5D MkII focus problems - help!

[macvisual]

Ok, I need your HELP PLEASE;

This is really annoying me now, mostly every shot with my newly acquired EOS 5D Mk2 body is SOFT, I shot this image below on a tripod, 50 iso, mirror lock-up, used a recently repaired EF 24-105mm f/4 L which was repaired at Canon UK, a fit bill of health etc. My other Canon lenses EF 50mm f/1.8 MkII and EF 17-40mm f/4 L are the same, soft.

This was shot at f/6.3 at 105mm length. This image is straight out of the camera with nothing done to it whatsoever. I used a cable release and manual focus for this shot below.
My last EOS 5D Mk1 body which I owned for 18 months was 'pin-sharp' focus compared to this 5D Mk2 body!!!!

What's going on......?????



Soft rose by Peter McCullough Photography, on Flickr

I know you can micro adjustment lenses on the 5D MkII body, but as I've only owned his body for under two weeks now I haven't a cluse how to micro adjust each Canon lens which I have three of.

5D MkII owners please help!


Thanks;
Peter

[AndyA]

Re: 5D MkII focus problems - help!

Ok, I need your HELP PLEASE;

I know you can micro adjustment lenses on the 5D MkII body, but as I've only owned his body for under two weeks now I haven't a cluse how to micro adjust each Canon lens which I have three of.

5D MkII owners please help!


Thanks;
Peter

Hi Peter, I haven't tried micro adjustment myself, but this short video should help. Hope you manage to sort out the focus problem.

[DrJon]

Re: 5D MkII focus problems - help!

That's really odd. I'd need convincing it was micro-focus adjust. Plus that only affects auto-focus, not manual focus so I'd say that isn't the issue!

Is it possible you are shooting at less than the minimum focusing distance of the lens (0.45m)?

Did you buy the camera new? If not was it from a dealer?

Worth doing a full reset on the camera settings ("clear all camera settings" in one of the spanner menus) and shooting a few at about 2m range, 1/250 or more and f5.6 using auto-focus.

[ST-EOS]

Re: 5D MkII focus problems - help!

This may seem a bit silly but and apologies if I'm teaching a granny to suck eggs...just in case it helps:-

You were using manual focus, so as well as potential camera focus issue; your own eyesight comes into play. I wonder do you wear spectacles and if so, were you using them for these images. Have you adjusted the "Dioptric" knob so that the AF points in the viewfinder look sharp to your eye?

[AndyA]

Re: 5D MkII focus problems - help!

I hadn't spotted 'manual focus' in the original post.

Are your images soft just with manual focus, or also on AF? If it's just with MF, then it may well be the diopter as Peter has mentioned. If it's soft with AF too, then I don't know.

[collywobbles]

Re: 5D MkII focus problems - help!

Take my specs off? - No thanks! I need my glasses to see. As I have astigmatism everything is fuzzy without them. I get along just fine wearing mine. But as this chap says, it does mean that my eye is a little bit further away and means that I can;t see right into the corners of the frame properly without moving the camera slightly. Then again, I've managed OK for 43 years or more of using SLRs.

[collywobbles]

Re: 5D MkII focus problems - help!

As a "PS" to the above. - For manual focusing I really miss the split-image and fresnal screen - I never had an out-of-focus image in the old days.
Have you tried using "Live-view" and magnifying the image for getting the focus spot-on?