Please help - just bought a new (used) lens...

[wayler]

I just bought a used Canon 70-200mm f/4 IS USM and took it out for the first time today to try it out with the horses at the Salt River in AZ. After seeing the photos when I got home, I am a little worried that something may be wrong with the lens, although hopefull there was just something wrong me (cheaper to fix!). The images are horribly soft, almost orton like at the far range nearing 200mm. I have never used a lens over a 135mm prior to today and in hindsight could have probably gone with a little narrower aperture (most were at 5.6) for a little greater DOF, but even with that, many of the pictures are really bad, so soft you you can't see any areas of focus. There are images around 135mm or less that do look nice - any thoughts on what is wrong?

First one is an egret at 200mm

 

[wayler]

Another egret at 200mm

 

[tirediron]

Interesting... it almost looks like motion blur, but at 1/1500, that's unlikely. Was the bird your point of focus?

Looking at the second one, it very definitely looks like motion blur; how were you holding the camera/lens?

 

[wayler]

Horse at 200mm

 

[wayler]

horse at 200mm

 

[wayler]

Another horse at 169mm

 

[wayler]

A few better ones - horses at 111mm

 

[tirediron]

Do you have a tripod?

 

[wayler]

@78mm

 

[wayler]

Tirediron - I have one, but was not using a tripod. Most of the shots were at about 1/1500 so I didn't think I would need one at that speed. Also, they are always on the move so I wanted to be able to move along with them and at that shutter speed didn't think it would be an issue???

 

[tirediron]

Okay, I'm going to try and solve the puzzle Alex... I'm going to guess that this is a combination of three factors. In descending order of impact: (1) missed focus; (2) shallow DoF due to large aperture; and (3) some camera movement, perhaps due to improper support techniques.

 

[tirediron]

Tirediron - I have one, but was not using a tripod. Most of the shots were at about 1/1500 so I didn't think I would need one at that speed. Also, they are always on the move so I wanted to be able to move along with them and at that shutter speed didn't think it would be an issue???

You're right, at that speed camera movement should NOT be an issue; I asked not because I thought you should have used one (with practice and good technique, you can handhold a 600mm f4), but in order to verify the functionality of the lens. Put it on the tripod, focus on something ~100' away, select a medium (~f8) aperture, and at least 1/500. If the area of focus is sharp, you're good to go.

 

[wayler]

Tirediron - thanks for you reply! As I have not used a lens of this length before, perhaps my support technique is a little sloppy, masked previously by wider focal lengths, although I felt at the time like I was fairly steady, particularly in relation to the shutter speed. If this is the case than perhaps that would cover your first 2 points as well. But if you look at the egret photos, there doesn't seem to be anything in focus if the support technique is not the issue. I will have to experiment tomorrow with a tripod and see if I can note a difference...

 

[Gary A.]

Based upon your settings ... either you have a bum lens or the camera wasn't AF-ing properly. Since you're not complaining about the focus of your other lenses ... I'd get the lens checked out by an independent repair shop. Lens alignments are not that hard. The 70-200 f/4 is one of Canon's sharpest zoom.

PS- Did you have the IS engaged?

 

[wayler]

Thanks Gary - yeah, never have had any problems like this before with any other camera/lens combos I have (Canon 7D with 10-22mm, 35mm, 85mm, 24-105 and 28-135). Lens settings were the 1.2 m focus range, AF on, IS on and stabilizer mode 1. I'll retry tomorrow with test shots on a tripod. Any other thoughts greatly appreciated...