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Archive 2013 · Help with MAF w/7D & 100-400

  
 
dsr1
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Help with MAF w/7D & 100-400


I've been using my new to me 7D for about 3 weeks now and tried to adjust my 100-400.
Here's my absolute best IQ I can get after three sets 0-20+ and 0-20-. Two test agreed at -13. Here are OOC 100% crops all @ approx.. 20 yards & one at 50Yds. I used a Tripod but not remote release. Some are soft but would sharpen up easily enough but I was hoping for better. Are these about what I should expect? I adjusted the lens at 400mm and 20 yds. I guess the 50 yards wood stump is just to far away. Should this be right?





























From about 50 yds.




Aug 12, 2013 at 02:34 PM
Karl Witt
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Help with MAF w/7D & 100-400


Have you looked at the procedure described for MA from a company like Lens Align? What procedure did you use? Did you have IS off and on a tripod and one shot mode center point focus?

Karl




Aug 12, 2013 at 02:53 PM
waldr_p
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Help with MAF w/7D & 100-400


Based on my 7D and 100-400mm I'd say you should expect better than these shots.

It seems to me that the five crops you post are showing different levels of sharpness. The first and last look particularly bad to me.

I would suggest using more suitable targets for calibration like one of the black and white focus targets - that may help get more consistent results to calibrate MA from.

When performing the calibration I'd suggest that you use the 7D's spot focus mode - but make sure the target has good high contrast detail to lock on to.

Do you get better sharpness than in these images when using manual focus (e.g. in live view zoomed in to 10x)?

Paul.



Aug 12, 2013 at 03:00 PM
chipiii
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Help with MAF w/7D & 100-400


I know this is a really dumb question. Are you using any sort of a UV or skylight filter on this lens? My 100-400 just hates them, no matter how much they cost.

CHip



Aug 12, 2013 at 06:08 PM
dsr1
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Help with MAF w/7D & 100-400


waldr_p wrote:
Based on my 7D and 100-400mm I'd say you should expect better than these shots.

It seems to me that the five crops you post are showing different levels of sharpness. The first and last look particularly bad to me.

I would suggest using more suitable targets for calibration like one of the black and white focus targets - that may help get more consistent results to calibrate MA from.

When performing the calibration I'd suggest that you use the 7D's spot focus mode - but make sure the target has good high contrast detail to lock on to.

Do
...Show more

Thanks for the replies, Paul & Karl,

I used the SpyderLENSCAL and placed it out in my garden about the longest distance I most often try to shoot from. Used a tripod with IS off but no remote shutter release, started at 0 and went up the + side to +20 in increments of 2 and then went back to 0 and went down the 1 side in the same increments. Then I uploaded images to my computer and resized to 100% images and then compared them. It was sharpest on the - side @ -13. Had to make another shot at -13 to verify this. This is the best results I've been able to get. I tried every other method I've read about but this got the closest to sharp. I think the first and last shots got some movement somehow but 2,3,& 4 looked acceptable to me.

I know this isn't the way the instructions go but I got better results with this method.





in garden at 20yds 100% crop.




Aug 12, 2013 at 06:16 PM
dsr1
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Help with MAF w/7D & 100-400


chipiii wrote:
I know this is a really dumb question. Are you using any sort of a UV or skylight filter on this lens? My 100-400 just hates them, no matter how much they cost.

CHip


Chip,

No filters were used and glass was clean.



Aug 12, 2013 at 06:21 PM
mdampier
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Help with MAF w/7D & 100-400


I think you might have a lens issue, not a camera issue. I have a 24-105mm that is basically unusable above about 85mm on my 7d until an aperture of 6.7... at which point it becomes very sharp. Previous to my 7d, I was using a 10d. I was getting some soft photos on the 10d, but blamed technique until I got the 7d which magnified the problem several times over. I went back to the 10d photos and discovered I had the same issue, but that the 10d was far more forgiving, probably because of the 6 meg sensor. I could sharpen away a majority of the softness on that camera. The 7d demands the best of lenses operating at peek efficiency. I tried everything I could to adjust away the softness (my photos at 4.0 look like your first photo). Once I set up a test with an object set at an angle, I realized it was the lens and not the camera. The in "focus" range was still soft and got progressively better as the aperture increased until 6.7 where the softness disappeared. Any micro adjustment would just move the center of point of the focus range, but not increase sharpness. That is the point where I went back and examined the 10d photos and discovered softness across the same aperture range, albeit less noticeable. I have not sent the lens in for repair yet, but on is on my to-do list. Unfortunately, the lens was like that since new, but as I thought it was my technique that was causing the problem, I didn't catch the problem under warranty. Hope this helps.


Aug 13, 2013 at 08:13 AM
surf monkey
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Help with MAF w/7D & 100-400


Both the first and last shots look like vibration issue.
The higher shutter speed on the others may be the difference.

What type of tripod and head are you using for these tests?



Aug 13, 2013 at 11:25 AM
Imagemaster
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Help with MAF w/7D & 100-400


Why are you doing MA in the first place?

Seems to me your problem is from using too slow shutter speeds.

In the first shot, why on earth would you use 1/25 sec. without using remote release or self-timer? And why would you not use mirror lockup? Have you not heard of vibration from mirror slap?

For MA tests there is no point using a low ISO when it means using slow shutter speeds.
























Aug 13, 2013 at 11:50 AM
trueimage
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Help with MAF w/7D & 100-400


Was just about to post about the slow shutter speeds. For MA you need to be on a tripod, IS off, and using a static subject.


Aug 13, 2013 at 04:03 PM
John_T
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Help with MAF w/7D & 100-400


...and a flat target parallel to the camera's focal plane.


Aug 13, 2013 at 04:45 PM
skibum5
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Help with MAF w/7D & 100-400


dsr1 wrote:
I've been using my new to me 7D for about 3 weeks now and tried to adjust my 100-400.
Here's my absolute best IQ I can get after three sets 0-20+ and 0-20-. Two test agreed at -13. Here are OOC 100% crops all @ approx.. 20 yards & one at 50Yds. I used a Tripod but not remote release. Some are soft but would sharpen up easily enough but I was hoping for better. Are these about what I should expect? I adjusted the lens at 400mm and 20 yds. I guess the 50 yards wood stump is just to
...Show more


One thing to keep in mind is that most tripods are a bit bouncy and using a long lens with a much lower than 1/FL without timer or remote release tends to make a lot of blur (also if the IS is on various things can happen). Some of those look like they could be tripod bounce (the first one really looks like that, without a timer or remote release, pulling off 1/25t at 400mm is almost certain to give an awful result) although a few look more like they are OOF.



Aug 13, 2013 at 06:22 PM





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