An occasional vignette problem

[inkjunkie]

Which has just started. It occurs on all 3 bodies (7D MKII, 1DX and 1DX MKII). Lens is a EF70-200 f/2.8 L II USM. I have not tried it with out the lens hood attached as of yet. At anything over 155mm I have not seen any vignetting, but under that I have. But it is not consistent. Only present in upper corners of the image, more prevalent in the left than the right. Was in a position where I was shooting motocross racers as they jumped over me. In any given series of 12-16 images some will have it, some will not. Have checked the obvious, hood was on straight and securely. Any help/input/suggestions/thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I have one more planned motorsport shooting event for the year, don't really need to use the lens as I have a 300mm f/2.8 that is my primary lens at the drag strips but I will often use the 70/200 once the sun sets simply because the extra few feet closer in I am with the 70-200 will often make things easier under the often miserable overhead track lighting.

[ebiggs1]

It is probably a certain lighting situation more so then anything wrong with your gear.  Pretty easy to test and pretty easy to fix in post.

[RobertTheFat]

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@inkjunkie wrote:

Which has just started. It occurs on all 3 bodies (7D MKII, 1DX and 1DX MKII). Lens is a EF70-200 f/2.8 L II USM. I have not tried it with out the lens hood attached as of yet. At anything over 155mm I have not seen any vignetting, but under that I have. But it is not consistent. Only present in upper corners of the image, more prevalent in the left than the right. Was in a position where I was shooting motocross racers as they jumped over me. In any given series of 12-16 images some will have it, some will not. Have checked the obvious, hood was on straight and securely. Any help/input/suggestions/thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I have one more planned motorsport shooting event for the year, don't really need to use the lens as I have a 300mm f/2.8 that is my primary lens at the drag strips but I will often use the 70/200 once the sun sets simply because the extra few feet closer in I am with the 70-200 will often make things easier under the often miserable overhead track lighting.

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A mispositioned neck strap can sometimes get in the way and cause such an effect.

[Waddizzle]

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@RobertTheFat wrote:

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@inkjunkie wrote:

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A mispositioned neck strap can sometimes get in the way and cause such an effect.

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My first thought was a misaligned hood.  But, it would be very odd to mount the lens on different bodies and not notice the hood was not mounted properly.

[coachboz68]

Sounds like a tough one to diagnose without seeing the pics, so I'll share my experience and hopefully it will be of some use.  I am not sure if it will apply to your situation. 

Years ago I shot a football game with my 70-200 f/2.8L and when I saw the images in LR, I was perplexed by the vignetting on many of the shots.  I had been using the lens for years and hadn't seen anything like it.  And, like you, it wasn't consistent on *every* shot.  

Turns out it was a combination of things.  (1) I didn't understand the relationship between wide-open apertures + telescopic zoom + vignetting; (2) I was in the PERFECT lighting/sky situation to see the vignetting that was there all along in my older pictures.  

I went out and did some test shooting with various zooms/apertures, as well as some reading on the matter,  which resulted in many "ah-ha" moments.  

I use Lightroom, and the good news is unless you have a unique situation, all the above doesn't matter as much as I thought because with a single click under lens correction, the vignette vanishes.  Watching how well it eliminates it on my 16-35 wide angle still impresses me.

HTH, 

Billy