40D Front Focused the Whole JOB!!!

I can't believe this!!!

I am shooting with a 200mm f1.8 at f2.0, in One Shot mode, using the "thumb" focus button method and selecting the nearest AF sensor , and hitting the focus button on the back of the camera, and not re-composing, and changing my standing position to the subject, of which is a guy talking into a microphone at a podium, in "good" light, and just about every single shot I took with the 200mm f1.8 L is Front focused on the podium, even though my focus point is not anywhere near the damn podium, but on the face, or glasses of the person talking at it..!!

I can't flipping believe this!!

I have two of these 40D bodies,...Neither work well with just my 200mm f1.8 L lens!!

This happened with the far right, the top and center AF sensors.. The ONLY ones that turned out good from that camera body were the ones I manually focused!!

& it is only happening with the 200mm f1.8 L lens,...not any other lens! What the heck do I do now..?

Send the lens in..?? Canon doesn't service it any longer..!!

Typical Canon!! I'll bet they made the 40D incompatible with the 200mm f1.8 L, so that people will be forced into buying the 200mm f2.0 IS L, which hasn't been released yet!! Un-real!! I say this because it's the oldest lens I own, however, the 85mm f1.,8 is a close second oldest, and that one works just fine on the 40D!

Oh, and I won't release the photos because my client would be identified by the pictures..

JP
--

I'm no 'John Holmes', but I do have a rather 'Large' lens..

http://www.Myspace.com/JPphotographer

LOL

You jump to some wild conclusions about faulty 40D design, and blame Canon of evil doings.

Sounds like you locked focus and may have moved slightly forward or backward before taking the actual photo. Easy to do at 200mm F2 where depth of field is so shallow.

I have done the same with the 135mm F2 with seperate focus lock, and shutter button functions.

--

Canon EOS 5D, 40D & prime lenses, Albuquerque NM contact me if you are local and want to take some pics

abqnmusa said:

LOL
You jump to some wild conclusions about faulty 40D design, and blame
Canon of evil doings.

Sounds like you locked focus and may have moved slightly forward or
backward before taking the actual photo. Easy to do at 200mm F2
where depth of field is so shallow.

I have done the same with the 135mm F2 with seperate focus lock, and
shutter button functions.

--
Canon EOS 5D, 40D & prime lenses, Albuquerque NM contact me if you
are local and want to take some pics

Click to expand...

No, I didn't do that with a hundred different images.. I was on a mono pod, The focus sensor was on the eyes.. But it front focused by about 1 foot.. I was shooting from the side, on an angle mainly.. Switching from one camera to the next.. I'd lay the camera down, and picked up another , shoot that from a different spot,.. and then pick up the 200, walk over s short distance, and shoot from a different spot.. It was very hard to see that I was soft because it was so close to being on, that it looked sharp in the view finder.. When I was shooting from the front, I had the camera on a tripod.. and shot at a slight angle.. For that shot, I noticed that it was way off.. I manually focused the ones I took after I noticed that problem.. & those are sharp..

Before the speaking part of the event, I was shooting candids with the 70-200mm f2.8 IS L, and at all zoom ranges, I was getting sharp images.. I believe that Canon has some way of "turning off" or turning down the accuracy of their old lenses, because on the MkIII, you have the ability to adjust for FF or BF.. of specific lenses..

That being said, the lens works just fine on my 5D bodies, and it worked just fine on my 1DMkII bodies as well.. Now, I sell the MkII bodies, & buy a pair of 40D bodies, and it works like $hit on both, but every other lens works fine with them..?!

Oh, I get it,... I'm not supposed to use the 200mm f1.8 L lens that cost me over 4 thousand dollars, on the 40D bodies... I'm supposed to use it on the 1DMkIII bodies instead, which cost 3 times as much... My mistake,...what was I thinking that I needed the 40D bodies in the first place.... Silly me..

%#^^$#@!!%^^%%^&^& &( &#!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JP
--

I'm no 'John Holmes', but I do have a rather 'Large' lens..

http://www.Myspace.com/JPphotographer

Just wondering, what aperture were you using, and how far away were you from your subject?

How about you perform a test on some static subject and post the results here, and maybe we can be helpful.

--
mp

Are you sure Canon won't service the lens?

I know they can't/won't repair it due to lack of parts, but if its a simple calibration issue I would think they would still do that.

Otherwise there are third party places that may be able to help (KEH jumps to mind).

Your title should read the 200 f/1.8 front focused the whole job. You said only that lens front focuses so it's not the camera, it's the lens. Best thing to do is call canon repair center and ask them if they can calibrate the lens. More than likely you will have to ship one of the bodies with it so be prepared to be without a body for a few weeks.

You said the 200 f/1.8 lens front focused on both of your 40D's and its the only lens of yours that does that. Must be the lens. Send it in to Canon service and ask them to calibrate it to the bench reference standard for that lens. Small cost considering that you can't take pictures with it the way it is right now. Good luck. )
--
Cheers,

Bryan P.

OneDMark3, FortyD (2x), ASixFiftyIS
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29386469@N00/
http://blplhp.smugmug.com/

The best thing that could poke you in the eye....is your viewfinder.

First - I seriously doubt Canon would be stupid enough to try and force people to buy new stuff by making incompatibilities intentionally. Your claim that they are doing that is not based on reality.

Second- how close was the podium to the focus point? The focus sensors are considerably larger than the screen shows, and from what I understand the crop cameras have a bigger difference than FF bodies, which may explain why your other bodies do not do the same thing. Perhaps the camera focused on the podium because it (or the mic sticking up if there was one) was within the active focus points area.

In any event - calm down and stop making accusations that are obviously ridiculous.

Rootbeer said:

I can't believe this!!!

I am shooting with a 200mm f1.8 at f2.0, in One Shot mode, using the
"thumb" focus button method and selecting the nearest AF sensor , and
hitting the focus button on the back of the camera, and not
re-composing, and changing my standing position to the subject, of
which is a guy talking into a microphone at a podium, in "good"
light, and just about every single shot I took with the 200mm f1.8 L
is Front focused on the podium, even though my focus point is not
anywhere near the damn podium, but on the face, or glasses of the
person talking at it..!!

Click to expand...

I can. you never tested the combination to see if it had any idiosyncrasies.

Anyways, all the AF sensors look at a larger area than is indicated in the viewfinder. Also the center of the area may not be exactly aligned with the indicated spot either. Further more the AF sensor looks for the greatest contrast in it's zone rather than what is centered in the zone.

I've often had my 20D focus on the microphone rather than the face. Nice sharp contrast there. If there is a microphone I'll aim high then lower till it snaps in focus. I'll initially get it to focus on the background curtains/whatever, then lower the point of aim till focus locks on the the speaker's head. Then I take the shot.

Are you using AI Servo? I've found any shooting with narrow depths of field nearly requires it's use. I get a significantly higher percentage of keepers that way.

--
Bryan - click, click, click, click, moo, click, click...

Might be wise to make it a habit of testing out all your gear on your new camera(s) before going out on a shoot.

no text.

bummer

I must be lucky as my 40D & 5D focus perfectly with all of my lenses.

good luck on a finding a fix

--

Canon EOS 5D, 40D & prime lenses, Albuquerque NM contact me if you are local and want to take some pics

It focuses dead on with every lens I own. I've dumped the xxD cameras b/c of the AF, though I still have a 30d sitting around.

Glenn W. said:

Might be wise to make it a habit of testing out all your gear on your
new camera(s) before going out on a shoot.

Click to expand...

Well, yes, I tested it on several different lenses, but not the 200.. & it works fine on the zooms, and on various primes, and it showed that it worked just fine.. The 200 for what ever reason is FF on every single shot..

JP

--

I'm no 'John Holmes', but I do have a rather 'Large' lens..

http://www.Myspace.com/JPphotographer

What I meant was test EVERY lens and/or other items...

Yours is not the first account of 40D users with one (or some small subset of their complete collection of lenses) that does not focus as well on the 40D as it did on other previously owned bodies, yet other lenses work fine.

Exactly what causes it??? I don't know.

Rootbeer said:

Glenn W. said:

Might be wise to make it a habit of testing out all your gear on your
new camera(s) before going out on a shoot.

Click to expand...

Well, yes, I tested it on several different lenses, but not the 200..
& it works fine on the zooms, and on various primes, and it showed
that it worked just fine.. The 200 for what ever reason is FF on
every single shot..

JP

--

I'm no 'John Holmes', but I do have a rather 'Large' lens..

http://www.Myspace.com/JPphotographer

Click to expand...

Rootbeer said:

I am shooting with a 200mm f1.8 at f2.0, in One Shot mode,

Click to expand...

At f/2.0 the DOF is prety shallow so even a slight tilt of the model's head - or a movement of the monopod - would put the critical part(s) out of focus... Run a test from a tripod on a stationary object BEFORE jumping to conclusions...

No doubt that this isn't a Canon issue. It's an operator error through and through. Maybe I'm lucky, but my 40D exhibits no such focusing issues. Still, I shot hundreds of free digital shots of everything in view with every EOS lens in my kit before I pressed the 40D into paid service. I also shot a series at a Sekonic target in sunlight and strobe light to match my meter to the camera sensor. Those are basic steps to perform with a new camera, and similar in relative value to strapping on a harness before going F1 racing.

I'm not trying to be mean, but Murphy's law is always lurking. Test all new gear before you use it for something that really matters.

--
Voyager

Rootbeer said:

I'll bet they made the 40D incompatible with the
200mm f1.8 L, so that people will be forced into buying the 200mm
f2.0 IS L, which hasn't been released yet!!

Click to expand...

I find it hard to believe that Canon invested engineering hours to specially tune it to recognize one specific lens and make it hard for the handful of people that actually own thi sbeast and would use it on a crop/pro-sumer body.

Try putting it on a tripod under controlled conditions, then report the problem.

And I'd test your gear as you will actually use it before going on a paying job. Verifying your body works with a 70-200 (or whatever) and then putting a 200 on to actually shoot is not actually testing anything useful.

Hopefully you had enough shots with other lenses at the event to salvage something.

Rootbeer said:

I have two of these 40D bodies,...Neither work well with just my
200mm f1.8 L lens!!

Click to expand...

I suggest you post in the lens forum for advice. I believe most camera repair shops of repute, who repair canon products, will be able to calibrate this lens for you.

Might pay to do some focus tests under more controlled conditions, just to make sure it's not user error in this situation.

Best of luck.

Badbatz said:

Rootbeer said:

I am shooting with a 200mm f1.8 at f2.0, in One Shot mode,

Click to expand...

At f/2.0 the DOF is prety shallow so even a slight tilt of the
model's head - or a movement of the monopod - would put the critical
part(s) out of focus... Run a test from a tripod on a stationary
object BEFORE jumping to conclusions...

Click to expand...

Nope,...I've shot with the 200mm f1.8 at f1.8 with my FF 5D bodies for the last two years, in the same shooting situations,..(same location too).. covering events on a mono pod with nothing even close to the results I got yesterday..

So,...no,...it wasn't user error..

To answer the other guy, no, I was not using AI servo, I was using One Shot mode, and I was manually selecting my AF sensor points, and like I said, the AF sensor was on top of the the face (eyes & or glasses) of the subject, most of the shots were side view shots, where the microphone was not in the way.....heck, not even in the shot in many cases as I went tight..

As I said,...I was even using a tripod.. a Gitzo, with a gear head, locked into position.. and I was shooting at 1/250ths at f2.0, like I normally do with that lens..(I shoot at f1.8 only when I need to)..

I was shooting at distances between 20 feet to about 70 feet from the subject..in different locations, and angles to the subject..

Since most of what I shot during the speaking part of the job was with the 200mm f1.8 L, I'd say the subject was pretty accurate, because it ruined a job, and now I will have to show these cruddy pictures to the client who will post them on their website.. & my name will be associated with them through the publisher.. = not cool..

Look,....I tested the cameras with several different lenses.. The 35mm f2.0, the 50mm f1.4, the 135mm f2.0, the three f2.8 L zooms.. Come to think of it, it does work well in AI servo mode..because I shot a basketball game with it a few days ago, but in One Shot mode, I have found it to be unreliable...in every single image that I used AF on..

I disagree on the user error part.. I believe it's called... "Canon F'ed me over mode".. Why else would they have the FF/BF adjustments on the MkIII bodies, and not on the 40D..?

JP

--

I'm no 'John Holmes', but I do have a rather 'Large' lens..

http://www.Myspace.com/JPphotographer