Unreliable AF on 7D with FW 2.0.3?

[FirstL]

Ditto here, mine hunts and sometimes gives me a focused green symbol then starts hunting again and it wasn't in focus through the viewfinder when it gave me the green symbol to represent in focus.... If I manually focus it hunts a little and goes back to focus okay. Same thing, 7D, new version of firmware, med to low light set to AF.

 

[FirstL]

Tried the new battery in mine also and it's focusing okay now.

 

[MARKOE PHOTOE]

ditto here too. Having some of the same troubles with Ai Servo mode. One thing I've noticed is mostly when using Canon battery grip, make sure batteries are fully charged when you start and the connection to the body is tight and clean. I'm using a 70-200 2.8L II and a 70-300L and occasionally a 200 f2.8L prime. Not too pleased with this latest firmware update.

 

[AudioGlenn]

nice to know there's a simple fix out there. hopefully Canon addresses the issue in the next firmware update.

 

[Richard8971]

I have been running the 2.0.3 firmware for a little while now and I haven't noticed any serious problems. In fact, IMO, the update has been great. I love my 7 even more and can't wait to get it out and shoot more photos. For what it's worth, I always charge my batteries (I use the BG-E7 grip) after each shoot. Focus for me has been fast and accurate. Hand held shots are always a risk, mainly because YOU may be the cause of blurry photos because of hand shake and moving around. (It does not take much at all...).

D

 

[jrista]

I have noticed different problem in my 7D after upgrading the F/W. The top LCD display displays the camera setting values even when I switch off the camera. It is sort of hung, power on/off do not have any effect. The only option is to remove the battery and reinsert it. This happens quite frequently say once in two or three days. Very annoying.

I've noticed this as well. I have also noticed that the camera does not seem to automatically power off after my configured timeout...according to the LCD, it is always on. There does not seem to be any "wake up" delay when I press the shutter button, and my battery has not been lasting quite as long.

I am not sure I've noticed actual mis-focus after I take a shot, I have experienced increased AF hunting, and slower AF speed in general (I primarily use AI Servo). Phase detection does not seem to work quite as well as it did before the 2.0.3 update. Even when I am fairly close to already focused, I'll experience hunting rather than a short, direct adjustment like I used to. I've swapped my batteries a few times since updating the firmware...does not seem to have resolved the issue.

Sounds like the 2.0.3 firmware update is a bit screwed up. Canon needs to do some more rigorous testing before they release firmware updates.

 

[2n10]

I have had no issues with mine since the update.

 

[Scratchen]

Sorry, but a fresh newly charged battery does not work for me
I've tried both with and without the BG-E7 grip. No change

 

[CharlieB]

With limited, and perhaps somewhat dangerous knowledge of things... some precautions may be in order.

Sorry to say - writing down your AFMA settings, any other "must be set" CF's, and then resetting the camera to its default BEFORE doing the upgrade, may be a safer way.

 

[Scratchen]

With limited, and perhaps somewhat dangerous knowledge of things... some precautions may be in order.

Sorry to say - writing down your AFMA settings, any other "must be set" CF's, and then resetting the camera to its default BEFORE doing the upgrade, may be a safer way.

That is ofcourse a good rule to follow. But that's not what causes this issue Im afraid..

 

[CharlieB]

Is the cause known?

I've read reports elsewhere that extensive AFMA settings were returned to "zero", and when reset, were off by a wide margin. I'm clueless as to their architecture but... I've experienced the same in programming issues... compounded values etc.

The hunting part... I didn't find a lot on the web about that, but auto-off issues, and AFMA issues... they're out there.

 

[redelses]

since upgrading to 2.0.3 I have noticed three issues that may just be coincidence (or that I am now noticing them now that others are seeing/reporting these similar issues) - 1) I have the same focus issues, where it appears to focus lock but the image comes out way out of focus; 2) suddenly started getting the "error 30" or in some cases the camera just goes blank without any errors, after which I have to pull the battery to get the camera to come back to life; and 3) the LCD and power timeouts are not consistently working (LCD is staying on until I take the next picture, which may be minutes in some cases). The error 30 is most concerning to me right now, but wanted to see if any others are getting this only after upgrading to the newest firmware?

 

[jrista]

since upgrading to 2.0.3 I have noticed three issues that may just be coincidence (or that I am now noticing them now that others are seeing/reporting these similar issues) - 1) I have the same focus issues, where it appears to focus lock but the image comes out way out of focus; 2) suddenly started getting the "error 30" or in some cases the camera just goes blank without any errors, after which I have to pull the battery to get the camera to come back to life; and 3) the LCD and power timeouts are not consistently working (LCD is staying on until I take the next picture, which may be minutes in some cases). The error 30 is most concerning to me right now, but wanted to see if any others are getting this only after upgrading to the newest firmware?

Error 30 indicates a problem with the shutter. Do you think your camera might have enough actuations on it to start causing problems with the shutter? The lifetime ratings are really only an estimate, and the shutter can indeed go a lot earlier than its rated lifetime, or if you take a lot of photos and have owned the camera for several years, you might just be out of life. I figure I've had about 35,000, maybe 40,000 shutter actuations on my 7D in the last 10 months. The shutter is rated to 150,000 actuations, so someone who has owned their 7D for longer and takes enough photographs could indeed be reaching the end of their shutter lifetime.

 

[carlc]

Third reply to this topic: The more I mess with this issue and read other posts, I am becoming more convinced the FW 2.0.3 update changed something in the power management of the 7D or at a minimum the battery level indicator was affected in away that shows some charge (in my case 2 bars) when in fact the battery was nearly completely drained.

I usually change out my batteries often, but when this issue surfaced last week, I was on a shoot and my kit was in the car (about a mile away, my bad) and I kept shooting and this focus issue and focus confirmation appeared.

I will call the Canon Tech on Monday and report back his feelings. I have only called once and the gentleman I got was excellent.

Lesson learned. Change battery often and carry a spar in your pocket.

 

[jrista]

Third reply to this topic: The more I mess with this issue and read other posts, I am becoming more convinced the FW 2.0.3 update changed something in the power management of the 7D or at a minimum the battery level indicator was affected in away that shows some charge (in my case 2 bars) when in fact the battery was nearly completely drained.

I usually change out my batteries often, but when this issue surfaced last week, I was on a shoot and my kit was in the car (about a mile away, my bad) and I kept shooting and this focus issue and focus confirmation appeared.

I will call the Canon Tech on Monday and report back his feelings. I have only called once and the gentleman I got was excellent.

Lesson learned. Change battery often and carry a spar in your pocket.

I have to concur about the battery charge thing. I use a battery grip, and with both batteries in earlier today, the charge readout showed 1 bar. I removed one of the batteries, and the charge readout for the remaining one jumped to full bars. I swapped batteries, same thing. I put both in again, one bar. As it turned out, both batteries were pretty low. One had only one blink on the Canon charger, the other got two blinks, but neither were anywhere close to full.

 

[redelses]

since upgrading to 2.0.3 I have noticed three issues that may just be coincidence (or that I am now noticing them now that others are seeing/reporting these similar issues) - 1) I have the same focus issues, where it appears to focus lock but the image comes out way out of focus; 2) suddenly started getting the "error 30" or in some cases the camera just goes blank without any errors, after which I have to pull the battery to get the camera to come back to life; and 3) the LCD and power timeouts are not consistently working (LCD is staying on until I take the next picture, which may be minutes in some cases). The error 30 is most concerning to me right now, but wanted to see if any others are getting this only after upgrading to the newest firmware?

Error 30 indicates a problem with the shutter. Do you think your camera might have enough actuations on it to start causing problems with the shutter? The lifetime ratings are really only an estimate, and the shutter can indeed go a lot earlier than its rated lifetime, or if you take a lot of photos and have owned the camera for several years, you might just be out of life. I figure I've had about 35,000, maybe 40,000 shutter actuations on my 7D in the last 10 months. The shutter is rated to 150,000 actuations, so someone who has owned their 7D for longer and takes enough photographs could indeed be reaching the end of their shutter lifetime.

I only have ~9,000 actuations on this 7d, and the error only started showing up the day after upgrading the firmware while using live view. It seems early to be having shutter problems, and with the camera about 16 months young, it's out of warranty at this point. I was planning to ship it in for review and repair if needed, but was waiting to see what resolved from the other issues that a number of others are having first. Fortunately it has come back to life every time I remove/reinsert the battery.

 

[jrista]

since upgrading to 2.0.3 I have noticed three issues that may just be coincidence (or that I am now noticing them now that others are seeing/reporting these similar issues) - 1) I have the same focus issues, where it appears to focus lock but the image comes out way out of focus; 2) suddenly started getting the "error 30" or in some cases the camera just goes blank without any errors, after which I have to pull the battery to get the camera to come back to life; and 3) the LCD and power timeouts are not consistently working (LCD is staying on until I take the next picture, which may be minutes in some cases). The error 30 is most concerning to me right now, but wanted to see if any others are getting this only after upgrading to the newest firmware?

Error 30 indicates a problem with the shutter. Do you think your camera might have enough actuations on it to start causing problems with the shutter? The lifetime ratings are really only an estimate, and the shutter can indeed go a lot earlier than its rated lifetime, or if you take a lot of photos and have owned the camera for several years, you might just be out of life. I figure I've had about 35,000, maybe 40,000 shutter actuations on my 7D in the last 10 months. The shutter is rated to 150,000 actuations, so someone who has owned their 7D for longer and takes enough photographs could indeed be reaching the end of their shutter lifetime.

I only have ~9,000 actuations on this 7d, and the error only started showing up the day after upgrading the firmware while using live view. It seems early to be having shutter problems, and with the camera about 16 months young, it's out of warranty at this point. I was planning to ship it in for review and repair if needed, but was waiting to see what resolved from the other issues that a number of others are having first. Fortunately it has come back to life every time I remove/reinsert the battery.

Just out of curiosity, did you follow the firmware upgrade procedure to the letter? I did a fair bit of research prior to upgrading my 7D. I actually skipped the first couple of releases, and installed 2.0.3 directly without any intermediate upgrades based on some reports of upgrade difficulty. It also seemed that following the upgrade procedure (whichever one you chose to follow) EXPLICITLY and EXACTLY is pretty important to the upgrade going well.

I did some experimentation today when the sun came out (something that hasn't been too frequent lately around here). AF performance (with some fully charged batteries) was quite a bit better with the sun out. It hunted twice, but I think that may have simply been due to the fact that I did not have my Spot AF point EXACTLY on my subject. When I switched to expansion or zone AF, AF performance was pretty snappy. I can't say for sure if it is exactly as fast as it was before, but I primarily use an f/5.6 lens (100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 400mm) so its not like I'm working with a lot of light in the first place.

I think the primary issue with 2.0.3 is the battery and sleep/power issue. Those issues may even be the cause of AF issues. They may all be related to the same thing, whatever it is. But my camera definitely does not seem to auto-power off the same way it did before. I also believe my battery reporting is definitely off. I've charged and drained batteries twice now, and there are inconsistencies when using either a single battery, or batteries in a grip. My LCD always seems to show the metering mode, aperture, and AF/frame rate settings.

 

[Scratchen]

since upgrading to 2.0.3 I have noticed three issues that may just be coincidence (or that I am now noticing them now that others are seeing/reporting these similar issues) - 1) I have the same focus issues, where it appears to focus lock but the image comes out way out of focus; 2) suddenly started getting the "error 30" or in some cases the camera just goes blank without any errors, after which I have to pull the battery to get the camera to come back to life; and 3) the LCD and power timeouts are not consistently working (LCD is staying on until I take the next picture, which may be minutes in some cases). The error 30 is most concerning to me right now, but wanted to see if any others are getting this only after upgrading to the newest firmware?

Error 30 indicates a problem with the shutter. Do you think your camera might have enough actuations on it to start causing problems with the shutter? The lifetime ratings are really only an estimate, and the shutter can indeed go a lot earlier than its rated lifetime, or if you take a lot of photos and have owned the camera for several years, you might just be out of life. I figure I've had about 35,000, maybe 40,000 shutter actuations on my 7D in the last 10 months. The shutter is rated to 150,000 actuations, so someone who has owned their 7D for longer and takes enough photographs could indeed be reaching the end of their shutter lifetime.

I've read about this on swedish forums as well.. People with almost brand new 7D's that got the Error 30 after updating to 2.0.3.

Something is really messed up with this firmware release!

 

[Chris_prophotographic]

I have to agree im happy with older firmware, Backdate its easy enough!

 

[Scratchen]

How do I downgrade my firmware?
I'm on OS X 10.8.1.