Canon 7D Mk II

[Emulator]

Enjoying the Mk2 and just resurrected this article to check out the micro adjustment of my lenses. Seems to be the easiest and most productive method.

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/cameras/1ds3_af_micoadjustment.html

 

[3dogs]

I was talked into purchasing the Datacolour target to check my lenses after a very good photogrpher told me that it was ESSENTIAL for obtaining superior results.
After spending ages repeating the measurements, and being unable to determine if I had back or front focus I finally gave up thinking that I was a dummy and was missing something.........
Had I read the advice in the link you posted, I would have not been so hard on myself. Essentially what is said is, if you cant pick the need to adjust, quit and go take photographs cos the lens is just fine!!
Where I got to was thinking about was the classic portrait where the eyes need to be 100% spot on. Agonising over whether I had sharp focus on the eyeball itself or the eyelashes mm's away just got frustrating after a while.
Finally I conclude that there are just some folks out there whose lives are SO devoid of self belief that they "INVENT" convoluted, complex, and utterly pointless processes, publish them, and get self affirmation from having idiots like me thoroughly flummoxed by the inability to find the fault they have invented.
Microfocus is just such a piece of adjustment, the tool is there to offset SIGNIFICANT malfunction, not to go chasing 100.00001% accuracy, "Sharpening" will take care of the focus deviation created by your camera picking EITHER the eyeball itself or the eyelash!
Having finally disposed of that piece of "essential" crap, I consigned the target etc. to storage, for WHEN, and IF one of my 'L' lenses starts to show focus failure symptoms.

There are MASSES of really obsessive, spineless lemmings out there, living lives that only have meaning if they are "revealing" insubstantial minutiae .........like the onion I refer to in another post, these people can and do bring tears to the eyes of the unwary or uninitiated, learning to sift through their BS can be really time consuming.

@Emulator this comment is NOT intended to rubbish the link (its a very grounded guide that I wish I'd found earlier) rather it is offered as a general caution to others that top end cameras and lenses are EXPENSIVE, and generally really well quality controlled, so need for essential, meaningful adjustment is rare.

The simple effective "check" outline in your post is better by far than a lot of the "guff" I have read. Thanks for posting.

Glad to hear you are having fun, have you had a chance to put the AF "to the sword" yet by any chance?

 

[Emulator]

My current view is that I am swamped with options as far as Auto Focus is concerned (and everything else for that matter). They all seem to work well, once you discover how to use them, but experience in the field is needed to speed up the selection process and get the choice right. It is all an enjoyable process however.

Your comments are justified, I use the Northlight test as a quick check to see that nothing is obviously wrong.

 

[3dogs]

My current view is that I am swamped with options as far as Auto Focus is concerned (and everything else for that matter). They all seem to work well, once you discover how to use them, but experience in the field is needed to speed up the selection process and get the choice right. It is all an enjoyable process however.

Your comments are justified, I use the Northlight test as a quick check to see that nothing is obviously wrong.

It is not easy, putting together both time and opportunity to get those buttons and options stored as automatic reflexes so you get full advantage.
One day at a time one session at a time then, one day..........its there!!
Enjoy

 

[Roy Sletcher]

I was talked into purchasing the Datacolour target to check my lenses after a very good photogrpher told me that it was ESSENTIAL for obtaining superior results.
After spending ages repeating the measurements, and being unable to determine if I had back or front focus I finally gave up thinking that I was a dummy and was missing something.........
Had I read the advice in the link you posted, I would have not been so hard on myself. Essentially what is said is, if you cant pick the need to adjust, quit and go take photographs cos the lens is just fine!!
Where I got to was thinking about was the classic portrait where the eyes need to be 100% spot on. Agonising over whether I had sharp focus on the eyeball itself or the eyelashes mm's away just got frustrating after a while.
Finally I conclude that there are just some folks out there whose lives are SO devoid of self belief that they "INVENT" convoluted, complex, and utterly pointless processes, publish them, and get self affirmation from having idiots like me thoroughly flummoxed by the inability to find the fault they have invented.
Microfocus is just such a piece of adjustment, the tool is there to offset SIGNIFICANT malfunction, not to go chasing 100.00001% accuracy, "Sharpening" will take care of the focus deviation created by your camera picking EITHER the eyeball itself or the eyelash!
Having finally disposed of that piece of "essential" crap, I consigned the target etc. to storage, for WHEN, and IF one of my 'L' lenses starts to show focus failure symptoms.

There are MASSES of really obsessive, spineless lemmings out there, living lives that only have meaning if they are "revealing" insubstantial minutiae .........like the onion I refer to in another post, these people can and do bring tears to the eyes of the unwary or uninitiated, learning to sift through their BS can be really time consuming.

@Emulator this comment is NOT intended to rubbish the link (its a very grounded guide that I wish I'd found earlier) rather it is offered as a general caution to others that top end cameras and lenses are EXPENSIVE, and generally really well quality controlled, so need for essential, meaningful adjustment is rare.

The simple effective "check" outline in your post is better by far than a lot of the "guff" I have read. Thanks for posting.

Glad to hear you are having fun, have you had a chance to put the AF "to the sword" yet by any chance?

A photographer once told me:

Professionals talk about money
Amateurs talk about gear and test images.
Photographers go out and shoot picha's

 

[Roy Sletcher]

My current view is that I am swamped with options as far as Auto Focus is concerned (and everything else for that matter). They all seem to work well, once you discover how to use them, but experience in the field is needed to speed up the selection process and get the choice right. It is all an enjoyable process however.

Your comments are justified, I use the Northlight test as a quick check to see that nothing is obviously wrong.

At last got my 7D11.

The 500 page manual now comes on a disk. Plus I have an additional 50 plus PDF pages from canon subtitled "Detailed explanation of how to master the 65 point cross-type auto focus"

I think the term RTFM is a form of "revenge" by the manufacturers.

Still learning the new features, but an early impression is that battery life has taken a big hit powering all the new features. Back to more reading!


RS

 

[3dogs]

At last got my 7D11.

The 500 page manual now comes on a disk. Plus I have an additional 50 plus PDF pages from canon subtitled "Detailed explanation of how to master the 65 point cross-type auto focus"

I think the term RTFM is a form of "revenge" by the manufacturers.

Still learning the new features, but an early impression is that battery life has taken a big hit powering all the new features. Back to more reading!


RS

You WERE warned by brother @Emulator, not once but many times, so.......grit yer teeth and read on brother Roy. I am sure you will have tons of fun

Enjoy

 

[Emulator]

At last got my 7D11.

RS

Good, that wasn't much of a delay, your retailer must have wanted to keep you happy!

I agree the "larger capacity battery" doesn't seem to last as long as the 7D. It should improve with the first few charges, hopefully.

Edit: I think part of the reason is that we are playing with the menus so much at the present. When I spent the day out in the Somerset Levels, it did not seem that battery use was high, in fact it stayed on the fully charged symbol.

 

[Emulator]

I remember on our visits to Canada, the tour guide warned of the dangers of wandering into any forest without the necessary equipment and not finding your way out for hundreds of miles. I guess that also applies to the Aus outback.

I think the built in GPS would probably show you the way out as long as you had a laptop or tablet running the map AP as well (and that the batteries didn't run down).

I see they supply the camera with GPS turned off. I was a little intrigued at the cautions that some countries prohibit the use of GPS and also the risk to your personal data. I suppose any snap or photo taken at home, with ex-if might show your home location to all and sundry. We live and learn.

Ah! on a further look at the map utility, you see that all the cameras GPS info is passed to the service provider i.e. Google Maps.

Thinking about Canon profits, I guess that they make more from selling a lot of 7D Mk2s than they would from selling the 1DX to a limited number of Profs that can afford it. So it is worth putting the best spec they can afford into the junior camera, hence such a good Mk2.

 

[3dogs]

All the gadgets have implications, we are running, not walking, into an age of access, without really being also taught the required 'smarts'. As a kid learned how to use the Sun to navigate basic travel in the bush. When a person buys a smart camera no one sits down with you and talks you through the traps. My dad showed me survival, I also learned from the locals. We are at arms length with most everything now. You are right, sadly, there ARE risks attached to "SHARING"