7d soft focus issue (1 Viewer)

Richard Ford · Jun 27, 2010

Hi All

Just got myself a 7D and having read reviews and info on the web I was expecting to be ecstatic with the results. I haven’t read much on the web about any issues with this cameras focus though I gather there were some. Could someone either point me to any information about this, or perhaps post a 100% crop showing the detail of what you consider a sharp image taken with this camera.

It is possible that being used to images form my MkIII I am just expecting to much, but from what I have seen images are not as good as I used to get with my 40D!

Auto focus tracking seems brilliant and the camera locks on and stays locked brilliantly but, but looking at images on the PC they just look out of focus. I have used it so far only with my 400mm f5.6, which I know, is sharp on my MkIII.

Thanks in advance for any info

Cheers

Richard

GYRob · Jun 27, 2010

are you viewing at 100% if so try 50% they should be as sharp as your mk3 at 50%.
Rob.

Richard Ford · Jun 27, 2010

I know what your saying Rob, and yes the images look better but it hardly seems worth having 18 million pixels if I have to do that. I may as well have stuck with the 40d, images from that looked better than they do on the 7d at 100%. I realise I am not going to get the quality of a MkIII from a 1.6x sensor but I am convinced It should be better than it is. At the moment i am a tad annoyed with it. Basically if it’s faulty I am glad, because I can get it fixed or replaced. If this is how it’s meant to be then its rubbish.

IanF · Jun 27, 2010

I must admit that I thought at first the 7D images were a little soft compared to the 40D though if you get everything right the 7D captures more detail.

Here's a photo of a Barn Owl taken with the 7D and 400mm f5,6 at ISO 400 hand held with no processing - taken at max jpeg.

The Crossbill is at ISO 200.

Marcus Conway - ebirder · Jun 27, 2010

Nice one Ian - are they 100% crops?

Here is a 100% crop, straight out of the camera.

It has not been sharpened or processed etc.

However, I do notice a number of soft shots normally when I would least expect it (e.g. high shutter speeds and good light).

User error I expect.

IanF · Jun 27, 2010

Marcus Conway - ebirder said:
Nice one Ian - are they 100% crops?

Here is a 100% crop, straight out of the camera.

It has not been sharpened or processed etc.

However, I do notice a number of soft shots normally when I would least expect it (e.g. high shutter speeds and good light).

User error I expect.

Mine are straight out of the camera as well - though taken at max jpeg. They're just straight crops with no resizing. The Barn Owl was at around 40m and the Crossbill 5m.

I find the same that quality varies between frames for no apparent reason though I do tend to hand hold which may account for at least some of the inconsistency.

Generally I'm very happy with the image quality from the 7D.

Richard Ford · Jun 27, 2010

Ian the detail in the crossbill is brilliant. How much of the original image is this and can you tell me the settings please. Thanks. I think mine may be duff.

IanF · Jun 27, 2010

Richard Ford said:
Ian the detail in the crossbill is brilliant. How much of the original image is this and can you tell me the settings please. Thanks. I think mine may be duff.

The exif should be on the photos but it was taken at ISO 200, 1/640, f8, AV mode with EV -0.3 from around 5m. The bird fills about 50% height of the frame though I may have had a 20mm extesnion tube on - I'm afraid I can't recall now and the exif doesn't record it anyway.

In good light it still amazes me the amount of detail the 7D captures. Really I should have posted a better photo of the Barn Owl but I wanted to show the amount of grain at ISO 400. For me it's an area that Canon let themselves down. On the 40D at ISO 400 there's almost no grain at all albeit that may be down to some in camera processing.

gergrd · Jun 27, 2010

Here's a 100% crop of a JPEG I captured with my 7D. I shoot JPEG+RAW and normally work with my RAW files, but used the JPEG for this response. Capture data: f/8, 1/750 sec, ISO-400, Lens 100-400 @ 400mm. No sharpening or additional processing (SOOC other than the crop).

I don't know if you find this soft or not - it does meet my needs.

Greg

Roy C · Jun 27, 2010

One thing to consider when moving to a 18mp Camera Richard is that stability when shooting is more important than with, say, a 10 mp Camera. This is because each pixel is smaller and slight camera shake can easier cause pixel bleed.I read a Canon white paper somewhere where they explained this and advocated using better support (or a higher shutter speed I guess) when comparing with a lesser pixel camera. As you are shooting with a non I.S. lens this may be one reason why you are not getting sharp shots. Just a thought!

For what it is worth I am very pleased with the 7D (when comparing with other xxD Cameras I have owned).

GYRob · Jun 27, 2010

Richard Ford said:
I know what your saying Rob, and yes the images look better but it hardly seems worth having 18 million pixels if I have to do that. I may as well have stuck with the 40d, images from that looked better than they do on the 7d at 100%. I realise I am not going to get the quality of a MkIII from a 1.6x sensor but I am convinced It should be better than it is. At the moment i am a tad annoyed with it. Basically if it’s faulty I am glad, because I can get it fixed or replaced. If this is how it’s meant to be then its rubbish.

Hi Richard
my point was if they look ok at 50% then it may be to slow a SS or camera not being held still enough.
As Roy C below says pixcel bleed can really show morso at 100% view.
Rob.

Ceejay2000 · Jun 28, 2010

Ian
As your Crossbill was shot with a Canon 40D and the Barn Owl with a
Canon 7D, I am not sure what you are comparing ?
Could you please explain.
EXIF from pics.
C

Chris Galvin · Jun 28, 2010

I think that he he is trying to show the 'grain' issue with the 40D and how sharp the 7D is if the exposure is correct

But I could be mistaken and he may have just labelled his images wrong and thought the Barn Owl was taken with the 7D

IanF · Jun 28, 2010

Oops! - I messed that up big time!

The Crossbill was taken with the 40D - I should have realised as I didn't get the 7D until a few weeks later |:$|

The Barn Owl was taken with the 7D.

If guess if nothing else it shows just how good the 40D is for image quality. Really the only areas I prefer the 7D for are the better focusing for birds in flight and I've grown quite fond of the HD video.

I'd better try that again -

The Black Redstart was taken with the 7D from around 5m - ISO 400, 1/320, f5,6 no manipulation filling around 1/3 frame, handheld though likely resting on the sea wall.

The Chiffchaff was taken with the 7D around around 7m - ISO 200, 1/000 f6,3 handheld.

Marcus Conway - ebirder · Jun 28, 2010

Are these 100% crops?

IanF · Jun 28, 2010

Yes, all the photos I've uploaded are straight (100%) crops plus saved at 92% jpeg compression so the full jpeg is actually slightly better.

davem · Jun 28, 2010

A mate of mine has just ditched his 7D in favour of a 1D3 - he found the one shot focus was perfect but the Servo was anything but, resulting in soft images.

It was going to be sent back to Canon for a check and fix if necessary but the 1D3 deal came up and for him it was a no-brainer. I've read several reports of this across the web and all were fixed by returning them to Canon.

tdodd · Jun 28, 2010

Here are three 100% crops from my 7D and 100-400, all unedited as you will see. Unfortunately they were all shot into the light as the clueless f.ckwits at Biggin Hill don't seem to know the first thing about where to position the spectators relative to the sun and the airfield.

Obviously shooting into the shadow side of my subjects at 400 ISO is doing nothing for noise at this level of magnification, but I can't grumble about sharpness on these fast moving subjects. A bit of a tweak with NR and sharpening sliders should have me good to go.

The light was better earlier in the day, but then I was using my 1D3. See the fourth image, for a panning shot hand held at 1/100 and 400mm.

There's nothing wrong with the 7D (other than per pixel noise in anything but perfect light and low ISO) but both lens and photographer must play their part in achieving sharpness at the pixel level. I know I've had to improve my game since getting the 7D. If I screw up then the 7D certainly makes my failings clear. Good light, a solid tripod and an easy subject should allow one to make excellent use of every pixel the 7D offers. As the conditions deteriorate from optimum so it becomes harder and harder to make each pixel count. That's physics and maths at work, not a fault with the camera.

Marcus Conway - ebirder · Jun 28, 2010

davem said:
A mate of mine has just ditched his 7D in favour of a 1D3 - he found the one shot focus was perfect but the Servo was anything but, resulting in soft images.

It was going to be sent back to Canon for a check and fix if necessary but the 1D3 deal came up and for him it was a no-brainer. I've read several reports of this across the web and all were fixed by returning them to Canon.

Thanks for this. This may explain some issues I have. Can you PM me the contact details?

Thanks,

paul goode · Jun 28, 2010

Completely off thread but at least your post Tim has answered why most of the images I've seen from Biggin are yucky. I'm glad I went to Kemble the weekend before!

7d soft focus issue (1 Viewer)

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