Canon 7D

[dornochian]

was wondering if anyone has the new 7D in the armoury and how it's performing on focusing.

A friend has one and focusing is causing major issues, the lens is fine as tested on other cameras, but the 7D is missing 50% of shots.

[OneMac]

Gord has one Steve and should be along in a minute to advise your friend how to use it

Al

[Heidfirst]

what lens is it that isn't working properly?
Is it possible that it's the lens & not the body.

Must admit that the 7D looks a very tempting body.

[dornochian]

what lens is it that isn't working properly?
Is it possible that it's the lens & not the body.

Must admit that the 7D looks a very tempting body.

It's not the lenses, he's got the canon 300mm f2.8 plus others. It seems to be okay around the mid range f-stops, but when up at f2.8 it's causing problems.

The 7D was tempting I must admit, but I stuck with the 5D in the end.

[^^Gord^^]

Hi Steve,

50% miss rate is pretty huge, I've not seen anything like that.

I've got a Sigma 300 f/2.8 and used it at low level at f/2.8. The AF was pretty much on par with my 1D Mark II.

I have however moved away from the AF settings I would normally use. With the 1D I would go with the centre AF point and automatic AF point expansion (Custom Function 17 set to 2). I didn't feel this suited the 7D and have since moved to using Zone AF with the centre zone selected.

My initial feeling is he has a faulty 7D but the fact it works at apertures other than f/2.8 could point to AF setup.

The 19 AF points on the 7D become cross type at f/5.6 or larger and when you increase to f/2.8 the centre AF point becomes twice as sensitive.

Without sounding rude, does your friend have experience of cross type AF points?

Back when I had my 40D (my first camera that had cross type AF) what I thought was strange AF performance compared to my second body (30D that didn't have cross type AF points) was the cross type points locking onto things I just wasn't use to seeing from my 30D. Moving to using a centre AF point selection prevented this correct but undesired behaviour.

What could be happening is when shooting f/8 the AF points are only working in a horizontal plane and the camera is locking the subject correctly. When increasing the aperture to f/5.6 or bigger the AF points will work in horizontal and vertical planes. One of the AF points now might be locking onto something vertically in the picture it couldn't 'see' before. This would cause the AF to shift between the subject and this point or points.

If your friend is well aware of cross type AF or was shooting with only the centre AF point then I would either reject the body or send it off for calibration.

Hope this helps.

[Striker]

Quick question then Gord, do you think the 45 point focus on the 1 series is still better than the 7D?

[^^Gord^^]

Tough question!

I've not had enough visits out with fast aircraft to say so far. Hopefully after Cosford I will be able to say which I think is better.

I can say that despite the improvements to the metering system on the 7D I still think the 1D Mark II does it better!

If it wasn't for the tiny screen and 1.3x crop there is a good chance I'd still be using the 1D as my primary body. I also miss the 1D form factor, so much nicer than the 7D even with the battery grip fitted.

[dornochian]

Cheers Gord,

I'll email this over to him, he's had various cameras, 1D MKIIn, 5D both versions and others.

He shoots wild life as his interest so opted for the 7D.

[Striker]

Thanks Gord,

The thing that still annoys me about the 7D is the pattern of the focus points, yes it's better than the 40D but they need to be set out more like the 1 series, ie some points nearer the frame corners.

[^^Gord^^]

Steve,

You're welcome, hope he gets it sorted.

Stu,

I guess if they did give it the full 45 points it would compete directly with the 1D Mark III / IV.

I think Canon are still building bodies for certain purposes rather than Nikons approach of building the camera for a price level.