7d focusing

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ttheduck

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Share your expieriences of 7d focusing, good and bad. Some say its good, some bad and others say its due to user error...what have you found?
 
For me the focussing is phenomenal and streets ahead of the 40D I had previously and the 5DII I also own. It's the tracking ability that amazes me on very fast moving subjects such as birds in flight. Practice certainly makes a difference as does setting the camera up for the purpose.
 
mark1616 said:
I hope that it's OK to post a link to another forum but I didn't want to post it all again as it is pretty long. I did a comparison between my 1DmkIII and 7D when I first had the 7D, doesn't cover everything but hopefully helpful.

http://photocamel.com/reviews/canon-cameras/p109-canon-7d.html
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This was a interesting read and i would tend to agree with everything there based on my own findings. I had a 1d mk3 myself for a while and had major problems with it i actually proved my version was worse than a friends and also not as good as the 1d mk2 i still had i ended up with a refund under the sale of goods act.
Back on topic i also have a 1d mk4 which i find is excellent and the best camera i have ever owned but the 7D runs it close and on a couple of items even beats it video access and the mode dial with the c1 c2 & c3 which are very useful for birds in flight pre loading useful sets of camera settings for times when you have'nt got time to change all your settings.
The AF has always delivered for me that is why i bought 2
Regards
Richard
 
That's a good point Rich. I have my C3 set for my optimum birds in flight settings so can quickly whip the dial round when needed.
 
I was very worried when I first got my 7d as I always had used the center af point-recompose with my Sony A300, however, with the 7d I had loads of oof shots using the same method, till I started using the outer points using the joystick. I haven't looked back since!
 
seems like everyones happy so far with the focusing, good to hear.
 
I have less shots rejected due to being oof since getting my 7D. I thought it was getting better but it may have a bit to do with the machine :) anyway, I find it very good indeed.
 
Generally I find it very good, initial focus is both very quick and accurate, the one area I find it's lacking (certainly with mine) is servo tracking when panning a fast moving object (car, bike or bird etc.) that crosses diagonally where the diagonal angle is slight, say (guessing here) less than 45 degrees....

what I mean is if the object is coming straight on or going straight away, no problem, if the object is coming slightly on or away then the servo doesn't track the subject accurately, often resulting in out of focus images shot in drive mode after the initial focus point, it's like it's missing the small(er) changes in focus and therefore isn't correcting for them, err.....see? :thinking:

In practise this means that I'm now much more selective about where I start and finish the burst, the shorter the pan and burst the more keepers I get, a long pan and burst will result in say the first 2-3 frames in focus and the remaining frames getting progressively out of focus up to the last frame which is usually a mile off.

Now don't take this as Gospel, I'm an amateur and it's entirely feasible that it's all down to settings and operator error. Despite my best efforts however I've still not resolved this "issue", despite working heavily on my panning technique and changing settings and lenses etc. If somebody wants to step in here and point out the error of my ways, I'm all ears ;)
 
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Buggerlugs said:
Generally I find it very good, initial focus is both very quick and accurate, the one area I find it's lacking (certainly with mine) is servo tracking when panning a fast moving object (car, bike or bird etc.) that crosses diagonally where the diagonal angle is slight, say (guessing here) less than 45 degrees....

what I mean is if the object is coming straight on or going staright away, no problem, if the object is coming slightly on or away then the servo doesn't track the subject accurately, often resulting in out of focus images shot in drive mode after the initial focus point, it's like it's missing the small changes in focus and therefore isn't correcting for them, err.....see? :thinking:

In practise this means that I'm now much more selective about where I start and finish the burst, the shorter the pan and burst the more keepers I get, a long pan and burst will result in say the first 2-3 frames in focus and the remaing frames getting progressively out of focus up to the last frame which is usually a mile off.

Now don't take this as Gospel, I'm an amateur and it's entirely feasible that it's all down to settings and operator error. Despite my best efforts however I've still not "resolved" this issue, despite working heavily on my panning technique and changing settings and lenses etc. If somebody wants to step in here and point out the error of my ways, I'm all ears ;)
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Im hearing this a lot, much the same problem as the 1D mkiii has.
 
I've found the keeper rate for my 7d better than my 1dIII
 
I have never had a problem with the 7D autofocus that cannot be attributed to user error.

I have, however, found it to be streets ahead of any previous camera I have had. Lock on is fast and the tracking is superb. I was shooting bikes on Friday on a fast corner and it never missed a beat.

I also shot from a spot where the bikes were panning but getting slightly further away on the bend. No problem.

I think the issue described above with the pan only occurs when you shoot a burst - which is unsurprising really as the af sensors have to be moved out of the way as each frame is fired. I guess it will be more of a problem if the rate the subject is coming towards you/moving away changes part way though the burst too.

Good argument for shooting the frame you want rather than a series though! I rarely fire off more than 1 or two frames when panning anyway so never had an issue.
 
i understand both sides of the arguement as far as burst goes, what i cant underatand is why we have 10fps when the cant be used efectively
 
Re the post by Buggerluggs
I too have same problems with my 7d for tracking to the point now that I take my 50d with me for doing that job and can get better reslts with it and more keepers.
 
I think that the focusing on the 7d is great in comparison with other cameras I have tried.

One thing I find it is not so hot at, in dingy conditions it seems not quite as good as my 400d. This might just be due to different lenses or expecting too much from it. It doesn't focus badly, just sometimes refuses to lock, even when I have the flash on top for IR illumination.
 
ttheduck said:
.....what i cant underatand is why we have 10fps when the cant be used efectively
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The 10fps is a capability that isn't viable in all situations but it's there because it can be used effectively in some situations.

Bob
 
Canon Bob said:
The 10fps is a capability that isn't viable in all situations but it's there because it can be used effectively in some situations.

Bob
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Thanks for your contribution Bob, i,ve yet to find a situation where it is effective with moving objects.
 
Les Key said:
Re the post by Buggerluggs
I too have same problems with my 7d for tracking to the point now that I take my 50d with me for doing that job and can get better reslts with it and more keepers.
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can i take it that the AI servo on the 50d works properly?
 
When I first got it I, and others, had problems with AI Servo because we had misinterpreted the manual (or maybe hadn't read it properly). So I started by changing C.Fn III-1 to 'Fast' because I obviously wanted my AF sensitivity to be fast. It took a while before I realised that I really wanted it towards the 'Slow' end for BiF.
 
hollis_f said:
When I first got it I, and others, had problems with AI Servo because we had misinterpreted the manual (or maybe hadn't read it properly). So I started by changing C.Fn III-1 to 'Fast' because I obviously wanted my AF sensitivity to be fast. It took a while before I realised that I really wanted it towards the 'Slow' end for BiF.
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Absolutely! Probably the biggest cause of tracking problems with the 7D is setting tracking sensitivity to 'Fast'
 
Can I join in?

Rajkay said:
I was very worried when I first got my 7d as I always had used the center af point-recompose with my Sony A300, however, with the 7d I had loads of oof shots using the same method, till I started using the outer points using the joystick. I haven't looked back since!
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I'm intrigued by this statement, which outer points do you use?

I have far too many oof shots for my liking! Or shots where the wrong part of the photo is in focus! Now being a total amateur I'm happy to accept that this is user error! I constantly try different individual points, or different areas. But I find using a single point only has a tiny area in focus while the auto select will select a larger area if the whole of the subject is the same distance!

I've not even looked at the cf settings yet, not enough time! I've had this camera since January and I learn something new every day! Especially on this forum :)
 
I just use single point and whatever the closest point is to my intended subject (in my case the closest eye etc), this has got me much sharper shots then when using the other method, but then I'm guessing this is more to do with the 7d having much more pixels and needing better glass than compared to my A300?

On a slightly different note can anyone please enlighten me as to why the Af points are in a small diamond shape for the 7d and other canons I've seen? Why not cover the whole viewfinder area as much as possible?
 
I've found it to be miles better than the xxD range. The off-centre AF points are reliable AT LAST. The different AF selection modes are amazingly useful as are the higher number of AF points and general functionality.

Servo tracking is a lot better than all the xxD cameras i've tried before. Not quite as reliable as my 1D i think but then i guess that's to be expected.

ttheduck said:
Share your expieriences of 7d focusing, good and bad. Some say its good, some bad and others say its due to user error...what have you found?
Click to expand...
 
RichardtheSane said:
I have never had a problem with the 7D autofocus that cannot be attributed to user error.

I have, however, found it to be streets ahead of any previous camera I have had. Lock on is fast and the tracking is superb. I was shooting bikes on Friday on a fast corner and it never missed a beat.

I also shot from a spot where the bikes were panning but getting slightly further away on the bend. No problem.

I think the issue described above with the pan only occurs when you shoot a burst - which is unsurprising really as the af sensors have to be moved out of the way as each frame is fired. I guess it will be more of a problem if the rate the subject is coming towards you/moving away changes part way though the burst too.

Good argument for shooting the frame you want rather than a series though! I rarely fire off more than 1 or two frames when panning anyway so never had an issue.
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Noted and digested and to a point I agree, however for me this is the point of having an extended fast burst capability coupled with accurate servo tracking.........Capturing tyre "churps", slides, highsides and breakaways, none of which are predictable (normally). Having said that, I'm now comfortable and familiar with the camera's performance and limitations having now owned it for about a year, bottom line is I definitely wouldn't part with it at least until the 7DII goes on sale :p
 
The goblin said:
I constantly try different individual points, or different areas. But I find using a single point only has a tiny area in focus while the auto select will select a larger area if the whole of the subject is the same distance!
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And the only difference in that situation is that when you're in 'all points' mode it will display all the focus points that fall on the focal plane. In 'single point' mode the same area will be in focus but the camera doesn't light up the points.

When you use 'all points' the camera will decide what you want to be in focus - and it does that by looking for the closest high-contrast object it can find. Sometimes that'll be the thing you're trying to shoot, often it'll be something totally different. In 'single point' mode it will still pick the closest high-contrast object it can find, but it only looks in a small area (about twice the size of the point's image in the viewfinder. So it's much more likely to choose your desired subject than 'all points'.

One common cause of focus problems is to focus using the centre point, then to recompose by pointing the camera in a different direction. That will rotate the focal plane, possibly removing it from your subject, especially with a shallow depth of field.
 
hollis_f said:
One common cause of focus problems is to focus using the centre point, then to recompose by pointing the camera in a different direction. That will rotate the focal plane, possibly removing it from your subject, especially with a shallow depth of field.
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I am going to go back to using the single point of focus, I have tried the recomposing of shots but don't get the chance much with children as they move constantly!!!

On that subject, how would you best track children on the move? Toddlers and babies just never sit still!
 
hollis_f said:
And the only difference in that situation is that when you're in 'all points' mode it will display all the focus points that fall on the focal plane. In 'single point' mode the same area will be in focus but the camera doesn't light up the points.

When you use 'all points' the camera will decide what you want to be in focus - and it does that by looking for the closest high-contrast object it can find. Sometimes that'll be the thing you're trying to shoot, often it'll be something totally different. In 'single point' mode it will still pick the closest high-contrast object it can find, but it only looks in a small area (about twice the size of the point's image in the viewfinder. So it's much more likely to choose your desired subject than 'all points'.

One common cause of focus problems is to focus using the centre point, then to recompose by pointing the camera in a different direction. That will rotate the focal plane, possibly removing it from your subject, especially with a shallow depth of field.
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That was my exact issue at first as with my A300 I never used the 9 points (or was it 11?) except the centre one! At first I found using the 7d joystick a bit slow but now it's second nature. I would love to see the 7dii have that pupil tracking af that I believe canon tried on a slr a few years back!
 
The goblin said:
On that subject, how would you best track children on the move? Toddlers and babies just never sit still!
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Never tried. I'd be tempted to nail them to the floor, then leave. (Can you tell I don't have kids and that fact pleases me?)

Srsly, I guess it's like trying to shoot birds. I use single point with expansion and pick the point so that I can place it on the bird's head/eye with the composition I'm after.
 
hollis_f said:
Never tried. I'd be tempted to nail them to the floor, then leave.
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LOL I have considered this!

Ok so I'm disgusted with my stupidity, I just tried single point of focus and have a batch of decent photos! Seriously I normally bin half, well only one has gone! I tried a single point with AI Servo (I have no idea why j haven't tried this before) worked like a charm!

I always new there were user error issues, well it seems I have found my problem!!!
 
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