Canon 1Ds Mark II Autofocus

[Ray Bulson]

I'm new to the forum so bear with me if this has been discussed before.  Has anyone who uses the 1Ds MII noticed any problems with softness of images as if the camera autofocus is not quite achieving the correct focus?  A pro photographer friend of mine recently abandoned the use of the camera for this reason, and now I am starting to notice some annoying softness regardless of the lenses (all Canon f2.8 zooms or primes).

Another problem that has come up recently is that the first gold lens contact inside the camera mount has lost its springiness and therefore on occassion I get Err 01 which the manual suggests could be due to dirty lens contacts.  Of course, I now know otherwise, but in this case, the lens will not autofocus and I am beginning to wonder if that is problem with softness to begin with.  I will contact Canon to replace the camera lens contacts.

Any comments?

[pfigen]

"Has anyone who uses the 1Ds MII noticed any problems with softness of images as if the camera autofocus is not quite achieving the correct focus?  A pro photographer friend of mine recently abandoned the use of the camera for this reason, and now I am starting to notice some annoying softness regardless of the lenses (all Canon f2.8 zooms or primes)."

No problems here. How are you using the AF? The most accurate method is to set a single AF point on the area you want to focus on. When you can do that, the focus is extremely accurate with all of the AF lenses I use. If you're having any sort of problem, send both the camera and lenses to Canon for repair and/or calibration.

[Tim Gray]

If it's an AF problem then the plane of focus will still be somewhere and there's an easy test to see if you're front or back focusing:

Layout a tape measure or yardstick on a table, open as wide as possible (you want a narrow dof) focus on eg: the 24" mark at about a 20 degree angle.  The 24" mark should be in the best focus.  If the sharpest part is in front or behind then the lens can be callibrated.

[Ray Bulson]

Sometimes I use a wide area AF (camera selects AF point), but I have been trying more of single point AF especially with wildlife.  I'm used to doing landscapes so shooting moving wildlife lilke birds has been a learning experience.  Even so, I'll consider single point AF for landscapes as well.

Thanks.

[Ray Bulson]

Thanks for the objective suggestion.  Our eyes can be so subjective in a lot of ways.

[Jonathan Wienke]

Post some sample images; you may be seeing the result of the AA filter softening thje image a bit. That is normal, and easily dealt with in post-processing with proper sharpening technique. While every autofocus system has limitations and can be fooled into focusing on the wrong thing sometimes, Canon's 1-series 45-point AF system is about the best there is. Seeing samples will help greatly in figuring out if it's a camera problem or not.