Canon 24-70 II Lens very blurry from long shots - advice needed

[lewisi3]

Hi all,

When shooting from distance (not very far - around 10 meters back) the Canon 24-70 II lens seems to be very blurry and bad quality.

Can I get some advice on whether this is a common issue and if there's a resolution to solve this? I wouldn't expect it to be such bad quality from only 10 meters back considering it's a £1,000+ camera lens.

Please see photo below. If you look at the talent you can see the soft focus issue I'm having (this is after making sure the talent is in focus). I'm shooting on Canon 5d Mark II, 1080p at 23.93fps with no compression on the footage.

[kvbarkley]

What was the focus point? It looks like it focused on the projector.

[lewisi3]

I focused on the face of the talent. It was as tightly focused as the lens would allow.

[kvbarkley]

Does that mean you zoomed in to focus, than zoomed out for the picture? That is unlikely to work.

You need to set the center focus point, push the shutter halfway to focus where you want it, then while holding the shutter half-way, re-compose and shoot.

[lewisi3]

No, I didn't zoom in to focus, I clicked the magnify option to focus on the subject and then returned to shooting (without any zooming). I also set the center focus point on the subject's face. Any idea why this is happening?

[kvbarkley]

What focus mode are you in and how are you holding focus for the re-composition?

[lewisi3]

What focus mode would you recommend? It's hard to focus from a distance and re-focus, the subject stands in the same position for the duration of shooting.

[kvbarkley]

One shot if you are not in live view. Just select the focus point that covers his face.

I am not sure what would be best for live view.

[ebiggs1]

" I clicked the magnify option to focus on the subject and then returned to shooting..."

What does this mean?  I am not aware of any such option on a 5D Mk II.

[lly3988]

For 5D2 in live view mode, it is possible to magnify to focus and to check focus.