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7D AF issue, sports

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dcypher711809

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I know, another 7D AF issue post, but I'm getting really desperate here... I'm a formar 1D IIn user and got myself the 7D, mainly because I needed a new camera and the 1DIV isn't available yet. So, now most of my sports pictures are OOF. I tried everything, ended up using only the centre point with expansion... All the custom functions are adjusted in favour of focus tracking...

This is what I get! Never had this with the 1D, it is a simple subject, with indoor lighting which never was a problem for the 1DII...









I contacted Canon and my dealer . Any others experiencing same thing under similar circumstances?
 
hi are you from Oostende ?

i live in Wenduine - De Haan

if you ever want to meet, i also have the 7D and maybe you want to compare

en we kunnen natuurlijk verder gaan in het west-vlaams dan :-)
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EOS 7D _ 400D _ 28-135IS _ 70-200F4IS
 
70-200 f2.8 lens ?

settings you used look good

i suppose you used ai servo ?
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EOS 7D _ 400D _ 28-135IS _ 70-200F4IS
 
Michel: ik ben van het Waasland :-)

I used the 135 mm f2.0 on AI Servo, very sharp lens, so this should be happening! I get some relatively sharp images, but not what I was used to with the 1D II(n). And lots of these kind of unsharp images... And not only indoors, also outdoors...
 
To me it looks like the camera is back focusing (I see behind the backetball player a sharper section of the floor).

I too have a similar issue with my 7D, but mine is experiencing extreme front focus issues (with my 100-400 and 70-200 2.8 IS). The lenses I used work perfectly on all my other bodies. I have sent mine in once already to be fixed only to get it back with the same issue. It is now at canon nj for a second attempt of repair
 
Two recommendations from someone who has shot a lot of basketball:

1) Your shutter speed is much faster than it needs to be. 1/250 to 1/350 should be plenty fast to stop motion in a typical basketball shot.

2) Your ISO setting of 4000 is very high and is resulting in some of your loss of sharpness. For example, one of your shots are in good focus but is soft because of the ISO IMO.

Drop your shutter speed a stop, and drop the ISO a stop as well. I think it will look much better. Now as to the pictures that are not in good focus, what mode are you using? Are you sure the focus point is on the subject? Is it tracking? In 3 out of 4 of your shots, the focus is on the Vitanza sign, not on the player.

I am not familiar with the focus speed of the 135 so I'm sure others can speak to that.
 
I agree that the high iso gives some loss of sharpness, but this is just completely out of focus. This series is just to illustrate my problem, I got many more examples... I got enough experience shooting sports to know that this just isn't right. If Canon advertises the 7D to be good enough for sports, than it should be able to track something as simple as this subject. The player wasn't even running fast!

I used the center point with expansion, this seemed to give me the best (well...) results. Zone-AF sucks for indoor sports, all 19 is plain unusable (even outside) and 1selected AF point is just too narrow sometimes. For soccer I found zone-AF to work best (with unstable results).

I read all these things about how good and snappy the AF is, but imo it sometimes is unable to track a simple subject.

my serial number starts with 230, I might got a bad 7d? I just wait for Canon's answer on this one... Image quality is superb, but the AF disappoints me alot...
 
groetjes van an 't zèèèètje :-)

have no experience with indoors but mine with the 70-200 f4is gives good results
body serial starts with 033

--
EOS 7D _ 400D _ 28-135IS _ 70-200F4IS
 
I downloaded all 4 pic. And applied PS smart sharpening. First 3 are fine. The forth is a bit soft it looks like you missed focus.

You have to learn how to use your camera so you can get photos sharp from the camera or sharpen then in Post processing. Read your maual.
 
Q: about what percentage of your photos look like this?

I don't think high ISO is the main problem ... it looks to me far too OOF...and there have been much, much better photos posted here from the 7D under similar conditions - as well as photos taken with the 7D with subjects that are harder to tack.

Given that you seem to know how to use the camera - and are using what should be a good lens - my best guess is your 7D is not functioning properly. Zone should work fine you your subjects - and single pt expanded should work extremely well - which it obviously isn't.

I haven't shot low light sports yet with my 7D, but I have shot low light (cloudy/drizzle) BIF with very good results using both zone and sp expanded...so I know the 7D is capable of much better results...

I hope you get this worked out to your satisfaction, overall I'm very pleased with the performace of my 7D.
dcypher said:
I agree that the high iso gives some loss of sharpness, but this is just completely out of focus. This series is just to illustrate my problem, I got many more examples... I got enough experience shooting sports to know that this just isn't right. If Canon advertises the 7D to be good enough for sports, than it should be able to track something as simple as this subject. The player wasn't even running fast!

I used the center point with expansion, this seemed to give me the best (well...) results. Zone-AF sucks for indoor sports, all 19 is plain unusable (even outside) and 1selected AF point is just too narrow sometimes. For soccer I found zone-AF to work best (with unstable results).

I read all these things about how good and snappy the AF is, but imo it sometimes is unable to track a simple subject.

my serial number starts with 230, I might got a bad 7d? I just wait for Canon's answer on this one... Image quality is superb, but the AF disappoints me alot...
Click to expand...
 
Can you please post those results because from what I see the pictures are clearly back focused. If you have a technique to fix something like this please show it off and teach us.
mansito said:
I downloaded all 4 pic. And applied PS smart sharpening. First 3 are fine. The forth is a bit soft it looks like you missed focus.

You have to learn how to use your camera so you can get photos sharp from the camera or sharpen then in Post processing. Read your maual.
Click to expand...
 
dcypher said:
I know, another 7D AF issue post, but I'm getting really desperate here... I'm a formar 1D IIn user and got myself the 7D, mainly because I needed a new camera and the 1DIV isn't available yet. So, now most of my sports pictures are OOF. I tried everything, ended up using only the centre point with expansion... All the custom functions are adjusted in favour of focus tracking...

This is what I get! Never had this with the 1D, it is a simple subject, with indoor lighting which never was a problem for the 1DII...









I contacted Canon and my dealer . Any others experiencing same thing under similar circumstances?
Click to expand...
 
I just downladed the pic and opened in PS applaied smart sharpening. And the first three look just fine. the forth pic it looks like focus is closer to that blue and white sign.
 
I agree with other comments that your ISO is a bit unnecessarily high but even at this small size for web viewing they look soft to me. ISO 6400 at this size and res in that light should look sharper.

Have you placed the camera on a tripod and focused on a high contrast target about 3 to 4 meters away (for your 135mm) in good light to see if that focuses properly? Use single shot and center point only, not servo or zone or all points. When on the tripod defocus the lens, half press the shutter and then activate liveview and magnify the liveview image to the max. Does it look OoF? If so, move the focus ring slightly back and forth and see if it improves. If it does and shows consistently OoF when repeating the test then you need to experiment with the micro-adjust feature. You should be able to dial in the lens to obtain consistently sharp results (9 out 10 minimum).

You need to identify where the problem is first. If the lens is just not in calibration with the body you probably can correct that with micro-adjustment. If the lens is in proper calibration but you're still getting soft images then it's probably something with the body that is out of spec.

Bob
--
http://www.pbase.com/rwbaron
 
dcypher said:
I know, another 7D AF issue post, but I'm getting really desperate here... I'm a formar 1D IIn user and got myself the 7D, mainly because I needed a new camera and the 1DIV isn't available yet. So, now most of my sports pictures are OOF. I tried everything, ended up using only the centre point with expansion... All the custom functions are adjusted in favour of focus tracking...

This is what I get! Never had this with the 1D, it is a simple subject, with indoor lighting which never was a problem for the 1DII...
Click to expand...
dcypher711809 said:
I contacted Canon and my dealer . Any others experiencing same thing under similar circumstances?
Click to expand...
Check the lens and get it calibrated with your 7D. We had a similar experience and got much better results with the calibrated lens.

--
http://dslr-video.com/blogmag/
 
Hi,

Your lens showed that it is consistently back focusing. You have other shots? For those of us who had the so called AF issues, the focusing is inconsistent.

You may want to bring it back to Canon for some calibration, if MFA fails.

At high ISO, the subject should not lose sharpness, but what is compromised, will be detail.

I shoot action shots too, and I usually put my camera on the shutter priority mode, using AF expansion and auto ISO.
 
I got similar and other problems with my 300 mm f2.8 outside in daylight. Sometimes the focus is completely off! And I mean completely, sometimes it seems the camera doesn't know where to focus. Coming from a 1DIIn this is incredible to me. I guess about 70% of my images are off, and that varies between slightly off to completely off.

I chose iso 4000 because I noticed what looked like motion blur when I used slower than 1/500. Even when the pictures are focussed, they look somewhat softer than the 1DIIn. Not less focussed, softer. That I can fix by sharpening the images a little more. Most of the focus issues occur in AI servo with action subjects and tele lenses, the kind of work I bought the thing for. Single shot pictures look great, although I don't shoot much wideangle with the 7D, got the 5DII for that... Close and slow subjects are no problem either.

I'm really curious what Canon's answer will be... Maybe I expect to much from a camera that is 1/3 of the price of a 1D model, but since Canon advertises the 7D as a camera for sports pictures like the ones in the example shouldn't be any problem imho...
 
btw, I have to expose manually at this location because the light is very inconsistent here, the light balance sometimes changes in one single motor burst... And any auto mode gives inconsistent results. Auto iso is great feature but in some of the lighting conditions it is unusable (like soccer on a field with half sunlight and half shadow and white shiny billboards in the background).

Maybe that is a major problem with modern cameras, they are filled with great features that look good on paper and under perfect conditions but are sometimes quite unusable in practice. I prefer to have control over the gear I use. But that is another discussion...
 
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