7d - fixing OOF

[kiwirob]

<p>Hi, I bought a 7d mid last year and have been very happy with it. recent new arrivals meant no time for going out taking photos but lots of time indoors capturing fast moving littluns in low light - so i was very happy with the way the ISO worked with it all.<br />I recommended the unit to a work mate along with links to reviews i had gone through before buying one. He got it and from the word go had nothing but trouble with the usual contenders of AF and OOF. <br />Started looking into the issue and seems like everyone on the web knew about it but me - or at least half knew about it and the other half denied it existed and everyone thought the other half were incompetent or bastards.<br />Due to the snap shots i was taking i had no reason to run them up to 100%, minimising mainly for emailing en mass to the rest of the family. <br />Any softness i attributed to the user def presets and high IOS, and didn't mind.<br />Now I've started looking I'm spotting OOF. No AF issues but the OOF is, i think, present. Trouble is, there is so much out there I don't know how sharp a 100% crop is meant to be - does anyone have a link to something unbiased against which to judge. ..and if it is with a 15-85mm or a 60mm ef-s then all the better.<br>

And one thing nobody seems to mention is - is the OOF fixable? Has anyone had the problem and got rid of it?<br>

Not too interested in the pros and cons of the manafacturer just in a way forward if there is one. Thanks for your time.</p>

[mbkissel]

<p>Rob, I may be misunderstanding your problem; please forgive if so. OOF (Out of focus) areas in the image are mostly the result of the aperture setting. Shooting subjects that are close with large apertures will typically have a lot of OOF surrounding the plane of sharp focus. Decreasing the aperture (higher f number) will increase the depth of field and yield a larger plane of acceptably sharp focus. Are you referring to front or back focusing which drew a lot of attention when the 7D first came out?</p>

<p>Most of the photos currently in my gallery were shot with a 7D and various lenses. Do you have some examples of the issues to which you refer?</p>

[jaydesi]

<p>Most shots at 100% are likely to be fairly soft if shot handheld at shutter speeds below 1/500. A file straight out of the camera is equivalent to a 13x20 print at 250 ppi, and you're looking at it from a foot or two away on your computer screen. Also, appropriate use of sharpening in post processing is necessary for most shots, especially if you're shooting RAW. If you're shooting with higher ISO, you're also going to be seeing a lot of noise.</p>

<p>The best way to tell if your images are sufficiently sharp is to print at the desired size and judge from there...pixel peeping at 100% doesn't really tell you too much.</p>

[Mattman944]

<blockquote>

<p>I don't know how sharp a 100% crop is meant to be</p>

</blockquote>

<p>If by 100% you mean "actual pixels", no it will not look tack sharp without any sharpening. How sharp it will look will depend on the sensor quality and pixels, and the lens quality. I consider this example to be good, it will meet my needs and I can make a 13 x 19 print that looks very good. This is a raw image with no sharpening. This same image may not look as good if taken with a camera with more pixels like a 7D, lens imperfections will be more prominent.</p><div></div>

[neill_farmer2]

<p>Hi Rob. I have a 7D and a range of lenses from elcheapo zooms to L telephotos and other sharp glass. Using RAW and DDP with sharpness set at 3 lower cost zooms do look soft at 100%. Higher quality lenses, 85mm1.8, 70-200 2.8 etc look sharp. This effect is more noticeable around the len's widest aperture, less so down at f8. If you look at them at 50% they all should be close in sharpness.<br>

Don't worry too much if the lens is a bit soft at 100%, thats a pretty severe test and not necessarily representative of a required level for web use or printing at 8x10.<br>

Looking at 100% you are getting to an area where Micro Adjusting of the AF may correct things. How to do this is in the Manual, it's not difficult.<br>

When testing camera/lenses make sure that it's a fair test, so good light, high shutter speed and precautions to prevent motion blur.</p>

 

[kiwirob]

<p>Hiya. thanks all for the feedback. It wasn't the aperture doing it (even though I like taking most of my shots wide open, cos I like the effect) or the front/back calibrations, my test was manual focus using live view, then mirror lock and cable release on a tripod at f/8 (heh, i'd done a fair amount of trolling sites by that time).<br /> I had done a few tests after my initial searches and things did indeed seem to be soft right at the focal point, or at least softer than the sort of shots given up on these kind of sites (used to try and get an idea of what 100% should look like):<br /> http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=799284<br /> I haven't seen the shots my mate took either so I don't know if it was the glass he was using, how he was shooting, his testing, his expectations or whatever. Don't get me wrong - I'm still happy with what i get from my 7d for what i use it for at the moment. I just wanted to try and understand the issue (more to the point work out if I even had an issue) before the kids get a bit older and I can get out and about again and all of a sudden run up against a problem when i could have been spending the time before hand correcting it.<br /> I think I have sorted things out in my head that I am still a happy camper even at 100% on this camera. My final test on the matter is shown:<br /> http://www.photo.net/photo/12944156 - *edit* that shot is 100% crop of the RAW with no sharpening or any other tweaks.<br>

<br /> Thanks for helping me reach the conclusion.</p>