Canon 7D Issues

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jb1972

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Jon
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I'm having trouble with my 7D.

I've had the camera for approx 3yrs, and up until about a month ago have been delighted with it. Now all the pics are "soft".

I typically use a 24-104 F4L & a 70-200 F4L lens and up until recently they produced razor sharp pics. Now everything is soft.

as far as I can tell this isn't a lens issue as both lenses are doing the same thing. I've tried it over a range of appertures and lighting conditions and the results all appear to be the same - namely shots that are all soft.

Any bright ideas would be much appreciated.

I'm looking to find someone to look at repairing it, but it's well out of warranty, so can you suggest anyone ? I'm based in Surrey

Many thanks
 
It could be anything really, from a physical fault (has the camera been knocked/dropped) to a misplaced switch (AF/MF switch on lenses) or camera setting. Has anyone else been fiddling with the camera and maybe mucked something up?

Really it's not too easy to diagnose from a distance. Maybe it would be worth performing a full reset of the camera settings, custom functions and AFMA as a first step in attempting to resolve the problem. Also remove the main and backup batteries to give it a fresh kick start when you power it up again. Try these things one at a time rather than all at once in case you can clear the fault early without messing everything up.
 
Do you have any images of before and after so to speak so we can see the difference. :)

As above, before taking expensive repairs, free things first are the best port of call
 
Thanks for the suggestions.

It's not a AF/MF switch issue, and both lenses are clearly auto focusing. Don't think it's a AFMA issue as the impact appears to be the same irrespective of apperture - while i'm clearly no expert I'd assume that minor issues with focusing accuracy would be more visible with the lens wide open ?

& no, noone has been playing with the camera, although yes it could have been knocked/dropped. I've been noticing the issue ever since we got back from holiday, and that trip including a whale watching trip during bad seas and we got thrown all over the place on the boat.

I'll try the full reset option and taking out the batteries and see if that helps. Will also post a couple of pics later to show you what i mean.

Many thanks
 
jb1972 said:
Thanks for the suggestions.

It's not a AF/MF switch issue, and both lenses are clearly auto focusing. Don't think it's a AFMA issue as the impact appears to be the same irrespective of apperture - while i'm clearly no expert I'd assume that minor issues with focusing accuracy would be more visible with the lens wide open ?

& no, noone has been playing with the camera, although yes it could have been knocked/dropped. I've been noticing the issue ever since we got back from holiday, and that trip including a whale watching trip during bad seas and we got thrown all over the place on the boat.

I'll try the full reset option and taking out the batteries and see if that helps. Will also post a couple of pics later to show you what i mean.

Many thanks
Click to expand...

That's strong circumstantial evidence that something's been knocked out of true inside, quite possibly the mirror and piggyback mirror used for AF behind it.

Both quite delicate parts and even a tiny shift would throw the focusing out. Easy check - try taking a picture at lowest f/number with normal AF, single focus point, then exactly the same in live view. Live view bypasses the normal AF so if that image is sharper, there's your answer.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, tested it last night and yes pictures taken through Liveview are sharper than those taken through viewfinder.

I guess this means i need to get someone professional to fix the AF system.
 
paulcamcas said:
Any chance AF micro adjust has been changed?
Click to expand...

That's my first thought, too. There's an "apply to all lenses" (or something!) option, which would account for the behaviour on more than just the one lens.
 
I've not touched the AF manual adjustment. as I mentioned in the earlier post it's possible the camera has had a knock, whether that could affect it or not I don't know.

Does this AFMA only impact the autofocus through the viewfinder and not through the live view ?

As it now seems clear that there is definately an issue with the performance between the two AF systems i'm going to have the camera professionally looked at and hopefull get things cleared that way

Many thanks for the help
 
Live View AF has three modes - Quick, Live and Face.

Quick AF is the same system as you use through the viewfinder and requires the primary mirror and secondary AF mirror to be correctly aligned. It also requires the AF to be correctly calibrated. This is the system which may have been damaged by a knock or thrown out of whack by tampering with the AFMA settings.

Live and Face AF both examine the image at the sensor. In theory these systems should always provide accurate focus, but they are slow and can't be used without Live View being enabled.
 
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