5D mkiii video focus issues

[conran]

Hi everyone, 

My first post and i'm hoping to find some help.

Recently i've been seeing issues with focus on my 5dmkiii. The image looks sharp on the LCD (at maximum zoom) but soft when i check the file on the desktop. It's across all lenses and all picture modes.

I've been using 5D's for a few years now but this has me stumped. Any help would be much appreciated.

thanks

Jamie

[Peter]

Video? You can´t zoom the video in your camera I suppose.

[conran]

Everything looks sharp on the LCD when magnified but the output file is still soft.

[TTMartin]

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@conran wrote:

Everything looks sharp on the LCD when magnified but the output file is still soft.

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Are you judging the sharpness on your computer monitor with the full image displayed, or are you zooming in on a portion of the frame?

Also what 'pcture style' are you using when shooting your video?

[conran]

Looking at the file on desktop, the image is sharp on the camera.

Tried multiple picture styles/apertures/lenses etc and still the same result. Also had the same results in a studio set up with lots of lighting.

Here's a sample video vs low res jpg still.

[TTMartin]

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@conran wrote:

Looking at the file on desktop, the image is sharp on the camera.

Tried multiple picture styles/apertures/lenses etc and still the same result. Also had the same results in a studio set up with lots of lighting.

Here's a sample video vs low res jpg still.

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There is a difference between focus and resolution. The 5D Mk III uses pixel binning to reduce the sensor resolution down to video resolution. Video simply has less resolution. The thing to keep in mind, is that if nothing is sharp then it is not a focus issue. 

[conran]

Thanks Martin, understand there's a difference betwen resolution and focus. I know the mkii requires sharpening in post, more so than the mkii etc but the quality of video has reduced considerably.

as i said, focus on the LCD is pin sharp (as sharp as it gets with a mkiii) but the output is unnaceptable even for a dslr video.

Tried it on my mkii as well and same issue. firmware is up to date etc, (this was happening before the update).

Only thing i can think of is somehow a card has corrupted both cameras but i'm just guessing really.

Too the cameras to a Canon specialist and they couldn't understand it either.

[TCampbell]

Or stated differently... in "still" mode it's a 22MP image.  In "video" mode it's a 2MP image.  

A 2MP image isn't going to have the detail-resolving capability to compete with a 22MP image.  

[conran]

Thanks Tim, understand the difference in quality.

This isn't a comparison between still and video though. The video is out of focus, difference between 'in focus' on the LCD and what comes out of the camera is just night and day so to speak.

I've shot with both mkii and mkiii and had much sharper files in the past Tried clearing all camera settings etc and starting again but still the same issue.

Has me stumped. 

[TTMartin]

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@conran wrote:

Thanks Tim, understand the difference in quality.

This isn't a comparison between still and video though. The video is out of focus, difference between 'in focus' on the LCD and what comes out of the camera is just night and day so to speak.

I've shot with both mkii and mkiii and had much sharper files in the past Tried clearing all camera settings etc and starting again but still the same issue.

Has me stumped. 

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If NOTHING is sharp it is NOT focus.

Focus determines where the sharpest plane of an image is, not the ultimate sharpness.

You can be perfectly 'in focus' and have a completely blurred image due to other factors.