I’m onto my second 7D, and it’s still not right. It’s a great camera so as long as I don’t need to use the autofocus. Ahhh, it’s a sad story to tell, this one. . .
So straight out of the box and it all seems great. I start shooting video flat out, not even really stopping to seriously take some stills. I checked the flash sync speed and made sure it worked with my trigger and strobes, but that was about it.
So on Sunday afternoon, figuring I actually should test the stills side of things before I went out and did a shoot with it the next day, I put on the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 and set up in the lounge room. The camera was already on full autofocus, I looked through the viewfinder, half depressed the shutter, heard the lens whirr, lock focus and the camera confirm with a beep. I snapped off a shot. . . .blurry. . . .and another. . .blurry. . .and another. . .blurry. . .
I thought that was weird and so changed the mode to single spot, thinking maybe it was just confused. That seemed to work, but upon closer inspection it wasn’t. looking closely, the images were still unacceptably soft for my purposes. I can’t supply my clients soft images, nor can I afford (or should I have to. . .) to be stuffing around with manual focus every time I take a shot. Video yes, stills, no. I was seriously concerned.
I tried a couple of other lenses. . .same thing. . .blurry, soft, you name it. . .My ideal, dream camera, there in my hands, being an absolute dog!
I searched high and low on the next and found lots of people, just like me, who had 7D’s behaving badly. I tried micro adjusting my lenses but to no avail. So I rang Camera’s Direct who agreed that there must be some kind of problem and they agreed to send me out another unit.
Fast forward to present moment, I have since received another 7D body from Camera’s Direct which exhibited the same problem, so I sent it back. I believe I have a defective unit as there are some people out there singing the praises of this camera and it’s autofocus system from the highest mountains (forums). I have heard from others who have suffered the same issues that a new body is the go, with a serial number far, far from what I have right now.
I hope this is the answer and I hope Camera’s Direct don’t get sick of me before I end up with a 7D that works as it should. . .
I am an unhappy camper. . .:(
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I feel sooo frustrated after seeing this forum, I bought a 7d on Oct 1 and a Tamron 17-50 f2 vc , I am a very keen indie film maker and visual effects artist so i got this camera primary for the awesome video quality you see everywhere Philip Bloom etc.
I excitedly opened the box for cam and lens both bought from different online shops. as soon as i turned on camera “Err1 Camera lost communication wirh lens : please clean contacts”. Arrrfgg, both new out the box damn it.
Anyhow I took off the lens and put straight back on and all was well, I already new this baby would deliver the video goods as it were and the fact that working with A dlsr for video would be a bit of a challenge it was a workflow I couldn’t wait to jump on.
But this camera is supposed to be an awesome photo cam too right?
I took pik after pik and zoomed in on live view and guess what guys, every pik was soft or out of focus and i just kept thinking its me, I am 7d NOOB,so i try again with a different setting went through em all but my success rate was atrocious even tho as i say i got this cam for film and motion graphic design when you spend this kind of cash you want your purchase to be perfect, I also curiously got on few occassions an err40 and had to take the battery out and put back in this only happens in manual focus mode???
I didnt know what to do as i was focusing on a flower head but the camera even tho it picked out a focus point on it, the cameras in focus area albeit in a soft way was more like 6 inches in front of the plantpot!!
I have sent this camera back now and was planning on buying another but from a high street shop but after reading this forum it seems that a trouble free, fully functioning 7D is as likey as stumbling upon the Holy Grail.
I really don’t know what to do now i can’t quite afford the 5d mkII , I wonder if this problem affects the 60D , which i originally turned my nose up at because of the plastiky body and what might be an easily damaged articulated screen.
Do any of you guys finally have a bomb proof ,ok 7d or not?
Unfortunately I have the same issues. Sometimes the focus says it is but isn’t and then other times it’s just a soft and flat image. Tried micro adjust for the 70-200mm 2.8 IS II USM lense but still no good. Had the camera about 2 months now so a bit late to send it back to where I bought it but am thinking of sending it to Canon so they can take a look.
Also really fed up with reading threads of people with the same problem and then others saying it’s user error or rubbish lenses.
Shawn
Like joshl said:”I finally reached my limit” a month ago, and sent my camera & 17-55/2,8 for a second time into the Canon repair centre, with a very detailed accompanying letter.Two weeks ago i receive them,and finnaly i’m the happiest owner of 7D in the world!!!!The lens was the problem.Now,the autofocus is amazing in every mode !!!!!
I also have the same focus problems -Although I love the design of the 7d I have never been pleased with the pictures – but now the problems are getting worse – I have recently bought a 100f2.8L macro – I had read the reviews of the lens so knew it was super sharp – however when I used it on my 7d non of the images were sharp – so I took some more photos with it on my old 5D – and the images were just as I expected them to be – wonderfully sharp -
All my lenses are L series and all are just fine on my 5D – but not on 7D – there is certainly nothing wrong with the lenses – its the 7D!
I am now trying taking out the batteries to see if that makes a difference – if not a visit to Canon first thing in the morning
NOT HAPPY
I have the same problems with my 7D. Soft images, communication errors,
Cannot communicate with the battery or lens, etc. Sent it to Canon
and they could not duplicate the problem. Canon updated the firmware
and the comm errors stopped but I still am getting soft images. All
Lens are Canon. 50mm, 24-105 L etc. I am very frustrated. I am considering
Switching to Nikon.
Ugh… This forum makes me ill. I wish I knew about this before buying my 7D. My 7D is now on it’s SECOND trip back to Canon repair due to soft focus. The camera is continuously front-focusing about 2-3 inches in front of the focal plane it SHOULD be focusing on. Not a huge problem when the lens is stopped way down, but at wide open apertures, most of my photos are useless.
Looks like Canon has a real lemon on its hands.
One more happy customer joins the club. I’ve got my 7d back in January 2011, and shot most of the stuf in studio, at apertures of 8 to 16, and everything seemed okay, but spring came, and outdoor shoots began, and that’s when I started to notice that something is not good with the AF.
Too much of the pics from a day long outdoor shoot were blurry.
I decided to test the camera with several lenses and got what you all guys tell here – front focus, back focus, correct focus, depending on camera’s mood. I’vw been shooting tests for 3 days. I blamed my lenses, blamed myself and whatever.
But now it’s too obvious – the camera is lame.
Hi, I had the same issue with my 7D and return it to Sam’s Club.com and refund my money, also Sam’ gave me a 10% of discount for the next body but the reason is that never more it have the camera in stock, now i bought it just the body from Best Buy and hope it will ok, I will receive it on June 28 but if it have the same issue I’ll return it and I will take my money and I will buy a used classic 5D or a old 1Ds mark II.. So my Question is,, How is possible that CANON no see this world wide issue on this expensive camera that every vary want love for the new auto focus system and other new function,, ?????
[...] Although not directly stated by the THK representative, I’m assuming the lens I bought was an older version that requires a chip update to make it compatible with the 7D. Since the 11-16mm was released in February 2008, a full year and a half before the release of the 7D, it was likely not designed to work with the 7D’s brand new 19-point AF system. Thus, when the 7D hit store shelves, there was word of auto-focus issues with the Tokina 11-16 when mounted on the Canon 7D. [...]