1Ds Mark III inconsistent focus. New firmware problem?

[PeteL]

I've been shooting with the 1DsM3 since February and I've been very happy with the camera. A couple of days ago I updated the firmware to 1.1.2 and now I'm getting pretty alarming results.

Yesterday I was taking pics with the 35L outside in good, bright sunny conditions and when reviewing pics at home I noticed that unusually many pics were oof, typically the subject was oof and there was no focus point at all (that I could see) or the photo was massively front-focused. All of these oof pics should have been piece of cake for this (or any other) camera.

Took some test shots yesterday with the 35L and the same thing happens. Here's a quick example taken this morning. Lots of light and fast shutter speeds, so there's no camera shake. I manually changed focus between the shots, so the camera had to re-focus for every shot. I focused on the P sign. Took about 7 or 8 pics in one shot mode with the center focus point. Only one is sharp, one is almost sharp and others are terrible.

I get same results also inside at shorter distances, but I think these longer-distance shots are a lot worse. I really don't recall having these problems with the 1.0.6 firmware. Have to do some more testing with the 70-200 to see if it's the 35L. I can deal with systematic front or back focus but this is totally unpredictable.

100% crops here:

 

[love_them_all]

Are you shooting thru a window? The reflection alone would throw the focus sensor off. Can you do the same test outside?
--

 

[paxthelm]

Have you microadjusted the lens previously before the update? With the 1d mark III I found that the settings were no longer correct after the update and less adjustment was necessary on all my lenses.

 

[PeteL]

With the 70-200 it seems I'm getting consistent focus. Took 2 sets of five pics and they all were in focus.

The P-sign might be too small for the 35L to reliably lock focus? This I could also understand but many of yesterday's shots were taken at relatively close distance, the subject was easily covering the AF point area and the lighting was good (no backlighting/flaring etc).

Here's the entire image. Maybe I'm expecting too much from that small P-sign?

 

[PeteL]

no text

 

[PeteL]

It didn't need any adjustment. I tested it inside last night and added +4 to correct some front-focus. This still doesn't explain why some shots are massively out-of-focus. I vaguely remember someone else also reporting about this random front-focus issue. Just can't remember if it was the 1DM3 or 1DsM3 but I'm sure it was an earlier firmware version.

 

[Steve R]

I definitely think the sign is too small and to far away for the 35 to lock on to constantly
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Steven R

 

[PeteL]

It's probably not a good test subject. I've used it before with good results but maybe the backlight this morning was too much. But that still doesn't explain the problems I had yesterday with far larger subjects in good conditions. Oh well, maybe the 35L just needed a slight amount of micro adjustment for this new firmware and new AF algorithm. I'm now going out again to take some more real-world pics with the new micro adjustment settings.

 

[John A Clark]

Here's the entire image. Maybe I'm expecting too much from that small
P-sign?

Ahh ... yes, I would think so

 

[PhillipA]

With that small a target, I wonder if the A/F grabbed the contrast of the brick/white on the building immediately behind the sign? My 1DmkIII used to do this when I first got it. If there was anything remotely contrasty near the subject, even if outside the A/F area, the camera would insist on focusing on that even with a long lens and the subject a reasonable size in the frame. The second firmware update - to 1.1.3 solved most of these issues for me. I do think the sign is a little small to expect the A/F to grab - especially considering the DOF of a 35mm lens at that distance. Hope all is well.

 

[blackhawk13]

--If you ever see erratic behavior with the EOS bodies for no reason, a hard reboot will sometimes cure it. Something gets corrupted, or possible setting conflicts. Pull both batteries; all (or most) should go to default.

When I do firmware updates on the MK-3 I always do a hard reboot.

-Fortune favors the bold-

 

[PeteL]

Much appreciated! I've been having nothing but excellent results before yesterday, so I'm hoping my 35L only needed a slight micro adjustment or it was just a stupid user error (hopefully the latter...).

 

[PeteL]

no text

 

[Honor]

I feel re-assured you had a wide lense here and you were trying to focus on too small a subject. When did you buy your 1dsIII body ? was it this year ?

 

[Tarn Tantikij]

There are reflections in all your pics and around the sign crops.

Looks like the camera's autofocus was totally fooled.

Look at the one sharp crop and you'll see that EVERYTHING in the frame is in focus, from the small post in the lower right foreground to the doorway, curved curb at the back AS IT SHOULD BE WITH A 35MM LENS at this distance.

The OOF pics are OOF throughout the crop. Look elsewhere in the full frame, they should be just as OOF wherever you crop.

This has nothing to do with the sign being too small and the camera focusing on the wall behind it or whatever. That's nuts. They're all in the same DOF zone.

I was taking pictures with the 1Ds3 and 400/5.6L - imagine the small DOF - on a sunny Florida beach one morning last week and the autofocus didn't like that at all. The results were similar to what you're showing here, OOF, slightly OOF, etc. The fricking focus was all over the fricking place but the subjects.

tarn

I've been shooting with the 1DsM3 since February and I've been very
happy with the camera. A couple of days ago I updated the firmware to
1.1.2 and now I'm getting pretty alarming results.

Yesterday I was taking pics with the 35L outside in good, bright
sunny conditions and when reviewing pics at home I noticed that
unusually many pics were oof, typically the subject was oof and there
was no focus point at all (that I could see) or the photo was
massively front-focused. All of these oof pics should have been piece
of cake for this (or any other) camera.

Took some test shots yesterday with the 35L and the same thing
happens. Here's a quick example taken this morning. Lots of light and
fast shutter speeds, so there's no camera shake. I manually changed
focus between the shots, so the camera had to re-focus for every
shot. I focused on the P sign. Took about 7 or 8 pics in one shot
mode with the center focus point. Only one is sharp, one is almost
sharp and others are terrible.

I get same results also inside at shorter distances, but I think
these longer-distance shots are a lot worse. I really don't recall
having these problems with the 1.0.6 firmware. Have to do some more
testing with the 70-200 to see if it's the 35L. I can deal with
systematic front or back focus but this is totally unpredictable.

100% crops here:

 

[Tarn Tantikij]

Have you microadjusted the lens previously before the update? With
the 1d mark III I found that the settings were no longer correct
after the update and less adjustment was necessary on all my lenses.

Alas, micro focus adjustment has become the universal scapegoat/shield for the 1D/1Ds3 autofocus problem.

That along with the laundry list of custom functions.

Isn't it obvious to anybodyelse that the king has no clothes?

The reality as I experienced it is that the 1Ds3's autofocus was unreliable in a major way.

Like I said, there's nothing to prevent Canon from shipping the 1Ds3, a year after the intro of the 1D3, with the magic combination of custom functions settings to make it work right out of the box.

Nonetheless, they are exchanging my camera and I hope to get a magical one like that others are very happy with.

tarn

tarn

 

[PeteL]

This is what I experienced yesterday. When the shot was oof, I couldn't find any sharp spot in the picture.

However, I agree with the others about the sign being less than optimal for testing - being so small and also because of the backlight.

I'm not yet quite as pessimistic as you about the AF. During the last two and a half months I have photographed both still subjects and sports with excellent results. All the focus errors I have experienced have most probably been my own. I was just wondering if the new firmware update had introduced some new problems. I was happy with the 1.0.6.

I'll do more testing before I'm ready to say anything definite, though.

 

[PeteL]

I checked one copy in January but it had a misaligned viewfinder, so I decided to wait awhile. My copy is perfectly straight and I've experienced zero problems.

As as wrote earlier, I've been extremely happy with the results I've been getting. Yesterday was actually the first day I was out shooting with the new firmware, so that's why I started wondering what was wrong with some of my pics.

 

[Tarn Tantikij]

With that small a target, I wonder if the A/F grabbed the contrast of
the brick/white on the building immediately behind the sign? My
1DmkIII used to do this when I first got it. If there was anything
remotely contrasty near the subject, even if outside the A/F area,
the camera would insist on focusing on that even with a long lens and
the subject a reasonable size in the frame. The second firmware
update - to 1.1.3 solved most of these issues for me. I do think the
sign is a little small to expect the A/F to grab - especially
considering the DOF of a 35mm lens at that distance. Hope all is well.

Folks, this splitting of hair to come up with excuse is insane.

The brick/white wall building behind the sign and the sign are in the same focus zone. This is a 35mm lens. With this much backlight hitting the meter the lens is even stopped down nevermind that at even f1.4 wide open it'll be all the same.

With this distance shot and the picture OOF the autofocus is in dingdong land and not anywhere you're looking at in the picture.

tarn

 

[Honor]

Would you please answer my question on the purchase date of your 1ds3 if that is not too much to ask. thx.