EOS 7D autofocus speed/reliability

Oggy

Oggy

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Roger
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At the moment I have an EOS 50D for aircraft photography. The reason I bought it is that the AF on my Pentax is simply not up to the job.

I am considering upgrading to the 7D for the better sensor.

I have just heard mutterings that 7D AF might not be that good which contradicts what I have heard.

Could anyone shed any light on this?

Anyone using a 7D with a 1.4 extender and 100-400?

Thanks :thumbs:
 
I had a 50D and I moved to the 7D.

Whoever muttered that the AF on the 7D is not that good either hasn't used one - or hasn't put the time into learning how to set it up. It's excellent - I'm very impressed.

Are you currently using a 1.4x converter with the 100-400? Because I know if the 50D or the 7D detect the converter then they will turn AF off...
 
I use a 5D2 for aircraft shots and very successfully too. If you believe the 5D2 has crap AF then it's probably the same people that maintain the 7d is crap.

Get one you will not be disappointed, then get in some practice.

If you want to use your extender then just do the sticky tape on the contacts trick and your 100-400 will AF perfectly well.

:D
 
I hope this isn't going to develop into another thread that puts me off buying one :lol:

I have been researching the 7D for a while, and the conclusions I have come to are that (a) any of the "bad" reviews came from the very early days of the camera and (b) you need some good lens' . None of the shots I have seen from members on here lead me to any other conclusion
 
Mitzyboy said:
I hope this isn't going to develop into another thread that puts me off buying one :lol:

I have been researching the 7D for a while, and the conclusions I have come to are that (a) any of the "bad" reviews came from the very early days of the camera and (b) you need some good lens' . None of the shots I have seen from members on here lead me to any other conclusion
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Don't be put off - there are as many 'pro' views as there are 'con' views!

I'm just about to purchase a 7D - why? Zoned autofocus & higher frame rate for nature/sports photography. General consensus is that the 5D is better for IQ and so it should be! That said someone posted here some stunning shots of a Kingfisher taken on a 7D at high ISO. Alas we live in a world full of compromise!

BTW: I thought autofocus works with the 1.4x extender, but not with the 2x extender?

Andy
 
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I have found the auto focus on my 7D nothing short of brilliant - It takes some getting used to and there are some great Canon tutorials around that will help you get the best out of the AF and really help you - Clicky - This link should keep you busy!!
 
the 7d fine for aircraft birds in flight or anything else .
Rob.
 
andybeach said:
Don't be put off - there are as many 'pro' views as there are 'con' views!

I'm just about to purchase a 7D - why? Zoned autofocus & higher frame rate for nature/sports photography. General consensus is that the 5D is better for IQ and so it should be! That said someone posted here some stunning shots of a Kingfisher taken on a 7D at high ISO. Alas we live in a world full of compromise!

BTW: I thought autofocus works with the 1.4x extender, but not with the 2x extender?

Andy
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For me, I think I already decided on the 7D after much thought. I have a variance of shots, so it's not one area.
From what I have read Oggy the 7D should suit your requirements well, although I go back to my comments about the lens' you might use.

swag72 said:
here are some great Canon tutorials around that will help you get the best out of the AF and really help you - Clicky - This link should keep you busy!!
Click to expand...

Those are excellent, thanks :)
 
Since buying my 7D I get more keepers than I ever did before. The AF is fantastic. And, whilst the metering is also excellent, it takes a bit of getting used to, I currently run 1/3-2/3 +EV as I have been tending to underexpose. I'm sure it's more of a user error than anything else :bang:

Steve
 
Thanks for all the replies and the confirmation of what I suspected.

The 1.4 idea was intended to keep the 100-400 away from the 400 end where mine is less predictable - sometimes razor sharp, sometimes not.
 
I tried using my 100-400 with 1.4x convertor on my 1D. The results weren't very good.
 
swag72 said:
Move on the 100-400 and get a 300/4 plus a 1.4x - Gives you 420/5.6 and works a treat!!
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:agree:

Although you do loose AF speed with the 1.4x on the combo, so may not be so good for aircraft.
 
If you look through various reports of 7D AF problems you'll find that they fall into three categories

1. Those who haven't read the manual and are doing stupid things like using 'All Points' when they should be using any other mode. That's around 85% of such posts.

2. People who are looking at their images zoomed in 100% and wondering why it doesn't look as sharp as their 3MP P&S did when they do so. That's around 20%

3. People with real problems that required fixing by Canon. That's around 1% - about the same as for any other Canon dSLR.
 
7D is one of the cameras I am strongly considering - I have read almost all good things about the AF, but that it's still not as good as Nikon's systems. ;)
 
andybeach said:
BTW: I thought autofocus works with the 1.4x extender, but not with the 2x extender?
Click to expand...

No, on the 7D AF only works with a minimum aperture of F5.6. Anything slower and it will not focus. Note that this applies to it occuring at any part of the lens's range - ie a 1.4 on an F4-5.6 lens, resulting in F5.6-F8 will not AF even at the F5.6 end.

Only the 3, 1v and 1D series bodies will AF at F8.
 
grum said:
7D is one of the cameras I am strongly considering - I have read almost all good things about the AF, but that it's still not as good as Nikon's systems. ;)
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By the time we decide on a dslr Graham we'll be too old to actually use one :cuckoo:

I was quite impressed with the new AF on the 7d but it still struggled to lock in the gloomy corners of a wedding reception on a few occasions - with L glass I might add. The Nikon autofocus on the equivalent bodies is reputed to be a bit better.
 
I had one of the first 7D's in the country i liked it so much i bought a second
There's lots of images in my gallery taken with them i can post frame after frame of sequences of sharp shots with them. I heard all this rubbish before in 90% of cases people had'nt learnt how to use the right AF settings
Regards
Richard
 
bl0at3r said:
By the time we decide on a dslr Graham we'll be too old to actually use one :cuckoo:

I was quite impressed with the new AF on the 7d but it still struggled to lock in the gloomy corners of a wedding reception on a few occasions - with L glass I might add. The Nikon autofocus on the equivalent bodies is reputed to be a bit better.
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You'll always get the Nikon/Canon debate, but I have to agree that the Nikon AF systems seems to be superior, but Canon have a better range of lenses, and the 7D also has a wireless flash facility which works very well.

Steve
 
Jelster said:
and the 7D also has a wireless flash facility which works very well.

Steve
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Old news for nikon users, they've had CLS for years.

Canon have just caught up on that.
 
squishy said:
Old news for nikon users, they've had CLS for years.

Canon have just caught up on that.
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Yes, and this is not a Canon Vs Nikon debate as such, I was merely pointing out that the 7D has in fact "caught up" with the Nikon equivalents.

The off camera flash facility is the one thing that I really wish the 5D2 had, as when I add this body to my bag, I will really miss it, especially as it is more of a portrait body than the 7D.

Steve
 
bl0at3r said:
7d and 17-55 2.8 IS USM seems to be top of my list now :thumbs:
Or 7d and 24-105 L :help:
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I'm currently running the 7D & 17-55 f2.8 IS, it's a great combination giving a similar focal length to a 24-70 on FF. The lens performs very well and is a great length for general "walkabout" use. I also use the Sigma 10-20 and Canon 70-200 as my standard lens line up. I've used it with the 24-105 and whilst results are good, it doesn't get wide enough at the short end.

Steve
 
hollis_f said:
If you look through various reports of 7D AF problems you'll find that they fall into three categories

1. .. That's around 85% of such posts.

2. .. That's around 20%

3. .. That's around 1%
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Is this another one of those, there are 10 people who understand binary jokes?

I-S said:
No, on the 7D AF only works with a minimum aperture of F5.6. Anything slower and it will not focus. Note that this applies to it occuring at any part of the lens's range - ie a 1.4 on an F4-5.6 lens, resulting in F5.6-F8 will not AF even at the F5.6 end.

Only the 3, 1v and 1D series bodies will AF at F8.
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Yes. However if you have a converter which doesn't appear to the lens, it will /try/ and focus. On my 400d, the 100-400 +1.4 seems to be able to focus better than on the 7d.
However, this was at a different time of the day (albeit both were canned shots), so it is possible that the overall lighting made a difference.

The quality was reasonable on the resultant shot though.


I do agree with the previous comments though, overall, the 7d does focus better, but there are a hell of a lot of settings which I think either confuses people, or they cannot be bothered to set them up properly before moaning that the focusing doesn't work.
 
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7D and 100-400 at 400mm, 1/1000, f/5.6, 200 ISO, pushed a stop in Lightroom. No adjustments to sharpening or NR. DOF at normal viewing size = ~20cm...

20100918_125444_1856_LR.jpg


100% crop. DOF viewed at 100% = ~5cm...

20100918_125444_1856_LR-2.jpg


It'll do me.
 
Alan,

Go for the 24-105 L, you won't regret it!

Malcolm
 
Indeed so Tim, very good.

I think this thread has told me what I already suspected - the 7D is top kit.

I didn't want to start a Nikon/Canon war. My reason for going Canon was the lenses. There are two Nikon lenses which cover the 200-400 mm range, one of which seemed slow to focus and the other would meen having to sell a kidney.

It increasingly seems that the chap who posted the doubts (on another forum) had a very tired hire 7D and has gone into autorant about it.
 
RichardtheSane said:
Are you currently using a 1.4x converter with the 100-400? Because I know if the 50D or the 7D detect the converter then they will turn AF off...
Click to expand...

Richard, are you saying that this only happens when using a 1.4 with the 100-400?
 
u8myufo said:
Richard, are you saying that this only happens when using a 1.4 with the 100-400?
Click to expand...

All Canon DSLRs apart from the 1 series bodies will refuse to autofocus if they see a lens/teleconverter combination that results in optics slower than f/5.6.

Any lens of f/4.5 and slower will not AF if the camera sees that you have added a teleconverter. The camera will disable AF in such circumstances. It is not a question of trying and failing. It simply won't try at all.

Any lens of f/4 and faster will continue to AF if you fit a 1.4X teleconverter (making f/5.6 in total), but not if you fit a 2X (making f/8 in total).

Any lens of f/2.8 and faster will continue to AF whether you fit a 1.4X (making f/4) or 2X (making f/5.6) converter.

Where your lens/teleconverter combination is slower than f/5.6 you can fool the camera into trying to AF by taping some pins on the teleconverter, or by using a non reporting teleconverter, which some are. The AF will then try to work. How successful it is really boils down to individual lenses, teleconverters, and a bit of luck. Be grateful if it works well, but don't complain if it doesn't.
 
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Thanks Tim :thumbs:
 
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