New 7D Mark II - Difficulty with Sharp Photos

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Hi KfirGuy.
Try a quick test, put a mark on a brick wall put the camera on a tripod then focus on the mark at an angle of between 30 and 45 degrees, this should enable you to see if there is some sharp area of wall in the shot and where abouts it is in relation to the focus point.
Also when the 7DII came out there was quite a fuss about tilted sensors or something like that which was causing soft shots.

Cheers , Graham.

The issue with the brick wall is that the camera may choose to not focus on the mark, There is a simple printout chart that attempts to address the issue by isolating the focus point. There are others that are more complex, but they work if they use the principle of forcing the AF to focus on a known spot. AF will prefer a horizontal target over vertical, given a choice.

This is a very old (10 Yrs) article that is still relevant today, and has detailed instructions about how the chart works and how to use it.

http://regex.info/blog/photo-tech/focus-chart

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Mt Spokane.
Whilst I don't doubt that you are correct about the issues you mention, I have found that selecting the centre point pretty much forces the camera to focus where you point it.
I use FoCal to do my tests and adjustments but have used this on a concrete sea wall using the expansion joint as a target to verify with longer lenses that I cannot do indoors at the recommended multiples of the focal lengths.
As I believe that KfirGuy is just starting down this road and does not have any dedicated targets etc I thought this might get him started.

Cheers, Graham.

Hi KfirGuy.
Try a quick test, put a mark on a brick wall put the camera on a tripod then focus on the mark at an angle of between 30 and 45 degrees, this should enable you to see if there is some sharp area of wall in the shot and where abouts it is in relation to the focus point.
Also when the 7DII came out there was quite a fuss about tilted sensors or something like that which was causing soft shots.

Cheers , Graham.

The issue with the brick wall is that the camera may choose to not focus on the mark, There is a simple printout chart that attempts to address the issue by isolating the focus point. There are others that are more complex, but they work if they use the principle of forcing the AF to focus on a known spot. AF will prefer a horizontal target over vertical, given a choice.

This is a very old (10 Yrs) article that is still relevant today, and has detailed instructions about how the chart works and how to use it.

http://regex.info/blog/photo-tech/focus-chart

 

[Don Haines]

If this were me, the first question that I would try to answer is “can the camera take a sharp picture in live view”?

If it can not, send the camera back. If it can, then you have to figure out how to get the AF system to work right...

Put the camera in live view, use a lower ISO, something under 400. If you use a higher ISO, the noise can cause confusion.... use a sharp lens, primes are best.... with the reasonably high pixel density you don’t want the lens to be the source of your problems.

Don’t shoot wide open, lenses are usually at their best one or two stops down.....

Use a tripod, a solid one..... vibration is not your friend.....

“They” tell you to shoot at 1/focal length for shutter speed..... That was good advice for a 10Mpixel FF camera, but you have a 20Mpixel crop.... try for twice that speed.....

Hope this helps.....

 

[takesome1]

Simple fix is this.
It sounds like you should have a body with warranty.

Call Canon and tell them the problem.
They will give you instructions.
Pack the body up with the lenses you normally use.
Ship it to them and they will mate your body to the lenses and do the adjustments so it will be set to zero.

No charge and they send it back.

Then if you want to do the micro adjustments that has been recommended go ahead.

I have done this before and the turn around was about a week.

 

[Mancubus]

I've had 6 DSLR Cameras in my life, the 7D2 was by far the worst one.

It would give me exactly the same blurry cr*p you been getting on perfect shooting conditions. At 1/8000 and F/8 there is simply no excuse for missing focus and getting anything other than ultra sharp.

I tried sending the camera to Canon to have it checked, they returned it to me exactly as I sent. I sold it to a shop (at a loss) and got myself a 5D3, much much better.

There is something REALLY wrong with a significant number (if not all) 7D2 cameras and nothing has been done. It must be a sensor vibration or something like that, I hated that camera with passion.

 

[Ray-uk]

There is something REALLY wrong with a significant number (if not all) 7D2 cameras and nothing has been done. It must be a sensor vibration or something like that, I hated that camera with passion.

Oh, so because you had one and didn't get on with it that means they are all bad :

Strange really because there are thousands of satisfied 7D Mk II users outthere producing excellent sharp photos.

 

[takesome1]

There is something REALLY wrong with a significant number (if not all) 7D2 cameras and nothing has been done. It must be a sensor vibration or something like that, I hated that camera with passion.

Oh, so because you had one and didn't get on with it that means they are all bad :

Strange really because there are thousands of satisfied 7D Mk II users outthere producing excellent sharp photos.

It means there were many that were. I can attest to that and there are others that can as well.

and,

Oh, are you saying that satisfied 7D Mk II users may only be a few thousand?

 

[ourmark]

I've noticed a couple of things that reduce my hit rate when tracking moving subjects with the 7D2: Large AF zones and IS. Choosing a single AF point and turning off IS works best for me.

 

[Steve Dmark2]

...
Strange really because there are thousands of satisfied 7D Mk II users outthere producing excellent sharp photos.

Count me into this group

 

[JoSto]

Are both photos of the plane from the same day? My experience is that image quality degenerats very quick at long distances if the air is not very clean.

If you use your telephoto lens mainly at (very) long distances than make sure that you calibrate the lens with AFMA. Out of the box the focus is designed to work best at medium distances. Go out and find a turrent clock in your town. Focus from about 1 mile away and fine tune the AF unil the pictures are sharp. Keep in mind that this might make the AF worse on short distances.

EDIT: PS: I use both the 1DX and the 7d2. I found out the the 7d2 can challange the 1DX if light is good. I have no problems with my copy and will use it until it is dead. I feel zero need to upgrade to any other existing or upcoming APS-C camera

 

[KfirGuy]

So I wanted to give a little update. I had a few experienced 7D II shooters take a look at it, and we tried it with a range of different lenses, all of which yielded results on par or worse than the examples I had posted above. On their advice, I contacted Canon.

Canon asked me to send them some RAW files to take a look at to see if there was an issue with the settings I was utilizing. I happily complied. The next email I received from Canon instructed me to contact a 1-800 number to send the camera back to them, and informed me I could expect a refund around a week after receipt of the unit by Canon.

I am not sure what to make of it all, honestly. I guess for now, though, my old 7D will have to soldier on until I get brave enough to buy something again.

 

[langdonb]

You are fortunate to have discovered the problem within the return period and get a refund. I was not as lucky.

After sending my 7DII back to Canon CPS in New York twice, with and without the 100-400 mark II lens, the focus issues were never solved. After two long trips to Southern Africa with proof of focus issues, all Canon could say was they made "electronic adjustments". Which means to me, they don't know or more likely would not admit the system was faulty. I sold the body on eBay....

At least I had my trusty 5D3 with 1.4 TC and said 100-400 to save my second trip with high keeper rates.

While I have bought several lenses and two bodies (6D and 5D3) refurbed with mostly good success (had to send 70-200 2.8 back with focus issues) i wonder if yours will be checked and then resold again as a refurb to some unsuspecting buyer!