I had a problem with OOF shots and finally decided to exchange the camera. Here is the note I sent in with the camera for exchange.
Exchange of Canon EOS 7d MII
I believe the enclosed camera (7D Mark II) is defective and has a focus issue at extreme telephoto ranges. I was using lenses that were calibrated by CPS and they are sharp on my 5dIII. I tried a variety of focus options including MFA in an attempt to acquire accurate focus at long telephoto ranges. Results were similar with single shot, AI Servo, single point AF, Expanded AF and Area AF.
Core Problem: At the long end of zoom and prime telephoto, images are at varying degrees of OOF. Very few acceptable images and even those are not “sharp”.
Experience level: Very experienced. Currently own Canon 5d M III, G15, Sony RX 100 MIII, and shoot with 1dX on big trips. Have previously owned 1Ds, 5d, 5d M II, 7d, 10d, 20d, 30d, 40d and a variety of G series. I typically upgrade when new technology is available or my shooting needs change. I primarily shoot wildlife and nature.
Test Subject: Wild geese on a pond near my home, just floating and looking for food. Some shots were when they were out of the water feeding on the bank.
Weather Conditions: Perfect afternoon fall light in mountains (3:00-5:00 pm). I shot for about 30 minutes each day over 3 days, checked results on 27” iMAC to determine if anything could be technique related. Had IS on for a few shots on tripod, but couldn’t spot any other technique or setting issues that could have caused OOF issue.
ISO, Shutter speed, Aperture - ISO was 400-800, Shutter speed was 1/500 - 1/1000, aperture was f4.0 - f11. Kept these balanced for the optimal shutter speed/DOF based on the focal length of the lens.
Lenses - Canon EF 300 f4 L IS, Canon EF 70-200 f2.8 L IS II, Canon EF 1.4x TC III was used for some shots. No filters and all of the lenses were clean. AF was selected on both lenses.
Tripod - 80-90% of Shots were on Gitzo Tripod with RRS ball head. IS was OFF for tripod shots.
AF Method - Case 1 & Case 2, Single Shot & AI Focus, Single point, Expanded, Expanded Area. In reviewing the files in DPP, the active focus point was on the head/neck of the bird or over the body if they are at extreme range. The Geese were mostly at the far end of the range for this lens combination. These were wild geese and I couldn’t get them close enough to fill the frame with the lenses I had available.
Camera settings - After the first day, I reset the camera to factory defaults with the exception of back button focus, Image quality (RAW + large JPEG), and selecting the different AF settings provided by the camera. After reset, I DID NOT change any of the custom settings like release or focus priority on AF.
Review of the RAW images in DPP (I also checked the JPEG images). I did apply sharpening to attempt to pull out a sharper image. Images were pretty much perfectly exposed except for a few shots where they were against a darker background. While there were a few passable shots (less than 5%), most of the images appeared to be different levels of OOF. There was no motion blur in the images.
I think the features of the 7d MII are great. I also believe the camera is capable of better images than I was able to produce with this copy of the body. I have enough experience with APS-C sensors to know what to expect from the sensor and this looks like there are focus issues with this particular camera at longer focal lengths on distant images. I am not perfect, but this was a relatively controlled environment and I took enough shots that I should have had one or two really good images of the subject. I finally had to give up before I put too many shots on the camera.
Please provide a factory new unit as exchange or take this as a return if a new exchange is not possible. I do not want a refurb or repair since this is a new camera.