Refurbished 80d...blurry out of focus photos.. HELP!

[KevinG1]

Im new to photography, started this year with a rebel t6 that I outgrew fast. I seemed to learn pretty quick and have always shot in manual mode. Quality of my t6 photos are great! Clear, crisp, and so on.

decided to upgrade to a 80d, and picked one up through canon refurbished. Well the majority of my shots come out blurry. For example, i do car photography {stills} and lets say the wheels are out of focus, or the lights... cant seem to get consistent clear crisp photos.

Not sure if its me, or the camera. Seems all of my lenses will do it. Mostly shoot with the canon 50mm 1.4 and nothing comes out clear under f2.8. Best around 4.

Ive tried everything. Tripod, high shutter speed, manual focus.. live view, view finder, tried all different focus point methods. The one wierd thing I noticed is when i used live view today, it showed the image on the screen perfectly in focus and crisp. As soon as the shutter went of it became blurry. That was on a tripod, using 2 sec delay.

Hope someone can help me...

[Waddizzle]

Can you post a sample photo, which includes EXIF data?  Have you tried a different lens?  Have you tried to contact Canon?  

I have bought a couple of 80D cameras from the refurbished store, and they have been in great shape.  Mine came with the 18-55mm STM lens, which focused very nicely.  Items in the refurb store have a one year warranty.

You say that you like to use Manual shooting mode.  Give the Green [A] mode a try, with a couple of different lenses, on a bright sunny day.  If the photos are still bad, then contact Canon about getting it repaired or exchanged.

[KevinG1]

Yes im in contact with canon now, but there response is slow.

I shot a few in CA today that seemed to make it better, but still have out of focus shots.

Ive tried my canon 70-200 f4, 50mm 1.4, and the 18-55. All seem to have the same problem.

Its been raining for the last 3 days. Going to take some better photos today when the sun is out.

[ScottyP]

When you hear "new to photography" and "using only manual" followed by a statement about a problem it raises a question of whether the 3 things are related. Most new shooters start in auto or P then move on to using Av and Tv. But you seem to have been getting by in M on your T6i so maybe there is something else going on. 

Depth of field. You are shooting big open apertures.  Are you fully aware of the effect that has on depth of field?  There is almost no way to get a whole car in focus shooting from 10 feet away if you are at f/2.8 or f/1.4 because the depth of field in focus is very shallow and parts of the car will be blurry.  Like when you shoot a person close up at f/1.4 and you can only get one eye or the other to be in focus. 

Autofocus. The 80d has a considerably more complicated AF with a lot more AF points. Are you selecting a single AF point (like the center one maybe) or are you allowing the camera to decide what to focus on?  If you let the camera decide you might be disappointed it didn't make the choice you were anticipating. Try selecting only one active SF point and put that point on the thing you want in focus and see if it will in fact be in focus. 

[cameronjames]

I just made an account because of how condescending you are. Your entire post is questioning their abilities rather than their gear (both the 80D and 50 1.4 have had significant focus issues reported 😉

[KevinG1]

Thanks for the response! Ive tried multiple shooting modes and they all do the same. Ive shot in tv ,av, ca, and A+ with all the same results.

The first photo shoot i did, I couldnt get any of my shots in focus until i was about f8.

As. For my shooting methods... probably not the best... i set my iso as low as possible, to keep my shutter speed about 1/30 and higher, usually much faster then that. Then mess with the aperture to go as wide as possible.

Ive used every af method, with different combos of auto focus modes, and manual focus.

I compare this to all the photos ive taken with my t6. Maybe my methods are bad now that i have a more advanced camera?

What i see in the view finder and in live view mode, always come out different once the shutter is pressed. Even on a tripod and shooting 2 sec delay

[KevinG1]

I could shoot my t6 with canon 50mm 1.8 wide open every single time and be crisp and spot on with focus

[KevinG1]

[KevinG1]

photo above was shot in CA or manual, i forgot what one that i used. basically took 2 shots, one in CA and one in manual with the same settings that was used in CA. it was dark out, and this is what i used. 1/60, f2.8 iso is 800, no flash, no tripod. used my canon 50mm 1.4 lens.

now if i was to take that same shot with my T6 and 50mm 1.8, i could take it at 1.8 and not have any problems with sharpness. Hope this photo helps.... but thats the majority of how my photos look. unless i bring my f stop up to 4-8

[TTMartin]

Here are a couple of resources that might give you some help.

Canon EOS AF Microadjustment Guidebook

A Look at The Canon Autofocus System Part 1

A Look at The Canon Autofocus System Part 2

A Look at The Canon Autofocus System Part 3