Little help with focus issue.. Canon 450D - examples..

[MLeeK]

You are at the point at which having the IS/OS on can cause blur. Try that first.
Second guess is that your focus is tracking pretty slowly. Can you set the speed that the focus follows on the 450D?

 

[Overread]

Custom AF controls like that are only present in the 7D and 1D line bodies at present (with people hoping that the 5DMIII or whatever is next from canon has that feature as well).

 

[Tony S]

Am I the only one that cannot see any one spot in the image that is sharp in focus? If it were the tracking being slow or off, there should at least be some spot in the grass that is significantly sharper than what there is with this lens at the aperture used. This really looks more like camera motion blur to me, most likely caused by trying to follow the bouncing dog.

 

[MLeeK]

Am I the only one that cannot see any one spot in the image that is sharp in focus? If it were the tracking being slow or off, there should at least be some spot in the grass that is significantly sharper than what there is with this lens at the aperture used. This really looks more like camera motion blur to me, most likely caused by trying to follow the bouncing dog.

Yep...

You are at the point at which having the IS/OS on can cause blur. Try that first.
Second guess is that your focus is tracking pretty slowly. Can you set the speed that the focus follows on the 450D?

I just had the same basic thing happen to me. I shot a whole darned basketball game with the OS on and it's a MESS.

 

[Overread]

You know I'll have to look closer at my stuff for this IS/OS problem. I've not encountered it thus far (though I think I might have been seeing that OS effect in some of my wide open shots at 600mm with the 120-300mm - possibly) to really notice it. The only time I've had repeated IS problems was tripod mounted shooting slow shutter speeds - blurry water wasn't the only thing that was blurry.

 

[Derrel]

Am I the only one that cannot see any one spot in the image that is sharp in focus? If it were the tracking being slow or off, there should at least be some spot in the grass that is significantly sharper than what there is with this lens at the aperture used. This really looks more like camera motion blur to me, most likely caused by trying to follow the bouncing dog.

NO, you are not the only one who can see that the images are oddly blurred ALL OVER, both foreground and background...I truly believe this is an artifact created by the Image Stabilizer shifting the lens elements around inside the lens in a type of misbehavior called a feedback loop...shooting prone, with the arms acting like the legs of a bipod, the camera is rock-steady (well, let's say that Up-and-Down motion has been pretty much eliminated by the shooter being prone, and steady) and the ever-so-slight lateral motion of the dog, advancing at the camera, is being "stabilized" by the moving IS lens element group...all the blurring seems lateral....not up-and-down, not circular, but the images appear wonky from left-to-right, all the way to the out of focus jeans in the background of one of the earlier shots. I got to see hundreds of Alaskan Brown bears at Brooks falls shots done with the Nikon 80-400 VR, with VR ON and the camera tripod-mounted...they had this same,similar look. The guy who took them asked me to look at his gallery, and I said, "Looks like these were shot with VR on on a tripod", and he said, "How did you know?" and I said, "well, I've screwed some shots up that way myself with MY 80-400 VR..."

I have also seen this weird type of "VR shake" with my 70-200/2.8 when used at high shutter speeds...it's a bummer too...

 

[Tony S]

It's interesting that with different Canon lenses some say to turn off the IS (100-400 says off, 400 2.8 IS I says off to conserve power) when using on a tripod and others say the IS can be left on as it will sense being supported on a tripod (70-200 2.8 IS version I).

What I really found interesting was this line from the manual for the new 70-200 2.8 IS II ... " Pictures may look distorted after being taken depending on the camera, but this doesn't affect shooting. "

It's nice to know you can still shoot even though you are getting distorted images. lol Sounds like this is the problem with the OP even though a different brand lens is being used.