Canon EOS 7D Mark II AF Issues

[Canon Rumors Guy]

<p>We’re told by a couple of people that Canon has internally acknowledged an autofocus issue with the EOS 7D Mark II. No official announcement will be made by Canon until they determine whether or not the issue can be resolved with a firmware update or if it will require the camera to visit a service center. All signs point to the former, but the issue has yet to be fully resolved.</p>
<p>There was no mention whether or not the AF issue affects all cameras, and we don’t want to speculate on this either.</p>
<p>More to come…</p>

 

[Chaitanya]

Waiting to see this issue resolved soon. Couple of my friends have purchased one and they didn't seem to have any issues so far shooting wildlife.

 

[AccipiterQ]

I just got mine last week....the AF is worse than on the T2i it replaced. It either misses focus by a mile, to the point that the whole frame is a blur (about 15% of the time) or gets it vaguely close (about 70% of the time) and I have to manually sharpen it up. The other 15% of the time it nails it. Really not impressed with the camera's AF so far, especially for shooting wildlife purposes. Tried fiddling around with the different AF modes / focus point options, so far nothing really makes a difference.

 

[sanj]

And they took 5 years to release the camera. Af was supposed to be the main highlight.

 

[nutcaser]

I have been exclusively using Canon DSLR gear since the first Rebel was released and have had the 40D and now have the 7D. I could not be happier with the 7D. I am a photo hobbiest and enthusiast and I follow photo gear quite closely. Previous to digital I owned the Minolta Maxxum auto focus SLR system, and had a couple of Canon SLR bodies, including the AE-1. You can call me a Canon 'faithful', and I would have recommended Canon over other brands in a heartbeat.

Not so now.... Since my 40D shutter failed some years ago I have been keeping a close eye on Canon quality issues. There seem to have been many.... too many. I seems like a thing that Toyota went through as well. Great company, but slipped a bit for some years there around the 'stuck accelerator', wandering steering in the Corolla etc.

I hope Canon can get back on track. Their reputation is sliding to the level the "third party" companies used to occupy - "great product if you get a good copy". Canon's competition is improving. They need to get off the pity pot, of decreased DSLR sales, and get their act together or they will see folks like me jumping ship (Sony comes to mind). :'(

 

[bereninga]

And they took 5 years to release the camera. Af was supposed to be the main highlight.

Hahah Yeah, this is a huge embarrassment for Canon.

 

[surapon]

Dear Friends.
I got my 7D MK II, since 11/4/2014 and take the photos 6,000+ photos, And Never have any problem about All Auto Focus type issue. Yes, All of us who own 7D MK II must know how to use the difference types/ difference groups of AF( Group A to Group G). and set the speed/ Case of AL Servo/ Tracking Sensitivity.
If you do not set up the right function of AF, and AF do not work when you use----You have to blame your self, Not Blame Canon Company.
Sorry, I do not have Stock of Canon Company, But I buy Canon Photography equipment since 1965, But I have a lot of stocks at APPLE, But I do not use Product of Apple.
Have a great day, Sir/ Madame.
Surapon

 

[nutcaser]

As far as being an embarrassment for Canon I doubt it will be.....

The "suites" made the decision to cut the quality control and send it out without checking the product, etc. Canon is the 800lb gorilla. Unlike companies like Sigma. They would probably just as soon get out of the entry level and enthusiast level of DSLR gear all together. Its about the bucks.

 

[zim]

And they took 5 years to release the camera. Af was supposed to be the main highlight.

sanj, so what, shit happens! point is sounds like they are taking a pretty honest customer caring approach to this no?

Surapon, that last photo is just wrong ;D ;D

 

[machx0r]

Dear Friends.
I got my 7D MK II, since 11/4/2014 and take the photos 6,000+ photos, And Never have any problem about All Auto Focus type issue. Yes, All of us who own 7D MK II must know how to use the difference types/ difference groups of AF( Group A to Group G). and set the speed/ Case of AL Servo/ Tracking Sensitivity.
If you do not set up the right function of AF, and AF do not work when you use----You have to blame your self, Not Blame Canon Company.
Sorry, I do not have Stock of Canon Company, But I buy Canon Photography equipment since 1965, But I have a lot of stocks at APPLE, But I do not use Product of Apple.
Have a great day, Sir/ Madame.
Surapon

My focus issues where mostly in one shot mode on static objects. Sending the camera in to Canon for repair seems to have resolved these issues. :shrug:

 

[LSXPhotog]

After I sent mine into Canon Service back in January, I was surprised how much better the loaner model seemed to behave when I recieved it. When I got my camera back, the AF issue certainly seemed to improve over it being extremly hit/miss to the ocasional miss. Still, I shot a track event last week and I came home with shots that shouldn't have been out of focus and I really scratch my head. I think there is some sort of algorithm issue with the camera's AF sensor. Something is certainly wrong with the camera. My 6D is flawless, 5D3 is flawless, 7D flawless, 7D2? Not flawless.

One thing that was really shocking to me was how terrible the Sigma Art 50mm works with the 7D2. It's dreadful. At least it works perfectly on my other cameras, but it's a shame that I've expereineced some issues with the 7D2.

Oh, and the comment above about 15% of the shots just being a blur, you're right. Not that 15% of mine turn out like that, but when the camera doesn't nail focus, the whole image just seems cloudy. Looking for the focal plane along the ground and I can't find it at all on a subject several feet away from me. Where is the focal plane? It seems like the whole image is just slightly out somehow?

Canon will hopefully have an answer for this as soon as possible. If I have to send the Camera back in, I won't mind too much, but I would probably consider selling it after it got back for another body I know works perfectly....such as the 5D3 at $2500 now!

 

[DamnRedhead]

I bought a 7D2 when it first came out but something just wasn't right with it. I returned it to Adorama and got a replacement about 2 weeks after shooting with it, and my new one has never had a problem. I never could figure out what was wrong.

 

[rfdesigner]

As far as being an embarrassment for Canon I doubt it will be.....

The "suites" made the decision to cut the quality control and send it out without checking the product, etc. Canon is the 800lb gorilla. Unlike companies like Sigma. They would probably just as soon get out of the entry level and enthusiast level of DSLR gear all together. Its about the bucks.

It will be a yield issue.

i.e. If lens type X has optics at one end of production limits and AF at the other coupled with a 7D with AF optics at another extreme and electronics with lowest tolerance bandwidth, then you get unstable operation or something.

Remember every part has a tolerance, just taking the two end limits means you have 2^n possible variations of just the body where n = number of parts, add in all the variation of all the lenses and it's a suprise issues like this don't happen more often.

Additionally the 5DIII 1DX and now 7DII have new precision AF compared to other bodies (not just more cross points)

Finding every last possible defective interaction before going to production is extremely difficult, normally most are found, but it looks like one's sneaked through, and the way forward for all their customers is a software patch if possible so Canon are doing the right thing.

 

[TeT]

Surapon, that last photo is just wrong ;D ;D

He does like to mix in the odd selfie.... I would bet that a fair chunk of the 6000+ taken on his 7DII are of the selfie variety...

Keep on rocking the selfie Surapon... nothing wrong about it...

 

[NancyP]

Elegant, Surapon. :
I think that there are panicky user problems (OMG this doesn't work....wait....RTFM....there are settings???) and there are real AF problems out there with individual copies of the 7D2.

 

[Scooter]

I've been following this site for a few years now, but I've never posted. I've had the 7DmkII since it came out, shoot cyclocross and mountain bike racing, and my son's baseball games for his high school. I shoot through fences and nets, and even shot a couple poorly lit basketball games in gymnasiums. I might not have the trained eye of most of you, as I'm an amateur photographer at best, but I don't seem to have any issues with the camera that I can't attribute to my lack of skill. If you care to review some of my images, please see flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/sinakul/sets/). I'd really like to know if I'm settling for "good enough" images (outside of my ability level) or if I am truly not experiencing the issues others are reporting with the mkII. Thanks!

 

[wallstreetoneil]

my guess is that it is a hardware issue

when you start to add it all up, some cameras good with no issues, a few terrible, some mostly good with anoccasional completely no plane of focus just blurry image that shouldn't be blurry - what is left?

my guess is that it is a hardware / manufacturing tolerance issue and if I had to further guess it is somehow related to the new better dampened shutter mechanism

if it was a software issue then all cameras would be affected similarly

what is the major new thing with this camera? the shutter

 

[aceflibble]

I've seen enough people writing up about how their 7D2's AF seemed poor and Canon asked them to send it in and replaced the sensor and mirror, that I'm confident there is some kind of actual hardware fault with the 7D2 that, while it may not be present in every unit, has turned up in enough for it to be a more noticable problem than the usual quality control failures. If the 7D2 actually was mechanically sound and all the faults were simply down to either user error or a software or firmware error, Canon wouldn't be replacing all those sensors and mirror boxes.

That said, there are obviously a lot of 7D2 owners who have had no such problems and I don't recall any notable publications mentioning AF problems in their reviews. Seems to me like it's probably the kind of thing which affected one specific production run and Canon will say "if your camera's serial number is between [###] and [###], send it in."

 

[Eldar]

I have done my best to be sceptical and find something to complain about, unsuccessfully. I have primarily used it on long whites though. But having looked through my wife´s capture with the Tamron 16-300, I cannot see that AF is an issue there either. It took some time for me to get my copy, so maybe it has something to do with an early production batch.

 

[SlydeR]

I've been following this site for a few years now, but I've never posted. I've had the 7DmkII since it came out, shoot cyclocross and mountain bike racing, and my son's baseball games for his high school. I shoot through fences and nets, and even shot a couple poorly lit basketball games in gymnasiums. I might not have the trained eye of most of you, as I'm an amateur photographer at best, but I don't seem to have any issues with the camera that I can't attribute to my lack of skill. If you care to review some of my images, please see flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/sinakul/sets/). I'd really like to know if I'm settling for "good enough" images (outside of my ability level) or if I am truly not experiencing the issues others are reporting with the mkII. Thanks!

Great photos Scooter...are you using the original 100-400mm?