7D mkII with 70-300L sharpness

[flash7645]

Hello guys,

In April I changed my old Eos 550D for new 7D mk II. The more I use the 7D mk II, the less I like it.
I saw a lot of articles and questions related to sharpness of 7D mkII, unfortunately none of them gave me a clear answer if my 7D mkII has issues with focusing or not. I tried to perform focusing tests, they seem to be fine. However, when I take my camera to action, those pictures look like from cheap compact camera.

Please see results from my walk-around 3 days ago with 70-300L. I didn't have my 24-70L F4 with me, so I can't compare pictures and the weather is not the best for further testing now.

I'm attaching also pictures where you can see exposure and focusing point.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B8LlCX1UR7HJQzNnQUR6NF9hTG8

ISO 640 for first 3 pictures:
1. 1/3200 sec, f4,5, focal length 112mm
2. 1/1600 sec, f4,5, focal length 150mm
3. 1/2500 sec, f4,5, focal length 140mm

Moon pictures are from tripod at times 1/40 sec and 1/6 sec, ISO 200 and focal length 300mm

I use back focus button with AI-Servo mode.

I don't think that gear in that price should give results like this, but maybe I just have wrong expectations.
I used this 70-300L glass also on my 550D, results seemed to be much better there. Unfortunately I do not have 550D anymore.

Can you please tell me your opinion? Maybe I do not have the best settings, I'm going to try to reset my camera to default and I'll try once again.
Or isn't 70-300L the best lens for this camera?

Thanks!
Andrej

[kvbarkley]

You can post the shots here in the forum, but I would like to say that 1/6th second is *long* for a moon shot. It can move significantly in that time.

Did you adjust the AF focus microadjustment?

[flash7645]

I wanted to post them here, but files are bigger than 5MB and I have an error because of it. That's why I uploaded them on google drive and posted link.

Yes, I tried also microadjustments on static objects, value 0 seems to be the sharpest.

Just 1 additional point, I have the latest firmware 1.1.0

[Waddizzle]

"Moon pictures are from tripod at times 1/40 sec and 1/6 sec, ISO 200 and focal length 300mm"

I will have to download those pictures later today.

Under ordinary circumstances you use the "Looney 11 Rule" to initial exposure settings: 1/100, f/11, ISO 100.  Raising the ISO to 200 would normally need a corresponding increase in shutter speed [to 1/200] to get the same exposure. 

But, you raised the ISO and dropped the shutter speed, which should yield an overexposed Moon with lost detail. Plus, the moon was 30% brighter than usual. Photographing the Moon is almost like photographing dust on a lit light bulb.  When you get it just right, it's fantastic.

What was your f/stop?  Raising the f/stop helps focus out to infinity.

[flash7645]

For moon on photo 4 I used f8 with ISO 200 and time 1/6

For moon on photo 5 I used f5,6 with ISO 500 and time 1/40

This were my first moon shots so ok, I can see that I didn't follow some rules. I just missed the sharpness there.

However, now I'm curious why those pictures were not light at this exposures. If I would use 1/100,f/11 and ISO 100, they would be too dark.

[Waddizzle]

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@flash7645 wrote:

For moon on photo 4 I used f8 with ISO 200 and time 1/6

For moon on photo 5 I used f5,6 with ISO 500 and time 1/40

This were my first moon shots so ok, I can see that I didn't follow some rules. I just missed the sharpness there.

However, now I'm curious why those pictures were not light at this exposures. If I would use 1/100,f/11 and ISO 100, they would be too dark.

---

Weather permitting, try it again tonight.  You will get the best results with a good and sturdy tripod, and focusing manually via Live View. Remember, the Moon is a very bright object.  It is better to siighly underexpose than to overexpose and saturate the image.  Using a remote shutter release, or the internal shutter delay, to reduce camera shake makes a BIG difference, too.

The "Looney 11 Rule" is simply a starting point, to get you in the ballpark.  The super Moon was 30% brighter than normal at its' peak, so you should need to dial back the exposure some from that starting point.

[flash7645]

Thank you, I'll try it, but I will not be able to do it today due to 100% clouds and rain.

Anyway, this does not explain why the rest of images are not sharp. At least they do not look sharp to me. If you zoom a bit to dog's neck or snitch (based on AF point), you will see that pictures are not sharp. As I told, I would expect to be them much more sharper. In this case, I had better results with my 550D and I could save those money invested in 7D mk II. 10FPS does not make any sense because the rest of pictures are worse than the first which is supposed to be the sharpest.

But I'll try the moon again. 1 additional point, I used internal delay when I was taking moon 🙂 So let's see next

[Waddizzle]

---

@flash7645 wrote:

Thank you, I'll try it, but I will not be able to do it today due to 100% clouds and rain.

Anyway, this does not explain why the rest of images are not sharp. At least they do not look sharp to me. If you zoom a bit to dog's neck or snitch (based on AF point), you will see that pictures are not sharp. As I told, I would expect to be them much more sharper. In this case, I had better results with my 550D and I could save those money invested in 7D mk II. 10FPS does not make any sense because the rest of pictures are worse than the first which is supposed to be the sharpest.

But I'll try the moon again. 1 additional point, I used internal delay when I was taking moon 🙂 So let's see next

---

i use a two second internal delay, too.  If your tripod has a center column, I suggest that you do not raise much.  In fact, do not raise it all.  Raising only destabilizes your tripod.  Be aware of wind and breezes, which can cause some tripods to resonante like a tuning fork at micro frequencies.  The slightest motion of the camera will blur your photo when you're working at long focal lengths, and slow shutter speeds.

[flash7645]

Hello guys, sorry for delayed reply, it was raining all the time or it was dark when I came from work.

I reset my camera to factory and performed new settings.

Here are 2 new pictures at time 1/200, ISO 400 f10 and f13 at 300mm from tripod (tripod Manfroto which can hold 7kg).

I took it at higher F to see if there is any difference. I'm missing depth of detail there.

If I compare it to pictures of my gf who can take much better pictures of moon (when she cropps it), details and whatever from her tamron 70-200 f/2.8 and Nikon D7200 which was for much better price than mine 7D mkII with this L lens...this looks like pictures from some cheap smartphone camera. So I'm really wondering if it is worth to have reach of 300mm if it is unusable.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B8LlCX1UR7HJQzNnQUR6NF9hTG8?usp=sharing

Thanks!

[Waddizzle]

You can post photos in the forum.  You need to convert them to about 4MB file sizes, or less.  Your posted photos seem to suffer from camera motion blur.  Yes, it could be the lens, it could be an incorrect AFMA adjustment, or it could be the camera.  The most likely explanation, however, is camera motion blur.  Try to take test photos under better light conditions.