p.63 #3 · ['NEW Fix' UPDATE!] - MkIII AF still broken
Got my 1DM3 back from "AF-Adjustements" (544XXX but no need for SubM fix) three weeks ago. Since then iīve been working with it daily.
All i can say; Works great!
Well, not perfect because all lenses needed MA +5... But atliest itīs constant.
This should give hope to some. It can be fixed!
p.63 #4 · ['NEW Fix' UPDATE!] - MkIII AF still broken
Congrats Henry!
PasiM - The more I use mine, the more that I am finding that MA +10 on all lenses seems to be working. At first, I had different adjustments for each lens, but as I have been experimenting, I believe +10 is the trick. Not using focus charts though...just real world shooting and adjusting. Focus charts gave me results that did not mirror real world results. Guessing it has something to do with quality of light. Just a guess though. VERY tired of guessing btw.
p.63 #5 · ['NEW Fix' UPDATE!] - MkIII AF still broken
Henry,
I hope you did not miss too much of your shooting season. Good luck with the new one.
apdieb,
I believe Canon intended the MA feature to be used in that way. I believe they used words like "in the same light" and "similar distance", etc. I don't recall them saying anything about focus charts. They did say it may keep you from returning a lens for calibration, and I believe they made a mistake there.
p.63 #7 · ['NEW Fix' UPDATE!] - MkIII AF still broken
mill4570 wrote:
Henry,
I hope you did not miss too much of your shooting season. Good luck with the new one.
apdieb,
I believe Canon intended the MA feature to be used in that way. I believe they used words like "in the same light" and "similar distance", etc. I don't recall them saying anything about focus charts. They did say it may keep you from returning a lens for calibration, and I believe they made a mistake there.
Richard K.
Interesting..I had read that too in their literature.. Sheer craziness.. my other bodies shoot fine under differing situations and light. Last thing I want to be doing is calibrating every time my light or focal length changes. Call me picky.
Although I am getting better at "guestimating" in the field, I am not confident with MA on the fly for something important.
p.63 #8 · ['NEW Fix' UPDATE!] - MkIII AF still broken
fudge factors are never a good thing.
all the lenses should be calibrated to a known standard. if the 1d3 is not calibrated to that standard, then it should be. and it should function around that standard +/- some small tolerance, for all conditions (light, temperature, constellation orientation).
i can't imagine doing a MA adjustment on the fly. especially since i've heard that depending on the lens focal length and subject distance, these MA settings possibly don't work... so is this some crazy non-linear system or what?
Mar 14, 2008 at 02:13 PM
Red Grainger Offline • • [X]
p.63 #9 · ['NEW Fix' UPDATE!] - MkIII AF still broken
I haven't kept up with this thread but I thought many of you might be interested in my recent experiences while in East Africa. I was on assignment but also took advantage of the opportunity to do some stock work. During my travels (three weeks) I came into contact with 11 Mark III owners and 2 !Ds Mark III owners. All of the Mark III owners were having focus issues. Five of them had sent their bodies in for the submirror fix. At least for wildlife and bird work, this body does not cut it. Many have fallen back on their Mark IIn but now miss the feature set of the Mark III new Mark III sesries. What a pity Canon didn't get it right. The IDs doesn't seem to have the autofocus problems but the file size and the buffer capacity are limiting for serious work. One half the owners seem to believe that Canon will introcduce a new Mark III before summer. I have thought so as well but their latest announcement seems to suggest they still think they have fixed the problem. One shouldn't need a degree in optical enigineering to focus a camera. If Nikon fill out its lens lineup a bit, there will be many converts.
Cheers-Red
p.63 #10 · ['NEW Fix' UPDATE!] - MkIII AF still broken
Had mine in 3 times for AF issue. I believe they finally got it right this last time. Recalibrated the AF sensors after the sub mirror fix. Its just a thing of beauty now.
p.63 #11 · ['NEW Fix' UPDATE!] - MkIII AF still broken
Well I got my M3/400 back from Canon yesterday and cant say I am impressed anymore so that when it left. Here is what the paperwork said when I got it back.
Body:
We have examined the product according to your request, and, it was found that the product performed according to specifications. After investigation/inspection, no problems were found. Other inspection and cleaning were carried out.
Lens:
We have examined the product according to your request, and, it was found that the product performed according to specifications. the auto focus did not operate properly. Electrical adjustments were carried out on the pcb assembly. Other inspection and cleaning were carried out.
Well I tried it on some Lax warm ups and then walked to the street and shot some cars. I shot it just as they sent it back and it seemed to front focus. I just checked my settings and I had set ( off the RG report) all MA to -1. That was still left the same when it came back. I would think if they tested it they would reset that to 0? So if I FF do I need to go larger - or to the + side?
p.63 #15 · ['NEW Fix' UPDATE!] - MkIII AF still broken
I think it's telling that at the latest exhibition for the BBC/Shell Wildlife photographer of the year, not a single image was taken with a 1D III. Plenty of 1D II and 1Ds II and 20D images among Canon shooters and for Nikon shooters plenty fo D2X and D200, D70 shots.
Be interesting if next years comp has 1D III shots or how D300/D3 start to dominate.
p.63 #16 · ['NEW Fix' UPDATE!] - MkIII AF still broken
Well test kind of quick show that +5 seems to be the sharpest. Hopefully next weekend I will be able to get out and shoot some sports, just sounds like no hope of sun.
p.63 #18 · ['NEW Fix' UPDATE!] - MkIII AF still broken
mdurisseau wrote:
I got a call from Canon today...just to preface, I was contacted about three weeks ago about my Mark III, after I sent a letter to Canon's CEO and some of the other executives.
I sent a DVD of images to Canon a couple of weeks ago, and now that they've had time to review it, they asked me to send in my body for the engineers to take a look at. The good thing is that I will have a chance to use a CPS body with MY settings and the way I shoot, to figure out if there really is something to the notion that not all bodies are the same. I have to believe that CPS would not have bodies in their stable that would not work properly.
I will report back when I find out what's up....Show more →
An update...
I sent my Mark III back to Canon, at their request, about 2 weeks ago now...I got the body back on Wednesday, shot some baseball yesterday...it's too soon to tell, but the initial impression looks good...fewer out of focus images, for certain. But I want to put it through its paces soon...
I will post the note that Canon sent with my camera regarding the issue they felt it had, and what they did...
p.63 #20 · ['NEW Fix' UPDATE!] - MkIII AF still broken
**UPDATE***
Well, I was on page 14 talking about how the MKIII was acting funny with my 35L and only that lens, and only when the flash was attached, well, it stopped doing that, but then it started giving me a serious lag with the shutter button, now, as of the other day, in the middle of a baseball tournament I was covering.. it died on me.. err 99, every time I pressed the shutter, err 99.. I almost threw the thing into the lake, but I composed myself and now its on the way to canon, I must say that so far Canon CPS has been kind to me, so let's see if they can fix this thing right the first time.. I just hope I don't end up like a lot of other horror stories around here with people sending it back 2-3 times and canon saying it is fine and "at specs"...
I will do another update when I get the camera back.
