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Has D7 same AF problem as D5?

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Russell Whyman

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I'm on my 3rd replacement D5, 2 of those due to the well known AF problem. As I am buying mail-order I cannot afford to keep sending these back, getting a new one then sending that back .....

I'm thinking of upgrading to a D7 to avoid this but don't want to do this and then find that the D7 has the same fault.

Has anyone had any problems with the D7 autofocus? Am I safe to upgrade or should I look at another make of camera?

Please help.

Russell
 
Russell Whyman said:
I'm on my 3rd replacement D5, 2 of those due to the well known AF
problem. As I am buying mail-order I cannot afford to keep sending
these back, getting a new one then sending that back .....

I'm thinking of upgrading to a D7 to avoid this but don't want to
do this and then find that the D7 has the same fault.

Has anyone had any problems with the D7 autofocus? Am I safe to
upgrade or should I look at another make of camera?

Please help.

Russell
Click to expand...
Russell, all digicams have slow AF systems, no matter how fast companies may claim they are.
I think your best shot would be to go out to a dealer and try a D7 for yourself.

My opinion about the D7's AF is that it is as fast as any other digicam's AF system is. Bear in mind that other cameras need only focus between 35mm and 85mm or 115mm, while the D7 needs to find the correct focus position between 28mm and 200mm, so those are really not comparable.

Personally, I have noticed great difference in focusing times after I upgraded to the 121 firmware.
 
Bryan Biggers made some measurements in focusing speed for the D7. You can find it at http://webpages.charter.net/bbiggers/DCExperiments/html/dimage_myths.html ; third topic down. The secret is to hold the camera very steady and make sure it is trying to focus on distinct (higher contrast) subject. If it's got horizontal (or is it verticle?) pattern, try holding the camera at 45 degrees to see if it improves the focusing speed. Then lock the focus and recompose.
Tony
Russell Whyman said:
I'm on my 3rd replacement D5, 2 of those due to the well known AF
problem. As I am buying mail-order I cannot afford to keep sending
these back, getting a new one then sending that back .....

I'm thinking of upgrading to a D7 to avoid this but don't want to
do this and then find that the D7 has the same fault.

Has anyone had any problems with the D7 autofocus? Am I safe to
upgrade or should I look at another make of camera?

Please help.

Russell
Click to expand...
 
Hi guys thanks for your replies but I should have made my question clearer. The AF problem isn't a speed issue but prevents focus altogether. It's encouraging though that D7 owners don't seem to know the specifics of the D5 autofocus problem.

On a D5 which exhibits this problem the camera will take 3 or 4 shots and then refuse to focus on anything always displaying the red failure dot. When this happens even focusing manually won't work. The focus doesn't seem to change. This happens most when the camera is trying to focus to infinity. It can't seem to get there focussing instead quite a bit closer. The only option is to turn the camera off and then on again when everything works again for another 3 or 4 shots before recurring.

Also sometimes the camera will report a focus lock but will never actually be in focus until you again turn the camera off and then on again.

I contacted Minolta when my first camera did this and they said that there was a manufacturing fault on some of the D5 cameras.

Do any of you D7 owners get this problem or is it purely a D5 issue.

Russell
 
Russell Whyman said:
Hi guys thanks for your replies but I should have made my question
clearer. The AF problem isn't a speed issue but prevents focus
altogether. It's encouraging though that D7 owners don't seem to
know the specifics of the D5 autofocus problem.

On a D5 which exhibits this problem the camera will take 3 or 4
shots and then refuse to focus on anything always displaying the
red failure dot. When this happens even focusing manually won't
work. The focus doesn't seem to change. This happens most when the
camera is trying to focus to infinity. It can't seem to get there
focussing instead quite a bit closer. The only option is to turn
the camera off and then on again when everything works again for
another 3 or 4 shots before recurring.

Also sometimes the camera will report a focus lock but will never
actually be in focus until you again turn the camera off and then
on again.

I contacted Minolta when my first camera did this and they said
that there was a manufacturing fault on some of the D5 cameras.

Do any of you D7 owners get this problem or is it purely a D5 issue.

Russell
Click to expand...
Russell,

Minolta may not admit it, but they have the same focus problems with the D7 as far as I'm concerned. I had a D7 that was doing the same things that you just described with the D5. The camera was 6 weeks old...I sent to Minolta to "REPAIR" my "NEW" camera...they sent it back with the same problem still intact along with the flickering EVF, terrible battery life, hot hand grip and completely blown out exposures.

They wanted to to return again at my expense to re-check it. I was extremely un-happy with this and I sold the camera. BTW, it had the 121u.A180 factory installed firmware.

I purchased another (used D7 Euro model 121e.A180 firmware) and this camera is a dreamboat, absolutely NO PROBLEMS WHAT-SO-EVER.

My advise to you is check it out real good when you get from dealer, and make sure that it functions as it should within the dealer's return policy...because as far as I am concerned, Minolta's Digital Repair Dept. is about useless.

It's pretty lame that I live in the USA...and can't purchase a USA made "NEW" camera...and have it repaired by the USA Service Dept...and I buy a used Euro model that works like a charm.
Bottom line is I will in the future look real hard at the "GRAY" market cameras.
 
Thanks John!

Anyone else had this problem?
John Stavick said:
Russell Whyman said:
Hi guys thanks for your replies but I should have made my question
clearer. The AF problem isn't a speed issue but prevents focus
altogether. It's encouraging though that D7 owners don't seem to
know the specifics of the D5 autofocus problem.

On a D5 which exhibits this problem the camera will take 3 or 4
shots and then refuse to focus on anything always displaying the
red failure dot. When this happens even focusing manually won't
work. The focus doesn't seem to change. This happens most when the
camera is trying to focus to infinity. It can't seem to get there
focussing instead quite a bit closer. The only option is to turn
the camera off and then on again when everything works again for
another 3 or 4 shots before recurring.

Also sometimes the camera will report a focus lock but will never
actually be in focus until you again turn the camera off and then
on again.

I contacted Minolta when my first camera did this and they said
that there was a manufacturing fault on some of the D5 cameras.

Do any of you D7 owners get this problem or is it purely a D5 issue.

Russell
Click to expand...
Russell,
Minolta may not admit it, but they have the same focus problems
with the D7 as far as I'm concerned. I had a D7 that was doing the
same things that you just described with the D5. The camera was 6
weeks old...I sent to Minolta to "REPAIR" my "NEW" camera...they
sent it back with the same problem still intact along with the
flickering EVF, terrible battery life, hot hand grip and completely
blown out exposures.
They wanted to to return again at my expense to re-check it. I was
extremely un-happy with this and I sold the camera. BTW, it had the
121u.A180 factory installed firmware.
I purchased another (used D7 Euro model 121e.A180 firmware) and
this camera is a dreamboat, absolutely NO PROBLEMS WHAT-SO-EVER.
My advise to you is check it out real good when you get from
dealer, and make sure that it functions as it should within the
dealer's return policy...because as far as I am concerned,
Minolta's Digital Repair Dept. is about useless.
It's pretty lame that I live in the USA...and can't purchase a USA
made "NEW" camera...and have it repaired by the USA Service
Dept...and I buy a used Euro model that works like a charm.
Bottom line is I will in the future look real hard at the "GRAY"
market cameras.
Click to expand...
 
Just ordered my D5 last night so will let you all know how it goes over the next few months. Have owned a dozen Minolta cameras over the past 35 or so years...bought my first rangefinder in 1966 from a rich friend who came up with enough money to buy an SR-1!! Don't know much about Minolta service as I have had my cameras cleaned periodically at local camera shop and never in 35 years had to send a Minolta in for service!!!

Digitals are more complex and I don't expect the same. Autofocus is also an issue...there is no perfect autofocus camera. When it comes down to it I frequently pull out my autofocus SLR for the really important shots!! Am going with the D5 for many reasons one of which I know is the manual focus capability!!
Joe
 
Russell,

I had the same problem with a D5 I bought from J&R Music World. I returned it and decided not to get another. Mine would only focus correctly in the macro mode, and WOULD NOT focus in any other mode. (Wide angle or tele, didn't matter). I would hear the AF mechanism try to focus, but it never looked correct in the EVF. Manual focus would not work either. Out of the 50 or so pics I took for the 2 days I had it, only 5 or so were in focus (Macro shots). This is totally unacceptable, and will most likely keep me from buying a Minolta in the future.

-Dereck
 
Dereck Willis said:
Russell,

Out of the 50 or so pics I took for the 2
days I had it, only 5 or so were in focus (Macro shots). This is
totally unacceptable, and will most likely keep me from buying a
Minolta in the future.
Click to expand...
I have three comments.

Firstly the success rate you achieved is unacceptable.

Second -- clearly that is not normal for a D5 or D7 -- and your
comment about macro goes counter to most people's experience.

Third -- so return it but the final comment about buying Minolta
again is just childish petulance -- get over it -- if you get a product
that flunks out of the box it's not fun and spoils your day -- but it
does happen.
 
Russell,

I have had my Dimage 7 for 9 months now, and have had no AF problems whatsoever, as long as the subject is not too difficult to discern - otherwise it goes into an unsuccessful search mode.

Jerry
Russell Whyman said:
I'm on my 3rd replacement D5, 2 of those due to the well known AF
problem. As I am buying mail-order I cannot afford to keep sending
these back, getting a new one then sending that back .....

I'm thinking of upgrading to a D7 to avoid this but don't want to
do this and then find that the D7 has the same fault.

Has anyone had any problems with the D7 autofocus? Am I safe to
upgrade or should I look at another make of camera?

Please help.

Russell
Click to expand...
 
Precisely the same problem with my S304. Hundreds of pictures with less than 20 with good focus. Even when I'm taking pictures of trees 500 metres away on a tripod in broad daylight the green focus light at the viewfinder will be blinking forever, not being able to focus.

Sent it in to Minolta for repairs a few days ago, hope they admit/accept that the camera's faulty.

Maybe all this is because I bought it from an internet company...did u guys buy it from internet companies too?

Bomo.
Russell Whyman said:
Hi guys thanks for your replies but I should have made my question
clearer. The AF problem isn't a speed issue but prevents focus
altogether. It's encouraging though that D7 owners don't seem to
know the specifics of the D5 autofocus problem.

On a D5 which exhibits this problem the camera will take 3 or 4
shots and then refuse to focus on anything always displaying the
red failure dot. When this happens even focusing manually won't
work. The focus doesn't seem to change. This happens most when the
camera is trying to focus to infinity. It can't seem to get there
focussing instead quite a bit closer. The only option is to turn
the camera off and then on again when everything works again for
another 3 or 4 shots before recurring.

Also sometimes the camera will report a focus lock but will never
actually be in focus until you again turn the camera off and then
on again.

I contacted Minolta when my first camera did this and they said
that there was a manufacturing fault on some of the D5 cameras.

Do any of you D7 owners get this problem or is it purely a D5 issue.

Russell
Click to expand...
 
Jeremy D. West said:
Jeremy D. West said:
Has anyone had any problems with the D7 autofocus? Am I safe to
upgrade or should I look at another make of camera?

Please help.

Russell
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Russell: Until I upgraded to the 121 firmware, I had exactly the same problem. All the D7s have (or had) the same AF problem: a frequent inability to resolve focus. The upgrade helped considerably, although as one poster pointed out, subjects with little contrast between the focal point and other parts of the view cause the AF to act up now and then.

Another thing to note is that Minolta said the upgrade did NOT include any AF improvement, but I think that's marketing BS. Everyone who has upgraded reports the same improvement.

I'm hopiong they'vd done even more with the 7i, but that remains to be seen. ... Mike
 
Mike_Riley said:
Another thing to note is that Minolta said the upgrade did NOT
include any AF improvement, but I think that's marketing BS.
Everyone who has upgraded reports the same improvement.

I'm hopiong they'vd done even more with the 7i, but that remains to
be seen. ... Mike
Click to expand...
Or maybe they did not change anything at all with the D7i in terms of focusing. Maybe they did not claim any focus improvment with the 121/122 firmware so they could claim it with the D7i.

(I've got a big imagination, haven't I?)
 
Pabletto said:
Mike_Riley said:
Another thing to note is that Minolta said the upgrade did NOT
include any AF improvement, but I think that's marketing BS.
Everyone who has upgraded reports the same improvement.

I'm hopiong they'vd done even more with the 7i, but that remains to
be seen. ... Mike
Click to expand...
Or maybe they did not change anything at all with the D7i in terms
of focusing. Maybe they did not claim any focus improvment with the
121/122 firmware so they could claim it with the D7i.

(I've got a big imagination, haven't I?)
Click to expand...
I had awful problems with my D7 autofocus to the extent that I got rid of the camera, moving subjects were out of the question, would take several seconds before a picture could be taken on occasions.

This is a widespread and well catalogued problem and this issue is widely discussed on many forums.

Incidentally the person who stated that this is a problem with all digicams should read specifications for Nikon D1/X/H.

As a side issue with 1800ma Ni Mh I did not experience the battery problem so many other people mention.

bill
 
I've had my D7 since very shortly after they started selling them in the U.S. While I do occasionally miss a shot due to the autofocus at full telephoto (mostly because I get excited and don't hold the camera still), I still use it most of the time. The two galleries I have posted of the Solano Bicycle Classic should give you some idea of how well it usually works: the first shots of the Road Race gallery (at Mankas Corner) were shot in full wide-angle with manual focus; all the rest were shot using autofocus. The bikes in the first gallery that were shot using autofocus were coming downhill, so they were going over 40 miles per hour. The bikes in the second (Criterion) gallery averaged well over 30 miles per hour and the only cropped photo is in front of the courthouse, where I cropped the bottom to make it a panorama. While the autofocus is not as fast as on an SLR film camera, I don't really find that I have a problem getting most of the shots I want.
The galleries can be found at http://www.pbase.com/triciarod/root

Tricia
 
bill jarvis said:
Incidentally the person who stated that this is a problem with all
digicams should read specifications for Nikon D1/X/H.
Click to expand...
I said it is a 'problem' with most digicams. As for the Nikon D1/X/H and such, did you check the price? Of course you will be more than welcome to buy yourself one of those! But you will have to pay 4-6 times (maybe more) the price of a D7! It's up to you. You can not compare chickens with dogs.
bill jarvis said:
As a side issue with 1800ma Ni Mh I did not experience the battery
problem so many other people mention.
Click to expand...
Same here, no problems at all.
 
Tricia said:
I've had my D7 since very shortly after they started selling them
in the U.S. While I do occasionally miss a shot due to the
autofocus at full telephoto (mostly because I get excited and don't
hold the camera still), I still use it most of the time. The two
galleries I have posted of the Solano Bicycle Classic should give
you some idea of how well it usually works: the first shots of the
Road Race gallery (at Mankas Corner) were shot in full wide-angle
with manual focus; all the rest were shot using autofocus. The
bikes in the first gallery that were shot using autofocus were
coming downhill, so they were going over 40 miles per hour. The
bikes in the second (Criterion) gallery averaged well over 30 miles
per hour and the only cropped photo is in front of the courthouse,
where I cropped the bottom to make it a panorama. While the
autofocus is not as fast as on an SLR film camera, I don't really
find that I have a problem getting most of the shots I want.
The galleries can be found at http://www.pbase.com/triciarod/root

Tricia
Click to expand...
When my D7 autofocus worked properly the camera gave good results. However I found 1 in 3 in focus shots unacceptable.

bill
 
My D7 hadn't this problem with the old firmware (but the AF times are better with 122) so I think it's not only firmware related.
tc
Mike_Riley said:
Mike_Riley said:
Mike_Riley said:
Has anyone had any problems with the D7 autofocus? Am I safe to
upgrade or should I look at another make of camera?

Please help.

Russell
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Russell: Until I upgraded to the 121 firmware, I had exactly the
same problem. All the D7s have (or had) the same AF problem: a
frequent inability to resolve focus. The upgrade helped
considerably, although as one poster pointed out, subjects with
little contrast between the focal point and other parts of the view
cause the AF to act up now and then.

Another thing to note is that Minolta said the upgrade did NOT
include any AF improvement, but I think that's marketing BS.
Everyone who has upgraded reports the same improvement.

I'm hopiong they'vd done even more with the 7i, but that remains to
be seen. ... Mike
Click to expand...
 
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