7D Sharpness Issues

[trigger]

Hey mate. had a look at that image and it doesnt seems like camera shake at all.
looks like is back focused. The hair and the collar look in focus?

1. If you manually selected the AF point with expansion its probably focused on the areas of the collar or hair as its higher contrast

2. If its not the AF did you do mirco adjustments to the lens? If so you better check it out.

3. Did you focus and recompose? was it one shot AF? if thats the case then might have moved after your recomposed.

[TAYLORW619]

So I shouldn't use expansion and just use single point?

[TAYLORW619]

I think it is motion blur, look zoomed in on eye brows.

[Kym]

Taylor...you provoked this http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...014#post664014

Enjoy!

[TAYLORW619]

Taylor...you provoked this http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...014#post664014

Enjoy!

Jesus Christ your dedicated.

Thanks for that though, If I have any questions I'll ask

Thanks

[Kym]

Jesus Christ your dedicated.

He's much cooler than me. But that aside, its something we needed in NTP anyway

[RaoulIsidro]

I can see your reflection on his left eye.
It doesn't look like motion blurr.
The stiches on his blue collar are not very defined.
Perhaps you could do a lens sharpness test.

[TAYLORW619]

I can see your reflection on his left eye.
It doesn't look like motion blurr.
The stiches on his blue collar are not very defined.
Perhaps you could do a lens sharpness test.

How exactly do I do it?

I have tried, but I just am hopeless at it.

[Kym]

How exactly do I do it?
I have tried, but I just am hopeless at it.

What Kiwi posted above.

Tripod + Mirror Up + Fast Shutter speed + Accurate focus

[RaoulIsidro]

Try this:
Get a crisply defined bar code, the bigger the better. The ones on computer boxes are great.
Set the box and bar code plane at a 45 degree and about 1 mt from the camera.
Set your camera and lens on a tripod.
Set your lens to MF.
Set the centre AF point directly on the centre of the bar code.
Press live view and try to focus.
Press the zoom button to focus further. (X5)
Press the zoom button once more for (X10) magnification.
Get the best and harpest contrasty image and take the picture.
Do this on all focal lengths.

Review the images on the monitor.
The sharpest images should be on the centre and blurring on both sides.
If you are not happy with the sharpness, show this image to the Canon Service.
They might charge you about $50.00 if they find nothing wrong.
Cheers!

[TAYLORW619]

I'll try get a chart off the net or something.

If I can't get it right I'll just have to send it back to Whilton or somebody to calibrate.

[RaoulIsidro]

I'll try get a chart off the net or something.

If I can't get it right I'll just have to send it back to Whilton or somebody to calibrate.

If the issue is lens sharpness, perhaps Canon Service at North Ryde would be a better option. They have their own courier service provider. Best to call them to confirm the problem.
Self testing the lens for sharpness would be a good idea and prerequisite.
All the best.

[Art Vandelay]

We need more pics.

Half a dozen potential solutions from 1 sample pic is going to get confusing.

Did you try the pics suggested in your other thread ?

[TAYLORW619]

What do you mean pics in my other thread?

[TAYLORW619]

Just did a test, but not sure if I did it correctly.

Here are the results.

0


+5


+6

[TAYLORW619]

Seems pointless doing the micro adjustment, every time I do it I get different results

[Art Vandelay]

Didn't it error again and you were swapping it over for a 5d mkiii anyway ?

[TAYLORW619]

Well sent it back and they couldn't get the problem to occur and sent to their repairer to test.

Has come back since monday and have not had any problems since, I have not used the camera much though.

If the error comes again I must take a photo of the screen for evidence.

[arthurking83]

That's why many experts recommend not to do them in this manner to begin with.. it can be a bit misleading.

try to do it with real targets in what can be described(loosely) as a real life situation.

first up, the biggest problem with using AF adjustment in camera with a zoom lens, is that it affects all focal lengths in the zoom range. You may actually find that if there is any focus accuracy issues, it's not usually for the entire zoom range but may be limited to only the longest focal length setting, or maybe a small range at one end.

eg. 105mm many be inaccurate, but at 24mm may be perfect. If you micro adjust for better accuracy @ 105mm, then accuracy will be up the creek at 24mm!
(this is a slight nuisance with my 28-75mm f/2.8)

A much better AF accuracy test setup is something like this:



OK, it's not one of those $500 focus checker test rigs, but everyone has 5 or 7 AA batteries lying around their house somewhere(raid all the remotes for AAA's if you have too, but AA's are better)

Set them up like this making sure that each battery so that the next line of batteries back is starting where the closest batter(y)(ies) finishes off.. if you need to use something like a sheet of paper to try to keep the gap between front line and next line back to a minimum then do so. It's not important that you maintain a millimeter perfect tolerance, just that you need to keep some sense of distance perspective. You also need to be pretty accurate in making sure that the camera/lens is quite square on to the line of batteries too. ie. if you angle the lens at 45° to the triangle of batteries, you going to induce user created DOF issues too. Doesn't have to be perfect, you're not measuring lens resolution!.. just checking to see if there is any problem with the focusing accuracy with your lens/camera combination. It can and does happen, but is not as common as folks think it is.

My guess is that you won't have a big AF accuracy problem... but that's just a guess.
You need a tripod, and you're best advised to use mirror lockup and remote and so forth, but it's not 100% necessary, shooting in burst mode can be as effective. faster shutter speeds tho will help too. Remember you're not measuring MTF of the lens, your trying to work out if the lens is sharp, where is it sharp. You'll also need to setup the camera that it's pretty level relative to the batteries, and not looking up to them, or down on them too.

Note in my image, there's a drawn in box and cross.

the box is where the AF pointer was set too. that's the size and shape of the AF square and how it's set against the scene. it's important.. vitally important not to confuse the AF system with lots of lines of contrast to focus on.
While there are other printable focus test charts like the one you got there that have decently presented areas for the focus system to lock onto, it seems to me the one you've used is not quite a good example.
The multitude of lines in the test setup you've used can easily confuse the af system.. even if the af square is only 'seeing' one of those horizontal lines in your diagonal setup.
The crosses in the square indicate where the actual af sensor lines should be set to by the manufacturer. no one really knows how accurately the manufacturer has set the vf/af/optical system within the vf you can see, and there's no guarantee that the actual sensors will be perfectly set within the AF square. The vertical line on the cross reads the horizontal contrast for the focus system, and the horizontal line in the cross reads the vertical contrast to get an af lock.
It's been known on various places around the net, that these cross sensors are not always dead centre in the AF square, hence why it's important to have room around the AF square so that nothing else can confuse the AF system.. otherwise you may get variable results.

note how the AF square in the battery test setup is only seeing the centre battery.
(note this is not my idea, but something I stumbled on somewhere on the net thanks to someone else that found it from someone else.. etc.etc...)

this image was from the Nikon 80-200/2.8, which I subsequently found out has a long standing issue with backfocusing at about a 4 meter focus distance!! the issue is that specific,and only happens at 200mm! My test was done at about 3.75m focus distance, as that's how big my kitchen is

note how the line of two batteries behind the central one look sharper ?

that's because the lens backfocuses at this range/focal length. the green text shows where the best most contrasty area is, and seems to indicate that the lens backfocuses by the thickness of one AA battery.... what's that, about 2cm?..... 17mm or so, I just checked.

quick DOF check

using a DOF checker/calculator(to estimate some DOF calculations)

3.75 m

Depth of field
Near limit 3.73 m
Far limit 3.77 m
Total 0.04 m

In front of subject 0.02 m (50%)
Behind subject 0.02 m (50%)

Hyperfocal distance 707.3 m
Circle of confusion 0.02 mm

OK, this kind'a proves a couple of things.. that the DOF calculator need to produce a readout to three decimal places and that, it's kind'a accurate for this application too.

I see acceptable sharpness at the same line(of writing) on the front battery, as on the green line area I've marked on that second row of batteries.

But the front of the front battery(where it says DSE) is definitely out of whack and blurry, right there where focus should have been.

I then set AF micro adjust to +15 and the lens focused a lot better at this range and at this focal length, but ruined it for the rest of the focal length and focus distance range.
The lens(taken in with the camera too) needed to be recalibrated, I just never got around to it, and then subsequently sold it off.
But you can see that the lens is very sharp at f/2.8 and I never doubted that.. when I wanted uber sharp images at f/2.8(for artistic purposes), I'd use Live View for focus confirmation(which is dead spot on ever time! ).. or shoot as per Scotty's advice above.. lots of frames, (I'd)sway my entire body back just a tad, to counter the backfocusing lens.. and eventually one in two or three images would turn out sharp and usable.
Never use focus with the shutter release, and only with the AF-On button, and use continuous drive focusing. Focus only when you need too, as you need too(not because the camera tells you that you must!!) use your thumb on the AF-On button and you focus, and then not, and then focus again to keep the lens focusing and adjusting. Sounds like a lot of arsing about, but in the end it wasn't... and it usually worked well.

[TAYLORW619]

So I basically need to send my camera and lens's away to get them fixed because of the inconsistencies throughout the whole range?

Thats a real pain because I won't be able to send mine off for a long time if I do, I have so much stuff coming up soon.

Thanks for that massive post! Really appreciate your time helping me!