Canon 10D Digital SLR

[Iain West]

What is the lens, aperture and subject distance ?

My 10D front focuses on close subjects with the 50mm f1.8 but it's only apparent at wide aperture. At f4 it's pretty sharp. At first I thought the lens wasn't sharp at wide aperture but the angled-ruler test showed that it's a focus problem. I haven't returned the camera because under normal conditions the focus is acceptable.

Regarding uneven focus, can you bring all of a flat object into focus by angling the camera ? If not maybe the lens loses sharpness at the edges ?

[Dan Browning]

I also have a 10D and had problems, but just with 1 lense.
The 24-85 would back focus at 24mm but was OK at 85.
The 75-300 is tack sharp at all lengths. So I exchanged the
24-85 for a different one and now all is well.

Hope this helps
Dan

[kiko]

hi Kate,

Just recently bought a 10D and it seems to be OK so far, except with my cheapo ultrawide Tokina lens (19-35), which seems to have trouble focusing, but i haven't really done any tests.

I was just wondering what you meant by the focus problem is the same in manual and autofocus?

Cheers!

Kiko

[Photokat]

Thanks Peter,

I am not a pro, just a keen amatuer....

Quite a few of my pictures I have now foung were due to user error!!

However,

Following on from advice from quite a few people, I did some 'proper' tests with it.. photographing the brick wall at different apertures/focal lengths and de-focusiing in between shots.

It coped brilliantly with this at all focal lenghts, and the results were stunning.  (This was just using standard 50mm lens)

However, the problems really showed up when I tried the old 'film boxes lined up ont the table, receding in distance' test.

I mounted the camera on a tripod, and took photographs at all apertures.  Looking at the results on the screen, there was no difference between them!!

Also, I have noticed that if I use any other lens than 50mm, the camera and top plate info does not tally with the resulting exif info when I view the shot on my PC.

I took it back to the shop, showed them, and they immediately whipped it off me and have ordered me yet another body!!  (I am a kidney patient... just writing that makes me think wouldn't it be great if we could just swap our bodies around!!)

Anyway, thanks for you help, but at least I now know it was a duff camera body... fingers crossed for the next one. 3rd time lucky and all that!

Kate

[jiacone]

does someome have the location of the data for the focusing tests for the 10D?

[PHOTOKAT]

Please can anyone help me?

I purchased a 10D a few weeks ago, and quite frankly, was apalled at the bad focussing.  I have many Canon cameras including two EOS5's, and the focussing is spot on with these.

The 10D does not seems able to focus evenly across the whole area of the frame; even when taking a flat object.  I have tried altering the focussing squares but to no avail.

I did wonder if I had a duff one, so exchanged it for another at the shop, but if anything, this one is worse!!

I just cannot understand it.... ALL the wrtie-ups on it are glowing, and especially singing the praises of the auto focussing!!

I don't know what to think.

I have heard a rumour that there may be a problem with some of them.  Can ANYONE shed any light on this at all.

Any help would be gratefully received..

THANKS

[Jonathan Wienke]

Try putting a different lens on the 10D. It is possible that the lens may be the issue, not the camera. Also, make sure you have the focus switch on the lens set to Auto rather than Manual. Also, what are you trying to photograph? some low-contrast subjects (especially in low light) are difficult to autofocus on.

[PHOTOKAT]

What is the lens, aperture and subject distance ?

My 10D front focuses on close subjects with the 50mm f1.8 but it's only apparent at wide aperture. At f4 it's pretty sharp. At first I thought the lens wasn't sharp at wide aperture but the angled-ruler test showed that it's a focus problem. I haven't returned the camera because under normal conditions the focus is acceptable.

Regarding uneven focus, can you bring all of a flat object into focus by angling the camera ? If not maybe the lens loses sharpness at the edges ?

Thanks for the reply.

I have tried a variety of Canon lenses.

A 50mm
18-35mm
28-135 Image stabilizing lens
and my 100mm macro lens.....

I have tried photographing both close up subjects, totally flat plane subjects and distant subjects, and the results are all the same.  There are parts which are superbly sharp, but on exactly the same plane, other parts are really fuzzy.

I have borrowed someones D60 since posting my enquiry, and that is excellent, but I still can't understand why the 10D is so very bad.

P.S.
I also have an Olympus E100RS which is only a 1.3MP camera, and I have  done comparison shots . The Olympus looks like it is the far better camera. but I want to use all my Canon lenses on an SLR digital.  
Thanks

Kate

[BJL]

There are parts which are superbly sharp, but on exactly the same plane, other parts are really fuzzy.

If that bit about being sharp and fuzzy in different parts of the same PLANE  is true, especially if so with the macro lens, and is worse than with the same lenses on another camera, then it seems that the sensor and lens are not properly aligned with each other: a badly installed sensor maybe?

To follow up on heed's idea, could you try out your macro lens on a 10D at another shop and take a few images home for analysis?


P. S. The Olympus E100RS (or any compact digicam) will have far better depth of field at the same aperture ratio and angular field of view, due to its far smaller sensor size and correspondingly smaller true focal lengths.

[chesty]

Just to add, I have had my 10D now for about 4 days, and have used lenses from Canon 28mmf1.8 to the Canon 300mm f2.8 and have had no problem at all.  In fact, if it were any better, I wouldn't need photoshop, I would just print direct.

Anyway, just a thought, have you set your diopter?  That could cause the image to appear out of focus and if you manually focus with the wrong setting the image will be off.

[PHOTOKAT]

Thanks Chesty
It's good to hear someone at least is completely happy with theirs.

Yes, I have set the Dioptre control okay, and in any case, the focus problem is the same with manual or autofocus.

How do you manage with yours to get a resaonable apreture, say even f8, and not lose out with really slow shutter speeds.

I do NOT want to have to usea tripod with all my photography, as ofetn with the subjects I am photographing, this would be impossible.  If I select aperture priority, I am on VERY slow shutter speeds such as 1/4 secons etc, even in bright conditions.

Kate

[Jonathan Wienke]

Try using a higher ISO setting. Outdoors, you can use Av and f/8 at ISO 400 and get decent shutter speeds for almost anything. Indoors you will probably have to back off to 5.6 and use ISO 800 or 1600 if you don't use flash. With flash, always use Tv or manual mode, and set the shutter speed to 1/125 or so. If you use manual mode, you can stop down for better depth of field if necessary, and the flash will compensate automatically.

[PHOTOKAT]

Hi Kiko,

Thanks for reply.

What I meant when I said it is the same in auto focus and in manual focus, is that even if I manually focus the lens, and the focusiing square lights up to indicate it is in focus, the resulting shot is still very out of focus in a lot of areas!

This also happens in auto focus!

[Jonathan Wienke]

I looked at several sample images from PHOTOKAT a few weeks ago, and my diagnosis was that out of 10 images, 8 were blurred due either camera shake (too slow of  a shutter speed) or simply shallow depth of field due to the use of a large aperture. 2 of them might have been blurred due to front or back focusing, but the camera may also have simply focused on something other than the intended subject.

[juettner]

Hi, I got a 10 D from the European Series and the same problem. It is not a question of the lens, it is a Canon problem. And as I am waiting for a response for all the dust dots on my pictures since a year and longer, I am afraid, that Canon will also in this question be ignorant. Let me know when you got a solution.
[email protected]

[Jonathan Wienke]

And as I am waiting for a response for all the dust dots on my pictures since a year and longer, I am afraid, that Canon will also in this question be ignorant.

Sensor dust is a fact of life with DSLR's; you need to clean the sensor periodically. See Michael's sensor cleaning tutorial for more info.

Since I, and obviously many thousands of others don't have such problems with our 10D's, the ones that you've used must clearly be defective.

My suggestion is to return it to your dealer for either a refund or another replacement, or to Canon for repair. There's little that anyone here can do for you.

Michael

[heed]

My 10D is similar to Iain's: front-focuses at close distances with certain lenses.  The rest is fine.  If all your lenses focus fine on your other cameras, the 10D is the problem.  Return it or send it into Canon.  Maybe, although highly unlikely, ALL the 10Ds from THAT store are out of the same bad 'batch' or something.  You might want to try a different store.  I'm just speculating here though.  Good luck!

[chesty]

I am on my way to a reserve military meeting.  I'll try to answer you tonight.  In short, I usually havent' had a problem at f8 or smaller in outdoor lighting at asa 100, usually I end up having to under expose a bit.  But for action, it is great becuase all is focused and I still get really fast speeds.  I use AV almost exclusively.

[Peter Gregg]

Are you a pro or nonpro?

I had the 10D for 1 week and in that time determined there was something wrong with the focusing. In my portrait sittings, the sleeves and elbows of the person I was photographing would be in perfect focus while the eyes and face (my focus point) was not. I tested my second body and it did not do this.

I called Canon and asked them to recalibrated the camera. After they determined (I am not in CPS) that I knew how to use the camera properly they agreed that it should be recalibrated. I packed it up and sent it in to the NJ service center. I got the camera back about 10 days later and it is spot on.

The story doesn't end there. As the camera was coming in the door, another pro that is a friend was stopping by the studio for something. When he saw the camera in the UPS box he asked about it. I explained to him what I just wrote above, and he immediately embarked on a lamentation that his focusing was very poor on his 10D.

I told him to get it out of the case so we can test it with him there. It worked perfect. He would not relent, so I dug a little deeper.

It turns out this "PRO" - is using the 70-200 IS lens to shoot his fashion model assignments, at F2.8 at 200mm. I put his camera on a tripod and put his lens on it and proved to him the depth of field on that lens at the 200mm setting and at 2.8 was about 3 inches. He still wouldn't believe it. He said he HAD to use 2.8 to blur the background. We went out into the parking lot and I proved to him with some picture taking we that at F8 he could still easily blur the background.

It seems I got through to him. But this comedy show goes on. He told his other friend who is using a D60 and he came over to show me his D60 was not focusing correctly. After conversing with him a while, I found out he is using lowest parameter settings to gain extra dynamic range, but NOT using USM on the shots. The lab he uses (I print in house up to what the 2200 will do) does NOT add USM but wants completely processed files.

What is remarkable about this is these 2 guys are both PROS!!! They both think they have a focusing problem, and on both counts I would say in my opinion it is clearly operator error. What is it with this "ME TOO" syndrome. And further, as pro's I believe both of these guys should have known better.

Now, your case is different. Why haven't you called the phone number for service on your 10D warranty card yet? I can't understand why you would torture yourself over this when you should get Canon service online to help you with this problem. I would do it tomorrow as soon as their phone lines are up. Let them see what the problem is. If you work with them they will get it resolved for you.

Peter Gregg