco adjustments if needed (although this works best for very fast lenses). Ive only ever had one lens out from Canon a EF-S 15-85mm I use on the 7d. It was quite a lot out so in the end I returned it to Canon for adjustment now works fine.

 

[CarlTN]

My 24-105 thanffully needs no AFMA. Neither did the one I rented from Lensrentals last year. But I can see how some would need it.

 

[ashmadux]

I feel this guys pain. I haven't worked this hard to get consistent sharp pics since my 7d debacle.

Im on my second 6d body, and its performing much better then the junk canon first sent me. Its not 'there' yet though...i still feel like its not as sharp as its supposed to be, buti haven't AFMA yet. It is however showing much better baseline sharpness with my reference 24-105. Reminds me of my Eos M images with the 22/f2.

Im still looking for how these images will ultimately better than what my t2i can produce at iso 100. Ive seen plenty examples from others online, but as of yet i haven't experienced them with the 6d.

Here's some cropped, 1:1 eyes from my t2i. Can i realistically expect "better" from full frame?