 John W. Black |
Canon EOS 1 focus is off. I have owned a Canon EOS 1 with the power booster for 10 years and I love it. I noticed 6 months ago that when using autofocus, subjects look slightly out of focus when the camera claims they are sharp. All the pictures look fine when the prints come back. Here is the weird part; when I override the autofocus and focus manually, the prints come back unsharp or even slightly out of focus from manually focussing, even though the subject looked sharper than the autofocus reading when I took the picture. It is NOT my lenses. I have 5 pro series lenses which are all fine and I don't have this issue on the 2 other EOS backup Elan bodies that I have. It is also not the way the diaptor is set, I don't wear glasses (20/20 vision) and have this set accordingly as well as playing around with it - no difference. I took the camera to Canon and they said the autofocus is fine. It has not been dropped to my knowledge or endured any other sort of physical abuse. It freaks me out because I photograph weddings and other important jobs and I am forced to second guess my focus decisions. I just wondered if anyone has ever had this issue with any camera or in particular the EOS 1 and what the solution is. Maybe this camera just wants to retire? I have used it professionally day in and out for 10 years. We've been through allot together!! All the best,
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Christopher A. Vedros |
I was sure it was the diopter, until I got to the part where you said it wasn't the diopter. When you said you played around with it, and there's no difference, does this mean that when the camera achieved autofocus, adjusting the diopter dial still wouldn't bring the viewfinder image into focus? If this is the case, then I would highly suspect that there is something wrong with the diopter. Maybe the adjustment dial is stripped. If the camera is achieving autofocus, and the resulting pictures are indeed focused, AND manually focused pictures come back blurry, then the problem has to be somewhere along the path from the mirror to the eye. I imagine with the EOS 1, you have the option of changing out the diopter and also the focusing screen. Perhaps one of these has become misaligned somehow. It seems like a good time to have an expert take a look at it.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
You've eliminated everything but your eyes.
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John W. Black |
Thanks for the responses. I also had suspected that the mirror to eye issue seems the most logical at this point or the actual focusing screen. The diopter works fine and even when playing around with it I can see it adjusting but it dosen't fix the problem. The second post that suggests that it is my eyes, well it just isn't. I did rule that out first with many tests using other cameras when in the field and shooting. Maybe my eyes are too good whereas others wouldn't catch the problem as it is very slight. On all my other cameras both auto & manual focus are sharp in the viewfinder and in the prints or digital images (I also have a Canon 20D). I only have this issue with this one EOS 1 camera. It is almost as if I have to focus manually a little behind the subject for it to be sharp in prints. The autofocus does the same. I also use an older Hasselblad which of course is fully manual and everything is always great in the viewfinder and prints. I took it into Canon Pro Services for a full tune-up and their experts said everything is fine. Nothing against Canon, I love their cameras however my buddy had to take his 10D in 3 times before they realized that the shutter was blown. This problem is only obvious at very shallow depths of field which I also mentioned to them. A 20mm lense or even 50mm looks ok. Put on a 200mm and get close to your subject and it is definitely off. I am thinking that the best solution at this point is to sell it to a professional retailer, make them aware of the issue and let it become their problem and have it fixed. I just wanted to see if anyone out there ever encountered this odd phenomenon before.
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