When will canon fix the focus issues with the 70D?

[Photogirl55]

I was "T.H.I.S." close to buying the 70D.  I have read WAYYY too many posts about issues with the focusing on the 70D.  How is Canon handling the issue?  I would love to buy this camera, but not willing to gamble with that much money.

[jeffandellie]

Hi, i see there are many pages of responses and many people with this issue. I thought i was hueey myself, until i trested it, and i was stunned to find the exact same issue. putting my 70D & f1.8 lens on a tripod, i snapped a series of pictures, starting with the center square focus in the view finder and then the live view focus. I also tried the left 2 and right 2 swuares, and upper and lower squares, then i also tried the center zone auto focus as well as manual focus. I was stunned to find the focus off of the center square was so far off that i had to retry to see if there could have possibly been another issue.

So my question is - what do I do? I bouth this camera last may and have loved it as an upgrade in features from my t4i, but I have had pictures that were out of focus, and I just assumed it was me. noww I don't believe most of them were, as i do use the center focus square almost exclusively.

As others have noted, i am sure, this isn't an issue with lenses up at the f5.6 range... as i have taken some exctemely satisfyingly sharp pics with the 70d and various lenses.   I hope you have a solution, because  I have invested many thousands in the last year to jump into  the canon 70d, picking up the 24mm stm, 40mm stm, 18-135mm stm, 50mm 1.8, 70-300 IS, 24-105L, a sigma art series and tokina wide angle, grip, speedlite 430ii, and many other accesories.

I am all in so to speak with canon, yet now feeling like i am in shock.  please - do not say photographer or lens error - this is an extemely well document isse, but well documented by a profesional here:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA6JnzYSDJE

[macdaddy]

Here are prime examples.  One tripod mounted, one handheld.  It is undeniable that there is a center spot focus issue.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkeyedredhead/16197146217/sizes/o/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkeyedredhead/16385178945/sizes/o/

[Dobbsincrete]

I have an EOS70D with picture quality issues.

Forget all the techno blurb that I keep getting, this is my 70D problem in simple terms:

Set the camera on a tripod.

Take a picture looking through the viewfinder.

Press the start/stop button (live view)

Take a second picture.

Now view the two images.

Zoom in at some point off-centre and compare the quality of the two images.

The first image (using the viewfinder) is very blurry/fuzzy while the second (using the monitor) is fine.

This is at all settings, manual or automatic.

(In fact settings can change between these two viewing options)

Surely.a camera at this price should not take pictures that vary so wildly taken through the viewfinder/monitor.

I am having awful problems with both Canon and the retailer in understanding and taking ownership of my problem.

I bought this camera in good faith but my little SX200 does a better job!!

[TTMartin]

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@Dobbsincrete wrote:

I have an EOS70D with picture quality issues.

Forget all the techno blurb that I keep getting, this is my 70D problem in simple terms:

Set the camera on a tripod.

Take a picture looking through the viewfinder.

Press the start/stop button (live view)

Take a second picture.

Now view the two images.

Zoom in at some point off-centre and compare the quality of the two images.

The first image (using the viewfinder) is very blurry/fuzzy while the second (using the monitor) is fine.

This is at all settings, manual or automatic.

(In fact settings can change between these two viewing options)

Surely.a camera at this price should not take pictures that vary so wildly taken through the viewfinder/monitor.

I am having awful problems with both Canon and the retailer in understanding and taking ownership of my problem.

I bought this camera in good faith but my little SX200 does a better job!!

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That is normal.

You don't understand the problem a few of the early 70D's did have. It has nothing to do with what you are describing.

Research how to micro focus adjust your lenses and do so. I'm partial to the DotTune method of micro focus adjustment.

[Dobbsincrete]

Same body, same lens, same settings - different picture quality just by switching from viewfinder to monitor normal?

[TTMartin]

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@Dobbsincrete wrote:
Same body, same lens, same settings - different picture quality just by switching from viewfinder to monitor normal?

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YES!!! It is normal. That is why your camera has Micro Focus Adjustment (MFA).

Liveview (monitor) AF focuses right off the image sensor. Viewfinder focus uses a completely different focus sensor. Due to manufacturing tolerances in both the camera and the lens the difference between the two AF systems may need calibration with MFA.

Liveview AF automatically compensates for any miss calibration in the lens since it is achieving AF directly off the image sensor itself. While viewfinder AF is using a separate AF sensor that uses a Phase Detect AF (PDAF) sensor at the bottom of the mirrorbox.

The image the PDAF sensor sees follows a different path going through the semi transparent main mirror and reflecting off a secondary mirror downward. Slight difference in the distance of those two paths require that the two AF systems are calibrated to match. Without MFA your only choice would be to send the camera and possibly your lenses to Canon for calibration. With MFA you can do the calibration yourself.

While it is still possible to send your camera and lens (provided it is a Canon lens) to Canon for calibration, if you can do it with MFA why would you?

If you want to read more about this Google 'This lens is soft" and other myths by by Roger Cicala'. Roger is in charge of equipment repair at the best known lens rental company and sees thousand of different cameras and lenses from all manufacturers.

[Dobbsincrete]

My EOS70D has been back to Canon Service & Repair three times now. The first two they just carried out tests and re-calibrations, the third time they replaced the sensor. The improvements were only marginal, so now I must not use the viewfinder if I want good pictures.

[KeithR]

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@70Downer wrote:

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That does abosultely nothing to help any of the people with the broken 70D's does it Keithr?  Or when canon will have a fix out for all of the broken 70D's. Good thing you chimed into a thread labeled when will canon fix the 70D with "yours is excellent"

What great input, thanks.  SMH

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Let's be clear about a few things.

In terms of challenging Photogirl's assertion that the internet is aflame with complaints that the 70D can't AF - in other words, in terms of suggesting that keeping a realistic sense of perspective would probably be a good idea - my comments are very helpful indeed.

But they weren't intended to help you, because you've given us precisely nothing on which to base helpful suggestions, and you've done nothing to prove your case except point at other people's supposed problems, and to charcterise anyone who has the temerity to take a slightly different view to yours, as a fanboy.

Where's your proof? How do we know that you haven't got your 70D set up badly?

And don't assume that you know everything about how to use your camera: it's not that long ago that I helped my shooting partner - an ex pro - with his 7D's AF "problems", by getting him out of AI Focus... 

So how do we know that for whatever you shoot (and for clarity, I use my 70D for birds and fast motor sport - an AF challenge if ever there was one) you haven't got entirely the wrong AF menu options selected?

In other words, where's the evidence that you've definitively ruled yourself out as the problem?

Do that, and maybe there'll some basis for progress. But don't expect to win any moral high ground with your "I'm shouting loudest so that must be enough proof..." line of thinking. We've seen it all before, and righteous indignation is no substitute for evidence.

[raybez59]

Great issue for me to chime in on. I purchased a 70d as a backup to my 5d Mk1 a couple of months ago. The 5d has been a work horse, and I am using a 10d as a backup. Both great cameras and the service from canon was awsome. But now the honeymoon is over with the 70d. When I got it I noticed the images were soft and noisey. I contacted canon support who looked at the images and made some suggestions. The next set of photos were just as bad. Noisey, soft and muted color. I listened to canon and sent it in for service.  They bench tested it and blamed me, my lenses, my estranged wife, anything but the camera. Then they wanted to check my lenses. Remember I still use the 5d and needed them for my work, so I drove a couple of hours to a conon dealer and kidnapped a salesman and a 70d right out of the box. Under conditions like very low light, busy backgrounds, high iso, the images still were crisp and the color was as good as can be expected under the conditions. Still, canon says there is nothing wrong and will not replace it or fix it. I have shot over 1000 frames through this camera with not a single frame being sharp and in focus. By accident something should have been in focus if it were operator error. The lenses that thay want to test work great on my other cameras and the new 70d at the dealer. I don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure this out. Problem is I listened to canon and now it is beyond the window to return it to the dealer. So now what?

The issues may be with only a small percentage of 70ds but a bunch have been sold so they add up. Canon has took a page from the GM playbook and simply deny any issues. I do love my other cameras (I have canons going back to my A1 and AE1) so I do would not tell anyone not to buy canon but if you do and you even think it may have issues, take it back to the dealer and get a refund. We may need to start contacting our states AG at some point. Meanwhile, I will have to learn to operate a Nikon.

[ghstinshll]

Ray, I haven't tested mine on a yard stick yet - but have you tried the viewfinder vs. live view shooting to see if it helps?