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...

[KevinG1]

So your saying if i have 20 points focused on the car, and a couple on the pavement, that it will focus more on the pavement instead of the car because its closer? Even though the car was lit with squares?

[TTMartin]

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@KevinG1 wrote:
So your saying if i have 20 points focused on the car, and a couple on the pavement, that it will focus more on the pavement instead of the car because its closer? Even though the car was lit with squares?

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Yes

[KevinG1]

I researched as much as possible on the 45pt af and never saw anything saying that. But i guess it makes sense. So basically makes A+ useless shooting car photography. Guess ill just stick to single or 9 point af

[TTMartin]

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@KevinG1 wrote:
I researched as much as possible on the 45pt af and never saw anything saying that. But i guess it makes sense. So basically makes A+ useless shooting car photography. Guess ill just stick to single or 9 point af

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It was covered in Rudy Winston's presentation (the 3 videos I linked to), in the first video around 18 minutes in.



Yes, A+ lets the camera decide everything and it doesn't know what you are thinking it has to make its best guess.

edit: note the nearest AF point applies to One Shot and not to AIServo. The camera behaves differently in AIServo, rewatch Rudy Winston's presentation to understand how it differs. 

[KevinG1]

I did watch all of the video. Guess i didnt full understand the 45 point section when he was talking about the 5d. Just made it sound more selectable.

Well guess this is my issue. Thank everyone for helping me out!

[jrhoffman75]

A+ Mode as well as Auto Point Selection in any other mode is not the best choice for any situation where the full AF “window” can see anything that is closer to you than the main subject you want to photograph.

If you let the camera think it will assume you want to photograph the object closest to you. Try photographing a bird in a tree. If you don’t select single point AF invariably it will choose one of the branches closer to you.

[KevinG1]

Gotcha. Ill just need to shoot more and see what methods work best for me.

Also i did a micro af adjustment and found my canon 50mm 1.4 was off a bit. Definitely wasn't helping me

[Waddizzle · Accepted solution]

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@KevinG1 wrote:
Gotcha. Ill just need to shoot more and see what methods work best for me.

Also i did a micro af adjustment and found my canon 50mm 1.4 was off a bit. Definitely wasn't helping me

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I suggest that you reset your AFMA back to zero, until you gain more experience with the camera.  Learn how to half press the shutter when using One Shot mode, so that you can evaluate the AF points.

When you have all AF points active, like [A} mode, you may see multiple AF points light up.  Be aware of the fact that the camera is indicating which AF points are capable of achieving a focus lock, but only one AF point will actually be used to focus the shot.  The automatically selected AF point will typically rest on the closest object under an active AF point.

It is highly recommended that you configure the camera to always use the center AF point, which is the most sensitive and accurate AF point.  And, always use One Shot focusing mode, until you gain more experience using the camera to focus on the subject that you want.    

One final note.  The AF points are actually slightly larger than the red boxes you see in the viewfinder.  Placing an AF point on something may not always focus where you want it to.  The camera will focus on the highest contrast area that it can find within the AF point coverage area.  So aim your camera at vertical and horizontal contrasting lines.

[KevinG1]

Thank you for the pointers

[Naipes]

I have a brand new 80D and I have the same viewfinder vs. live view focus problem.  I think it's the camera.  These images were shot using a tripod and timed (2 s) shutter release.  My hands did not touch the camera when the pictures were taken.

One shot, single, center point autofocus, 24mm, iso 400, f 2.8. It's a little hard to see, but the top image was autofocused through the viewfinder. The bottom image using live view.  My old Rebel T1i takes better pics. Guess I have to send the camera in for warrenty repair.  Very disappointing, brand new $1100 camera.