Camera Labs

I am guessing here, but maybe the focus point may struggle finding a sufficient contrast to lock onto. I know I find I have to work at with landscape shots in particular. We were out for a drive to the coast today and there is a few shots between me and the wife that are out of focus due to lack of contrast. Really should have gone to single shot mode.

I could really do with a second body one for action/wildlife photos and the bigger zoom and one for landscape shots, swapping lenses and settings is annoying me.

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Canon Powershot S95, Canon 7D, 15-85, Canon 85 1.8 USM, Sigma 30 1.4, 50mm 1.8, Canon 100 2.8L IS Macro, Canon 70-300L IS USM+Kenko 1.4 Pro 300DGX, Canon 430EX II and RS 4 Classic

Well took my 7D out today again, and I was wondering: can a camera work just fine with One Shot but a bit off when using AI Servo or is that just crazy? I have made a shot of a sitting seagull and it was just fine, but a picture I took of a couple of flying geese seemed a bit off. The camera had a clear shot and all the time in the world to track them, so it should have been spot on.

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Cameras: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EOS 40D
Lenses: Canon EF 17-40/4 L USM, Canon EF-S 60/2.8 Macro USM, Canon EF 70-200/2.8 L USM, Canon EF 100-400/4.5-5.6 L IS USM
Want list: Canon EF 24-105/4 L IS USM, Canon EF 100/2.8 Macro L IS USM

Tracking focus is one of the hardest things for any camera to do, birds in flight being a good example of that. Take a series of shots, and you will get some in decent focus. Don't expect 100% of them to be perfect.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Well I have taken a closer look at some images. And it seems as though the focus seems to lie a bit in front of the subject when shooting my 100-400 at 400. But with my test shots on a tripod it seemed spot on. Could it be AF is off a bit when using Servo (front focussing) on 400mm with a subject that is farther away? The test with the tripod was pretty close range obviously. I know I have Micro Adjustment available, but what would you advise me to do? How can I get the best results with this option?

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Cameras: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EOS 40D
Lenses: Canon EF 17-40/4 L USM, Canon EF-S 60/2.8 Macro USM, Canon EF 70-200/2.8 L USM, Canon EF 100-400/4.5-5.6 L IS USM
Want list: Canon EF 24-105/4 L IS USM, Canon EF 100/2.8 Macro L IS USM

like I mentioned in an earlier post, I need +3 .
if you post a picture it may help.
here is one of mine, prior to adjusting front focus.
I was focusing on duck , but grass in front is more in focus, doesn`t look like much but its the best example I got.

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Canon Powershot S95, Canon 7D, 15-85, Canon 85 1.8 USM, Sigma 30 1.4, 50mm 1.8, Canon 100 2.8L IS Macro, Canon 70-300L IS USM+Kenko 1.4 Pro 300DGX, Canon 430EX II and RS 4 Classic

I got the feeling this is it. Will try to post some examples but I have the same feeling with my pictures. So what would be the best way to decide how much + I need? If I understand correctly I need to use + for correcting front focus right?

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Cameras: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EOS 40D
Lenses: Canon EF 17-40/4 L USM, Canon EF-S 60/2.8 Macro USM, Canon EF 70-200/2.8 L USM, Canon EF 100-400/4.5-5.6 L IS USM
Want list: Canon EF 24-105/4 L IS USM, Canon EF 100/2.8 Macro L IS USM

yes, +... for front focus.

I have tried with charts indoors and its didn`t work for me, I stand at an angle alongside a fence or a wall and focus on a point further along and take a picture. When you look at on a monitor typically the area in front of focus point is in focus.
Keep the angle reasonable shallow, ie stand 1-2 m from wall and focus on a point or mark further down.

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Canon Powershot S95, Canon 7D, 15-85, Canon 85 1.8 USM, Sigma 30 1.4, 50mm 1.8, Canon 100 2.8L IS Macro, Canon 70-300L IS USM+Kenko 1.4 Pro 300DGX, Canon 430EX II and RS 4 Classic

Thanks for the tips. Will try to work this out as soon as I get a bit of time. Can you tell me the following: I read that micro adjusting might not solve the problem, but will just move the problem elsewhere (say: at 400mm it will be sharp at a distance, but now it will be out of focus when the subject is closer, or will be out of focus on say 100mm). Is this true? Because if that might be the case, then I should send the camera to Canon to have them recalibrate it altogether.

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Cameras: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EOS 40D
Lenses: Canon EF 17-40/4 L USM, Canon EF-S 60/2.8 Macro USM, Canon EF 70-200/2.8 L USM, Canon EF 100-400/4.5-5.6 L IS USM
Want list: Canon EF 24-105/4 L IS USM, Canon EF 100/2.8 Macro L IS USM

Just posted this; viewtopic.php?f=37&t=32191&p=266201#p266201 (it COULD be an easier/quicker technique?)

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Nikon D700 & D7100 bodies + Nikkor 300mm F2.8 VR11, 1.7TC, 50mm F1.4G, 16-35mm f/4G VR, 105 F2.8 VR macro, 70-300mm lenses. A couple of filters, Giotto tripod & ballhead. Lowepro Slingshot 302 AW

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldcarlos/

I have uploaded two crops of a picture to show what I mean. I am missing sharpness on the head of the bird, which was absolutely right on the focus point. Servo with Spot.


Front focus 7D + 100-400 - 1 by mt.koopmans, on Flickr
This is the big one which shows a bit of water, which seems to be more in focus.


Front focus 7D + 100-400 - 2 by mt.koopmans, on Flickr
This is the 100% crop which shows the picture is missing sharpness when looking at 100% level.

Both pictures have been severely sharpened with DPP and still don't show me that crisp sharpness that I did get with my 40D and my 100-400. I can upload more examples if needed. Could it be that the 18MP RAW files will never be as sharp when looking at 100% as my 10MP RAW files from my old 40D?

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Cameras: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EOS 40D
Lenses: Canon EF 17-40/4 L USM, Canon EF-S 60/2.8 Macro USM, Canon EF 70-200/2.8 L USM, Canon EF 100-400/4.5-5.6 L IS USM
Want list: Canon EF 24-105/4 L IS USM, Canon EF 100/2.8 Macro L IS USM

I don`t really know, so take this with a grain of salt. I am making this up as I am going along.

it appears that there is some front focus, suggest you use the 100-400L at aperture of 7.1 . It`s what I have seen many other use this lens at, gives you more room for error and lens is sharper there. Why, because a crop sized sensor of 10MP will not be as sensitive to lens quality and more forgiving that 18mp. ie pixelsize is smaller on 7D.

Why not just put the micro focus on +3 and go and take a hundred shot and see how they go. If its not good try a bit more or less.

I don`t have any issue with the micro adjust throwing out the rest of the focusing on my 70-300L, which is on +3 all the time.

The only issue I have is with my 50mm 1.8, I don`t like using, it front or back focuses as the distance to subject changes. Its annoying on many levels, but not going to get into on the thread.

here is a 100% crop , I do the min amount of work in LR4 that I can get away with.

LR4-5242 by maxjj, on Flickr

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Canon Powershot S95, Canon 7D, 15-85, Canon 85 1.8 USM, Sigma 30 1.4, 50mm 1.8, Canon 100 2.8L IS Macro, Canon 70-300L IS USM+Kenko 1.4 Pro 300DGX, Canon 430EX II and RS 4 Classic

Agree with Max about stopping down a tad. Also are you using `spot` focus, is image stabilisation turned on @ fast shutter speeds & is in-camera noise reduction on?

Again no idea really, but worth trying all options.

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Nikon D700 & D7100 bodies + Nikkor 300mm F2.8 VR11, 1.7TC, 50mm F1.4G, 16-35mm f/4G VR, 105 F2.8 VR macro, 70-300mm lenses. A couple of filters, Giotto tripod & ballhead. Lowepro Slingshot 302 AW

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldcarlos/

Well that sure looks a lot sharper when comparing your 100% crop with mine. I think I will do as you say: try a load of shots with +3 and see what happens. Gonna try this same approach with my 70-200 if I run into trouble with that one too. So far haven't taken any shots with that one on my 7D yet, but maybe when the weather gets better I can take some tennis shots.



Well let me see:

1. I was using Spot
2. IS was turned on, with a shutter time of 1/800
3. In-camera high ISO noise reduction is on, but on the standard medium setting

Anything I should try and play around with there? Or are these settings alright?

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Cameras: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EOS 40D
Lenses: Canon EF 17-40/4 L USM, Canon EF-S 60/2.8 Macro USM, Canon EF 70-200/2.8 L USM, Canon EF 100-400/4.5-5.6 L IS USM
Want list: Canon EF 24-105/4 L IS USM, Canon EF 100/2.8 Macro L IS USM

`Spot` is good (providing you aren't too far away & can guarantee focus is on your subject) otherwise `centre weighted`

Image stabilisation isn't needed at faster shutter speeds (maybe above 1/400th sec?) & can add blur.

I think Thomas showed somewhere, that pics can be slightly sharper when in-camera noise reduction is disabled.


All things to try I suppose, but a ball-ache

Another thing (which I tend to forget) is keep the trigger pressed for a short burst (maybe only 3 or 4 shots) to give you the chance of getting a better pose. Cheap & easy to delete the unwanteds.

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Nikon D700 & D7100 bodies + Nikkor 300mm F2.8 VR11, 1.7TC, 50mm F1.4G, 16-35mm f/4G VR, 105 F2.8 VR macro, 70-300mm lenses. A couple of filters, Giotto tripod & ballhead. Lowepro Slingshot 302 AW

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldcarlos/

On your photo of the Coot, where on the head were you focusing? You're using spot, which shrinks the AF point and in theory that could allow for more accurate focus... But let's assume you stuck your Spot AF point over the "meaty" part of the bird's head. A Coot is black and contrastless, so unless you've got focus-priority set for the AF/drive algorithm, your shutter is going to release in Servo even if AF is not "confirmed" and it's mid-search while trying to find contrast on that black spot you've pointed at.

If you're using spot AF, you really have to watch out for low-contrast areas on your subject. I've been burned many times before that way... I found that using the "expanded" AF points, or even just a normal-sized one is often the best bet. Once I sorted out my AF points and technique issues, I found that AFMA wasn't necessary, even for my slightly-wonky 50/1.8 that loved to backfocus in spot AF.

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