Canon R7 R7 AF issues - no sharp images

[shamlin]

I have a nearly new R7 that I'm using with mostly older EF L-series lenses. I've been out with it twice photographing birds and haven't gotten a single usable image - a far cry from the tack-sharp images I expected after reading reviews and watching Youtube videos. The eye detect locks onto my subject and tracks it, giving the appearance that the focus is working exactly as it should, but on download, every image is soft. I ran rhe best of them through DxO PureRaw 3 and it was still very soft, so I ran that image through Topaz Sharp AI. It was still way too soft to be usable.

I have the current firmware and I have a bit of experience with Canon cameras and bird photography in the field - I've been using Canon gear to shoot wildlife since 2004. I called Canon service and spoke at length with a rep there who recommended I send it to the service center. Since I bought the camera used, I expected it would cost me at least a couple hundred dollars for the service. When I filled out the online form, I was pleasantly surprised that the estimate was $0. A couple of nights ago, I was reading reviews of the camera on the B&H website. Among them, I stumbled on a review from a buyer who described precisely the same problem. He sent his to the service center where it was repaired for free too. It fixed the problem for him. I just shipped my camera out yesterday. His experience gives me hope that my camera will return without a surprise bill and capable of delivering the sharp photos I expected.

From my conversation with Canon support, combined with the $0 estimate and the review on B&H, I get the impression my experience isn't unique. I don't think it's a widespread problem, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's more common than the few isolated cases I've been able to find evidence of, since Canon seems to be aware of it and to have a remedy worked out. According to the B&H review, the repair invoice was vague, stating "Your product has been examined and Electrical adjustments were performed." Whatever they did, it fixed the problem for him. I hope to have the same result.

 

[Archibald]

When you are working with the R7, you will see little squares in the viewfinder. They are white, gray, green and blue, at different times, and appear before and also after half-pressing the shutter button. These squares give information about focus. They show what the camera is thinking and where it will focus when the shutter is fully depressed. If you half-press and see a blue or green square right on the subject you want to focus on, you should be good. If that is not what you see, then the camera won't focus as you want.

The behavior of those squares is pretty complicated, but pay attention to them and little by little, their behaviour will become clearer and they should give you useful feedback.

 

[AntonLargiader]

... If you half-press and see a blue or green square right on the subject you want to focus on, you should be good....

Let me offer that if you see only ONE square and it's on your subject, then OK. The wider AF areas like Zone or Whole Area have many squares and one of them being on the flower may not be conclusive. The example is a good case for Spot or Single-point AF which would only have one. Expand AF may reduce to one square but it's probably a bit less predictable if the helpers are landing on surrounding foliage. I can't see how helpers would be good here. This needs Spot or Single-point.

 

[Archibald]

Keep it simple.

 

[ctitanic]

Let me offer that if you see only ONE square and it's on your subject, then OK. The wider AF areas like Zone or Whole Area have many squares and one of them being on the flower may not be conclusive. The example is a good case for Spot or Single-point AF which would only have one. Expand AF may reduce to one square but it's probably a bit less predictable if the helpers are landing on surrounding foliage. I can't see how helpers would be good here. This needs Spot or Single-point.

Good points, Whole Area is… unreliable in many cases, specially in case like the flowers in the picture. Even with single spot, if you have subject tracking the AF may scan the whole area looking for the subject. This is why I have one of the back buttons configured with single spot AF and subject tracing off. In the example picture from Barry that’s what I would use to be sure that I get in focus whatever I decide to focus on.

 

[Archibald]

I wanted to add - that I too have had issues with Canon gear. And they were focus problems. One was a body misbehaving, the other was a lens that sometimes gave blurry pictures. These were very stressful experiences. The body was a difficult issue because I didn't understand where the problem was. It took months before I finally sent it in. Canon found a fault with it and repaired it.

The lens was quite a different issue. Focus was inconsistent. I sent it to Canon 6 times (to service centers in Canada and the US) before they finally phoned me (yes, the tech phoned me) and explained that it was a "feature" of that lens. All those lenses behaved the same, tending to overshoot or undershoot the focal plane. After that I went into camera stores and borrowed the same lens for a few minutes, and was able to show the behavior to the sales people.

These experiences were very stressful and made me think about switching to Nikon. But I found out Nikon users also had problems.

Since then I have had more problems but they were simple to figure out (failed shutter, failed zoom on a lens) and easy (but expensive) to repair.

Moral of the story is that there can be mysterious problems with gear that are hard to understand and that cause much anguish.

A central issue with Barry's R7 is whether it is a repairable fault or whether the camera is performing as designed. I would say, if at all possible, rent or borrow another R7 body and shoot with it for a while, and see how the shooting compares. Of course you need to shoot with exactly the same settings. If the fault is easy to reproduce, you might be able to do the test in just a few minutes in a camera store showroom.

 

[RedCobra]

Bought an R7 to get more range/reach without resorting to my OM-1. It sits in the bag as it is not an R5 or a OM-1. It is what it is, but it is not a great camera, but them again I can buy 2 R7s for the price of a OM-1 and 4 R7s for the price of a R5. My R7 is for sale if anyone is interested.

 

[Archibald]

@RedCobra, I love my R7. I find it is way better than my R5 for macro and bird photography. It does have issues, though. One of the main ones IMO is its complexity. It is the most complicated camera I have ever owned. The manual has almost 1000 pages, which is crazy. The R7 firmware is bigger than the R5's. There are long discussions on different forums on best R7 settings for different scenarios, and tons of discussions on its AF system. Because it is so complicated, it has a steep learning curve.

All cameras are compromises, none are ideal. You have to choose the one that is right for you and for the job.

 

[Barry]

I cannot believe I am writing this. I took the R7 out today with the RF 100mm-500mm lens attached ,to a local bird reserve. I took 129 photos. Rejected just 15 of them. The camera and lens behaved perfectly for the first time ever. Sharpness, contrast, detail, correct ISO, aperture prioritised, shutter speed all in sync. All I did differently was set it to auto ISO ( I dont usually do this) . The light was good ( 10:00 to 11:00 am in the UK is best light in winter). I am amazed at the response from the camera and lens. I even, for the first time , didnt experience any focussing issues (the green square lit up exactly as was suggested by Anton) and I got the results that I wanted at last.
Its staying out of the box after all!!!!

 

[Barry]

Mirrorless is not that new technology, I have been shooting mirrorless the last 7 years!. I do not know exactly when Canon entered into this market but Sony has been releasing mirrorless cameras probably around 10 years already.

In my opinion you have a faulty camera and that is not going to get better. Just get rid of it in anyway you can. I do not know in UK but here you can buy a digital camera in any of the big cameras and if you do not like it return it back (you 7 days or 14 days depending on the store). Get one, compare results with the one you have and if it's the same and you still do not like it return it back.

Note on the history of Mirrorless (https://www.lightstalking.com/a-brief-history-of-the-mirrorless-camera-system/) . Canon released the R ecosystem in 2018! Sony did that in 2013!

When did Canon release the M series? I never got involved in them so have no idea.

 

[Archibald]

I cannot believe I am writing this. I took the R7 out today with the RF 100mm-500mm lens attached ,to a local bird reserve. I took 129 photos. Rejected just 15 of them. The camera and lens behaved perfectly for the first time ever. Sharpness, contrast, detail, correct ISO, aperture prioritised, shutter speed all in sync. All I did differently was set it to auto ISO ( I dont usually do this) . The light was good ( 10:00 to 11:00 am in the UK is best light in winter). I am amazed at the response from the camera and lens. I even, for the first time , didnt experience any focussing issues (the green square lit up exactly as was suggested by Anton) and I got the results that I wanted at last.
Its staying out of the box after all!!!!

Good stuff, Barry. Great to hear. Hopefully it will continue that way.