EFS 18-55 seems to focus correctly, but unusable results

[nhanimator]

Bought a Rebel T7 used for astrophotography and so I've been using it solely with manual focus. Just started playing around with some daytime shots and am finding that I can't for the life of me get a clear AF shot with this lens. 

I went out this afternoon and took a series of photos, focusing first on the foreground object, then on the background (photos below, and yes, the second photo was focused on the background even though the orange object 'seems' to be more in focus). Settings were 1/250, f/5.6, ISO200. Nothing is in focus. I took the same photos using MF and everything is fine. I then attached both the stock 75-300mm and a Nifty Fifty and ran the same tests - AF & MF, focused on fore- and background objects - and everything seems to be fine. 

Manual focusing works fine with the 18-55. And when it is autofocusing, I hear the motor actuate and the image in the viewfinder seems to look okay. I have the orange object centered, depress halfway, then pan to the side. The motor does not start up again (as it shouldn't) unless I release and re-press the shutter button, so I know it's holding its focus. It's strange that it seems to be in focus visually, but that I get completely poor results. 

I'm thinking that there is something wrong with the lens as it doesn't happen with the other ones. Any ideas?

Focus set to orange object.Focus set to background trees.

[shadowsports · Accepted solution]

Greetings,

There could be an issue with the lens.  Before making a conclusion, I would suggest resetting the camera's settings to defaults.  Now set the camera up from scratch and test the lenses side by side.  

[nhanimator]

I reset the camera, then only set my ISO/aperature/shutter back to what they were and changed from metering from Evaluative back to Center-weighted. It appears that have solved the issue. (My manual focus was just a tad better on the orange target - but almost imperceptively so - perhaps due to the target having a rather complex look to it?)

Curious as to what resetting it actually does. I'm going to go back and reset a few menu settings at a time back to what they were before the reset and repeat tests. If I find anything, I'll report back.

Thanks for your help!

[ebiggs1]

"Any ideas?"

Yup, I do, as stated above do the full reset. Secondly do you have Ai-servo set? If so switch it to One shot and just the center focus point. Miss focus is almost always caused by the user and not the gear.

[nhanimator]

I was set up with One Shot. Thank you the suggestion.