60d

kayliana · Apr 11, 2012

Has anyone heard about problems with the focusing in the canon 60d? I was using a rebel xti and my 24-70, 2.8 L lens, and it worked great. Now on the 60d it gets a weird blur. It could be the lens, but I'm not sure. Anyone hear anything or have any idea? Thank you so much!

Big Mike · Apr 11, 2012

'weird blur' means nothing to us...we need to see an example.

gsgary · Apr 11, 2012

99% sure it's user error

bratkinson · Apr 11, 2012

Taking pix on my 60D with Live View and my then month-old 24-70 was a disaster for me, too. But that was in low light and hand held, no flash (wedding ceremony).

Try the 24-70 in different lighting and definitely, if using it, don't shoot in Live View!

My $0.02 worth...

fokker · Apr 11, 2012

There was actually a thread about maybe a month back describing this exact same problem with a user upgrading from a rebel to a 60d (although they were more specific about the weird blur and showed us examples). I think the end result that was generally agreed upon is that the extra resolution of the 60d simply makes things look less 'in-focus' when viewed at 100%.

It's also possible that it's a focus-calibration error. Not sure off the top of my head if the 60d has focus micro-adjust or not, might be worth looking into.

kayliana · Apr 11, 2012

I dont think it's user error. I'm about to graduate with my degree in photography, I'm not a beginner. I came here forHelp, not to be criticized. Thank you for those who helped. I think it's the lens. I can't believe how rude you people are on this forum. People come here forHelp and you tear them apart for a simple question, assuming it must be them, it can't be technology?

gsgary · Apr 11, 2012

kayliana said:
I dont think it's user error. I'm about to graduate with my degree in photography, I'm not a beginner. I came here forHelp, not to be criticized. Thank you for those who helped. I think it's the lens. I can't believe how rude you people are on this forum. People come here forHelp and you tear them apart for a simple question, assuming it must be them, it can't be technology?

Post a picture of the problem with exif data, 24-70 is one of my favourite lenses and never lets me down

Overread · Apr 11, 2012

kayliana said:
I dont think it's user error. I'm about to graduate with my degree in photography, I'm not a beginner. I came here forHelp, not to be criticized. Thank you for those who helped. I think it's the lens. I can't believe how rude you people are on this forum. People come here forHelp and you tear them apart for a simple question, assuming it must be them, it can't be technology?

You cannot presume that we know all your details from the first post you make in a thread. What most have said/suggested is that the problem is more likely some form of user error over being a technical problem. This does not invalidate technical problems, but means that generally one sees far more user errors as opposed to technical errors.

If you want better help you have to first give more info - post example shots - settings used - how you focused - what's soft - etc.. If you don't do the ground work to inform us we have little if nothing we can give that is going to be specifically suited toward your situation.

TCampbell · Apr 11, 2012

kayliana said:
I dont think it's user error. I'm about to graduate with my degree in photography, I'm not a beginner. I came here forHelp, not to be criticized. Thank you for those who helped. I think it's the lens. I can't believe how rude you people are on this forum. People come here forHelp and you tear them apart for a simple question, assuming it must be them, it can't be technology?

If indeed you came for help, please recognize that a great many people come for help... and issues often turn out to be user error. Someone with a degree in photography doesn't typically use terms like "weird blur". That's not an industry term. There are all kinds of terms used to describe the optical qualities and/or defects that are more specific.

The flange to focal plane distance on a Rebel XTi is the same as it is on a 60D. The back-focus distance hasn't changed. So unless there's a problem with the adjustment of the shim on your sensor or the lens has taken a hard knock, there's no reason why there "should" be a weird blur. It's not as if the 60D has the ability to make the focus mechanism inside the lens move in some way that's different from any other EOS body. Could there be a problem with your 60D or your 24-70? Absolutely. But "weird blur" isn't going to offer enough insight into your specific issue.

This is where posting an example would REALLY help others help you. Perhaps you're having a focus error (front focus, back focus, etc.) problem. You can test for that by switching to "live view" mode because that forces the camera to switch the focusing system to contrast-detection instead of phase-detection. You can also print off one of the many free focus-calibration charts that you can download from the internet and fold together (or buy a commercial version.) You can even hang a page of newsprint on the wall and take a photo with the camera's focal plane perfectly parallel to the wall to check for uneven focus (not that the focused distance form the lens isn't necessarily a "flat" plane... natural curvature can cause things to go out of focus at the corners because the corners of the image are technically farther from the lens than the center of the image.)

At any rate, a degree doesn't imply that you won't make a mistake. I've been shooting for over 30 years. I worked in the industry for 8 years (I do not work in the industry anymore). I've done over 500 weddings. And yet I could still stand to learn quite a bit. You don't "arrive" as an expert in this field... it's a non-stop learning experience. Believe me when I say I am STILL capable of "user error". Be humble and don't let that degree go to your head.

kayliana · Apr 12, 2012

I absolutely agree with you. Experience is everything. I appreciate your help. I got frustrated when the person says they are 99% sure it's user error. That's flat out rude. I realize I should have posted pics but I'm in the process of moving and my computer isn't completely up (I'm using my phone). I do think I know a lot more technical things than a beginner were. Even so, I don't like how people on this forum freak when a beginner asks a "stupid" question that ha already been posted. We all were beginners once, have some respect. Not everyone has the time to be ok a forum all the time and search past posts for hours. I said "weird" blur because it's not your standard blur. It doesn't look like it my shutter speed is to slow. It's just not clear like it used to be. Of course I will make mistakes, everyone does. I just have been fighting with this problem for about a month, so i don't believe it's user error. I appreciate your help.

kayliana · Apr 12, 2012

Wow lots of grammical errors I'm on my phone sorry about that

nicosiy · Apr 12, 2012

Ricky21 · Apr 17, 2012

fokker said:
There was actually a thread about maybe a month back describing this exact same problem with a user upgrading from a rebel to a 60d (although they were more specific about the weird blur and showed us examples). I think the end result that was generally agreed upon is that the extra resolution of the 60d simply makes things look less 'in-focus' when viewed at 100%.

It's also possible that it's a focus-calibration error. Not sure off the top of my head if the 60d has focus micro-adjust or not, might be worth looking into.

This was my thread!!! I was disappointed in not seeing same sharpness from rebel with same lenses. I have since been practicing my butt off and have been getting way better results. Sounds a bit different from your issue though.