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Help! Is 5D's focus BETTER than 30D's

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CanonKen

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I can still return my 30D.

Compared to my 300D, the focus just is NOT doing the trick.

I know the 5D is FF and all that, but is the focus BETTER than the 30D?

Problem I am having is the focus point on the 30D (center one) doesn't want to 'focus in' on something up close like a leaf, it just jumps to the background.

I am VERY frustrated and upset right now.
 
CanonKen said:
Problem I am having is the focus point on the 30D (center one)
doesn't want to 'focus in' on something up close like a leaf, it
just jumps to the background.
Click to expand...
You are too close to the subject and/or you need to practice. A five or even a one won't help.
 
Can't you tell that the leaf isn't infocus in the viewfinder? post a picture of what you're talking about. If the leaf is smaller than the focus point square then any camera could have a problem locking focus on it.
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Either you are too close to the leaf, or you are using all focus points instead of just the center one.
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This is stuff my 300D could easily do.
 
...it gets 'close', but I have a calibrated 17-40 (using f/8 even!) and there is some mis-focusing (camera gets confused) and back focusing (it locks on, but misses).

I have taken 10,000 pics with my 300D, and many hundreds with my 30D, and I am very dissapointed with the focus (everything else is awesome).
 
...with my 17-40, about 2' away, WELL within the range.

These pics were very easy on my 300D.
 
Sounds to me like the AF is out of calibration. To answer your question, for stationary objects the 5D is the same as the 20/30D. Also, as someone who has owned a 300D and a 10D and a 20D, I can tell you that when working properly the 300D/10D have much worse focus than the 20D.
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I have to agree..sounds either too close (although 2' as you mention is plenty of distance) or there is something wrong with your camera. Does your subject have enough light and contrast? There are times where very dim or flat lit subjects with low contrast cause AF sensors to hunt (even more so on F4 cameras than F2.8). This is where I use manual focus. I have (2) 20D's and a 5D. The 5D is very accurate at focusing and much better than 20D when using servo AF. At least that is my impressions after shooting 1000s of shots with both...I do not, however, own a 17-40. Most of my shots are with the 24-70L, 70-200IS, 100mm macro, or 50mm F1.4.

Hope you find a solution.

Andrew
Crystal Clear Media
 
...I have purchased a 300D + Kit Lens, 35mm f/2, 17-40, 70-200 f/4, and now the 30D.

NONE of them worked, and the 17-40 took two trips to Canon.

Can someone come to Reno and kick me in the nuts - this is unreal...
 
Since the sensors were designed for FF initially. Now on a 1.6x crop camera , the sensors appear as 1.6x larger in relation to the frame. If the background is very close to the AF marking and has a stronger contrast than the main subject, this might cause the camera to focus onto the background instead,

You will not have the same problem on 5D. Size of sensors and markings are correct ratio, and therefore, much closer to the marking.
 
Here's what I did. First off, once you have something that's under warranty, everything you send with that for the same problem is also covered. I found that everything I bought had to go to canon, sometimes multiple times. Everything was solved when I told them how much I was sending things in and that I wanted to send them all my lenses and my bodies and have the bodies calibrated to their bench lens and the lenses calibrated to their benchtest body. I told them this in a letter I included with the stuff as well. Since then, nothing I've added to my current gear has ever needed to go in. (I was actually told by them that they had calibrated my body with one of my lenses, which is why whenever a different body or lens was used I had issues).
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...it seems the 300D did NOT have that issue.

Maybe it had its own (proper) focusing system, and the 30D's is a 'hack' from the 5D.

No idea honestly.
 
CanonKen said:
...it seems the 300D did NOT have that issue.

Maybe it had its own (proper) focusing system, and the 30D's is a
'hack' from the 5D.

No idea honestly.
Click to expand...
No, the 30D's focusing system is from the 20D and came before the 5D. THe 5D uses a modified 20D focusing system. The 300D also had focusing ensors bigger than the marks in the viewfinder, but that doesn't sound like the issue at hand to me. Have you done focus tests?
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Use this code to save $5 on smugmug: UPu6udxnAfhNI
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...and I have yet to reach any conclusions except I am worse off than I was with my 300D.
 
Me again.

Are you trying to do macro shots? Every lens has a minimum focus distance, if the subject is placed closer than this distance, the camera won't be able to focus. And the focus ring will jump to infinity.
 
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