focusing problem

ygb · Oct 20, 2015

I am using canon 7D mark ii. I had noticed some focusing issues and I cant quite figure out what the problem is. if its me or the camera. As part of the process I decided to calibrate lenses and I had noticed that all of my lenses had serious front focusing issue. I adjusted it the best I could and I think its better. I was shooting on sunday and it seems when the light was good images came out sharp.
now, when I was drying to shoot backlit object everything is way too soft. It was overcast and evening, but it wasnt dark. The camera didnt have trouble finding focus, it was very happy to tell me that focus is obtained, but when I looked on all of those images on my computer they all seem out of focus to me. I think my 60D would have done a better job in that situation than 7Dii does. Should I send the camera to canon? Is it me? I am going to try to test both cameras in that lighting condition and see if 60D in fact is better. The 7Dii is still under warranty for another month or so. Any suggestions?

astroNikon · Oct 20, 2015

Do you have examples you can show.
Also what AF Settings were you using ?

The_Traveler · Oct 20, 2015

I suggest that you do this diagnosis in an orderly way.
To eliminate as much as possible all the extraneous variables, set the camera on a tripod and, with a good target rather shoot examples using the various focus modes with various lighting situations front and back lit.

Then load 100% crop examples here that are saved with the exif intact.
That will give the most information and should take you perhaps 30 minutes.

That will give people here the most info and save a lot of questioning back and forth and off-target guesses.

DB_Cro · Oct 21, 2015

It's probably worth mentioning that both the newer 70D and 7D markII have a lot of forum and youtube posts re: focusing issues.
I know more specific stuff about the 70D since I was thinking about buying it, it was more or less missing the focus on lenses faster then
F/2.8 using the center focus point.

goodguy · Oct 21, 2015

This might not be helpful for you but I will share this quick story.
My second camera was a Nikon D7000 which is known in some models to have back focusing issues.
Unluckily for me many of my pictures had indeed back focusing problems, they were terribly soft.
Just like you I was questioning all the time myself and the camera.
I went through everything to try and fix this issue including fine tuning the camera to each lens and even sending the camera to Nikon to fix the problem, sadly nothing helped.
Eventually after about 6 months I gave up and bought the newer model the Nikon D7100 which is pretty much a bullet proof camera, my focusing issues were resolved the moment I got it, it was all the camera, not the lenses or me.

paigew · Oct 21, 2015

It is often times harder to get focus on a strongly backlit subject. Were you using your center point?

ygb · Oct 21, 2015

thank you, everyone.
ok, I just tried to get some sample images and I couldnt get any consistency out of them. everytime I take the camera off the tripod to take a look and put it back, I get different result. I also went through lens calibration again and I went from +15 to -5 and it all looks the same to me. I need to figure out how to make sure that my camera is consistently parallel to the target. argh!

Derrel · Oct 21, 2015

I do my focus tests with the camera at an angle to an outdoor wall...I take a six foot-long strip of duct tape and make some 1-inch spaced lines on it, with a big "0" in the middle, and go back with 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, and go forward the same way, with numbers for each inch....I tape the duct tape to the outdoors wall, and then I shoot that, as I mentioned, with the camera at an angle to the focus test target.