EOS-1D X Mark II Soft Images

[guybarron]

Hi there . I purchased a 2nd hand 1 dx 11 19000 shutters looks great condition …for holidays in Costa Rica …however not really happy with quality of shots …took 8000 photos in all sorts of conditions … but so many shots look so soft at jpeg large and raw … shot mainly on 100-400 mk 11 with 1.4.  But some on 70-200 2.8 and 100 2.8 macro.…shot on every program tv av p manual with auto iso but images were so inconsistent … mainly wildlife  …in fact my 20 year old 1ds shots 11mp look far sharper apart from a few… if someone could help please 🙏 

[ebiggs1 · Accepted solution]

Guy 90% of the time unsharp images are one of two or both issues. The lens or the photographer. It is almost never the camera. Remember the camera is mainly just a storage device that records what the lens saw and what the photographer told it to do.

"Picture 2 looks like its front focused." Once again front or back focusing does not make the image less sharp per say. In either case something in the photo will be in optimum focus and as sharp as the lens can offer. You merely move the critical focus point forward or backward.

If you still think you have a camera issue I would contact Canon and have a C&C done on it. You can do a simple test of your lenses all by yourself but under controlled conditions. Shooting out in the wild tells you nothing. Use a good sturdy tripod and set up a test subject. Do so at several distances. Different ISO settings different SS different apertures, the whole nine yards so to speak. Then you will learn and know something about your gear.

[deebatman316]

Can you please post the full name of the lenses you're using and some pictures in the forum.

[guybarron]

[deebatman316]

Have you tried testing the lenses in live view. Picture 2 looks like its front focused. When testing live view make sure quick AF is OFF. Quick AF drops the mirror and uses the dedicated viewfinder AF system to find focus. Instead of the image sensor finding focus.

[guybarron]

100-400 mk11 on all these apart from frog …100 2.8  macro 

[jrhoffman75]

Can you post the RAW files of the images you posted to Dropbox or One Drive?

[guybarron]

I don’t know ??

[jrhoffman75]

Do you mean you don't have an account with Dropbox or One Drive? Do you have access to any other file posting service, like Google Drive or iCloud?

[guybarron]

Got Dropbox now thx…. Bit novice after 20 years off

[ebiggs1 · Accepted solution]

Guy 90% of the time unsharp images are one of two or both issues. The lens or the photographer. It is almost never the camera. Remember the camera is mainly just a storage device that records what the lens saw and what the photographer told it to do.

"Picture 2 looks like its front focused." Once again front or back focusing does not make the image less sharp per say. In either case something in the photo will be in optimum focus and as sharp as the lens can offer. You merely move the critical focus point forward or backward.

If you still think you have a camera issue I would contact Canon and have a C&C done on it. You can do a simple test of your lenses all by yourself but under controlled conditions. Shooting out in the wild tells you nothing. Use a good sturdy tripod and set up a test subject. Do so at several distances. Different ISO settings different SS different apertures, the whole nine yards so to speak. Then you will learn and know something about your gear.