Is anyone elses's mkIII soft on one-shot A/F..

..as well as Servo ? I'm still not sure about the servo tracking on mine - but I haven't been too impressed so far. The main problem I've noticed at the moment is how soft the images are - even when converted from raw. Here is a (100% crop) typical shot from the 1DmkIII with my 70-200L f4 IS @ 200mm f4 1/4000th ISO400 one-shot A/F - centre point only.



and here is a similar shot with my 5D, same lens and all settings. Both developed with the same settings in ACR 4.1



I find the only time I get a sharp shot is a jpg with the camera set to "standard" picture style - i.e. with plenty of in-camera sharpening.

I've also found that the 1D thinks my lenses are front focusing - I've achieved better "centralisation" of the in-focus area by setting the 3 lenses I've checked so far (100-400L, 70-200L and 135L f2) to between 5 and 10 "points" backwards on the A/F adjustment. All these lenses seemed spot-on with my 5D and previous 20D. Not a happy camper so far :-((

PhillipA said:

..as well as Servo ? I'm still not sure about the servo tracking on
mine - but I haven't been too impressed so far. The main problem I've
noticed at the moment is how soft the images are - even when
converted from raw. Here is a (100% crop) typical shot from the
1DmkIII with my 70-200L f4 IS @ 200mm f4 1/4000th ISO400 one-shot A/F

• centre point only.

and here is a similar shot with my 5D, same lens and all settings.
Both developed with the same settings in ACR 4.1



I find the only time I get a sharp shot is a jpg with the camera set
to "standard" picture style - i.e. with plenty of in-camera
sharpening.
I've also found that the 1D thinks my lenses are front focusing -
I've achieved better "centralisation" of the in-focus area by setting
the 3 lenses I've checked so far (100-400L, 70-200L and 135L f2) to
between 5 and 10 "points" backwards on the A/F adjustment. All these
lenses seemed spot-on with my 5D and previous 20D. Not a happy camper
so far :-((

Click to expand...

Do you mean -10 or +10?
The scale on the menu is counter-intuitive...so could you clarify?
Your camera will say either "-" or "+". Which did you mean?
I'm dealing with the same issue...

--
-----------------------
A few Markuson Images...
Look-see at:
http://www.pbase.com/markuson

AF is working well in both servo and one shot -mode for stationary subjects. I use 500/4L IS and sometimes 1.4X extender. Here one 100% crop from this morning with center point, one shot af 500/4 + 1.4TC, not sharpened, conversion on DPP:



Servo mode and 45 point focus for clean backgrounds is 'a piece of cake' even for fast movers like swifts, but things get more difficult with noisy background and more distant subject. In this case camera tends to focus on background quite easily and not coming back to subject.

I use default CFIII -settings apart from CFIII-2, which is set sometimes to the fastest value. (as suggested by Les Zigurski).

Coming from 30D, I can see only improvment, so I cannot tell how much better any other camera (older 1 -series models) would be. Based on about dozen hours of shooting: using 500/4 without extender and not trying to focus very far away subjects with noisy background, I'm supposing my camera is working well.

another 100% crop 45 focusing points, servo mode 500/4 + 1.4TC, not sharpened, conversion on DPP. All my pictures are taken around 20 Celsius temperature, camera serial nr 5178xx:



full caption:



-
http://www.jussivakkala.com

Hi

Yes I've experienced the same problem as described in an earlier post by me. And I too compared the results with a 5D used at the same concert - the difference is like chalk and cheese with the 5D producing superb results and the ID MKIII images at full resolution being unuseable. I've since tested the 1D with 135 f2, 50 1.4 and the 24-70 L indoors and outdoors and at resolution between 75-100% there is no sharpness. I'm now awaiting return instructions from my UK retailer.
TP

You're right about the A/F compensation screen being difficult to follow. My lenses all needed "+" compensation, which on the scale says "backwards". I guess it means moving the focus point backwards - away from the camera by a "plus" amount? I chose the settings by shooting, at maximum aperture, a small black object ( the handle of a paint scraper) lying on grass at an appropriate working distance for the lens in question, and adjusted the point of focus until there was a little more grass in focus behind than in front of the subject - if this makes sense ? As I said, all of my lenses seemed to focus quite accurately on my previous bodies, so I don't really know what's going on. I splurged and bought the 1D ( I'm just an amateur) specifically for the better A/F than the 20D to use for birds and aircraft - I'm seriously thinking about returnining it or selling it on and seeing if I can get a "new" 1DmkIIn. Alternatively I might get rid of it, buy a 400D as a second body to tide me over (I have the 5D as well) until the 1DsmkII comes out and see what it's like. Not happy Janette !

The 1D image is back focused. Was it taken before or after you adjusted the AF backwards?

PhillipA said:

..as well as Servo ? I'm still not sure about the servo tracking on
mine - but I haven't been too impressed so far. The main problem I've
noticed at the moment is how soft the images are - even when
converted from raw. Here is a (100% crop) typical shot from the
1DmkIII with my 70-200L f4 IS @ 200mm f4 1/4000th ISO400 one-shot A/F

• centre point only.

and here is a similar shot with my 5D, same lens and all settings.
Both developed with the same settings in ACR 4.1



I find the only time I get a sharp shot is a jpg with the camera set
to "standard" picture style - i.e. with plenty of in-camera
sharpening.
I've also found that the 1D thinks my lenses are front focusing -
I've achieved better "centralisation" of the in-focus area by setting
the 3 lenses I've checked so far (100-400L, 70-200L and 135L f2) to
between 5 and 10 "points" backwards on the A/F adjustment. All these
lenses seemed spot-on with my 5D and previous 20D. Not a happy camper
so far :-((

Click to expand...

I think focusing is just one of the problems. Did you notice the plastic look to the image? It's so bad I couldn't make out the feathers.



Play with the back focus adjustments some more. Hopefully, that is all that is wrong.

That first image looks very poor and I honestly cannot see anything in focus so I doubt whether it is a front/back focussing problem.

I have not experienced this. Here is a shot taken two days ago - difficult subject, black dog on near white sand in brilliant sunshine at 34ºC. Shot in RAW, focus on dog's right eye (i.e. the eye to the left in the photo), and very little post processing (a touch of USM and adjustment of levels to bring up the shadow tones).

Colin

http://www.pbase.com/accentor/image/81490956

pertti said:

AF is working well in both servo and one shot -mode for stationary
subjects. I use 500/4L IS and sometimes 1.4X extender. Here one 100%
crop from this morning with center point, one shot af 500/4 + 1.4TC,
not sharpened, conversion on DPP:

Click to expand...

I would say that neither photo is in sharp focus .. good focus but not great ...

My Mark III was the same thing UNTIL I did some testing. Same as an earlier post. Dialing -8 in the micro fucus adjustment, moved the slight back focus condition and now the pics are so sharp its scary.

FathomsDeep said:

I would say that neither photo is in sharp focus .. good focus but
not great ...

Click to expand...

'great focus'? I understood that, for example in this case (af -aperture 5.6) the specified allowed focus tolerance is half stop or whatever camera engineers have decided. Also dof -area is very shallow indeed at used apertures and focal lenght.

Those subjects are relatively small on frame and would be (your mileage may vary) 'acceptable sharp' at 300dpi big print from uncropped original frame. I sell bird pictures and set my standards to what is required by clients, and can also tell sharp picture from throw away in that context.

-
http://www.jussivakkala.com

Well I can show yu much sharper shots taken with my 10d and 500/4L +1.4x or my 1DM2N + 500/4L and 1.4x which I get regularly.

They aren't bad, just not the greatest focus.

--
Gene (aka hawkman) - Walk softly and carry a big lens

Please visit my wildlife galleries at:
http://www.pbase.com/gaocus
http://hawkman.smugmug.com/gallery/1414279

--
Gene (aka hawkman) - Walk softly and carry a big lens

Please visit my wildlife galleries at:
http://www.pbase.com/gaocus
http://hawkman.smugmug.com/gallery/1414279

Yes, the 1D shot was taken after I calibrated the 70-200 f4 IS on the camera at about the same distance as the shot was taken at. I need to set the camera at +8 (backwards ! ) to get the DOF to evenly cover the subject. The problem to me doesn't so much seem to be a focus issue (although I'm having those as well) as an overall "softness" issue. I had a similar problem with my first 20D and after a trip to Canon it was no better. My local store (bless them) ended up giving me a new one from their stock and it was fine. I don't think the problem is settings or technique - I just think that the images are soft and not too detailed. Obviously this must vary between copies of the mkIII as I've seen some great images, but I've seen others with the same issues as me. The fact that I can use the same lens to take a detailed shot at the same aperture, ISO etc. of a STILL object on single shot A/F with my 5D would indicate that something is amiss with the 1D.

I am going out with another shooter tomorrow and I'll get him to see what he thinks when we do some more testing. At the moment it looks like going back !

Why not eliminate the possibility of focus error by using live view with x10 zoom?
The 1DIII files are crisp. Not 1D moire inducing sharp maybe.
Low noise can make an image appear less sharp.
Example on this page:
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/sharpness.htm

Your duck looks back focused by an inch. Are you sure the +8 is right?
Does + not throw it off in that direction?

Andrew

Hawkman said:

Well I can show yu much sharper shots taken with my 10d and 500/4L
+1.4x or my 1DM2N + 500/4L and 1.4x which I get regularly.

They aren't bad, just not the greatest focus.

Click to expand...

..with subject bigger on frame and better light, I have 100's of them too. Also with 10D. But I cannot sort out how this has any relevance to the original subject?

-
http://www.jussivakkala.com

Yiu said yours focus is not soft. I am just saying I think it is. Is that not relavant?
Gene

pertti said:

Hawkman said:

Well I can show yu much sharper shots taken with my 10d and 500/4L
+1.4x or my 1DM2N + 500/4L and 1.4x which I get regularly.

They aren't bad, just not the greatest focus.

Click to expand...

..with subject bigger on frame and better light, I have 100's of them
too. Also with 10D. But I cannot sort out how this has any relevance
to the original subject?

-
http://www.jussivakkala.com

Click to expand...

--
Gene (aka hawkman) - Walk softly and carry a big lens

Please visit my wildlife galleries at:
http://www.pbase.com/gaocus
http://hawkman.smugmug.com/gallery/1414279

Hawkman said:

Yiu said yours focus is not soft. I am just saying I think it is. Is
that not relavant?

Click to expand...

In the first example light has washed the details, in the second one has way too much distance to show details well. As said, both are unsharpened 100% crops, only levels are adjusted at raw converter. As far as I understand both examples are well within camera focus tolerance for given depth of focus..

Example above was just to explain that I'm seeing the OP's problem as a major one, either the camera is broken or there is some serious problem with testing conditions. Coming from 10D/20D/30D/5D: my copy of 1DMKIII has a way better autofocus, no matter from where I'm looking at it.

Today I photographed Black-headed Gulls at 500mm and 700mm. No earth shaking compositions this time, but just out of curiosity I checked focus of them: once I get the servo nailed the subject out of background the focus is spot on most of times. Initial af -aquisition is burden sometimes and is getting nailed quite fast into background, but I have no experience on earlier 1 -series nor too much experience of birds in flight shooting, so this should be verified by other bird shooters with solid 1DMKII experience.

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I cannot share the experience of Rob Galbraith how much I try. And once again to make sure: this is my experience, with my copy of camera and with my set (or lack) of skills.

-
http://www.jussivakkala.com

Andrew, what are you on? Do you seriousy expect the guy to take all his pictures through live view, and using a £3000 camera with this facility as a 'luxury extra'! I just don't believe someone like actually exists
TP

If you have a problem that you think could be
1) general image softness (strong AA filter)
2) back or front focus.

Then you must try to cancel out the first possibilty.

Live view will do that. If the image is crisp he will know the camera is capable of sharp shots if it is focusing correctly.

Live view is very impressive, have you tried it? I don't expect him to use it for general shooting, thats missing the point entirely.

Andrew