Canon EOS 5D MkII Autofocus - Unhappy 5D MkII Users Speak Out

[DougAxford]

Lenny, the 'puppet' reference was never intended for you. I'm sorry if I wrote it so that you inferred it that way.

My comparison clearly stated that it was on 2 mid-priced Canon and Nikon cameras and I thought I had been clear that I thought the difference was in the user, not the equipment, even though I used Nikon gear for decades.

So, have you tried shooting the same event with comparable Nikon gear??? It's not often that people get a chance to trade gear with the guy beside them, then compare the results. If so, then I would feel you have a real contribution to make with photography at motosport events.

What bugs me is one particular contributor who used to own Canon gear who now seems to expend considerable efforts at Canon bashing for reasons unknown to most of us. Reasonable discussion and critiques I have no problems with and in fact add considerably to this forum.

[Noel_Carboni]

It occurred to me that my comments above have come across as quite confrontational and even insulting. My apologies for this! This thread somehow managed to put me in a defensive posture, and it's clear to me now that I was out of line to say what I did. I'm sorry.

-Noel

[sjprg]

Hi Noel; I've always found it interesting how some threads tend to raise my hackles and others I just find amusing. I personely have never found your responses to be out of line with my thoughts. Sometimes some people just don't get a gentle nudge and require a little stronger admonishment. I try to keep my responses in check but am not always successful.
Paul

[keithcarter7]

Originally Posted by Matt Ballard

Canon EOS 5D MkII Autofocus - Unhappy 5D MkII Users Speak Out

It's no secret that Canon has autofocus problems with it's DSLR digital cameras. Whether it's persistent soft focus, out of focus, or back focus, Canon can't seem to get it's autofocus system to work properly in its DSLR lineup. Canon 5D MkII owners are finding the 5D MkII is no different.

I dont know that this is limited to Canon. I had a deer caught in sunset lighting with flash fill, and in front of a enlarged setting sun going left to right of me in one great leap. Even though I got some great shots of that deer that evening. I walk away leaving a series of a great deer shots in my head. I was on a dirt road. I had taken twenty close up shots of the deer and decided I was done shooting close ups and I wanted to get a few shots of the deer on the move. So I set the camera to fully auto, and walk to the deer until it spook. I was shocked it darted at first but turned and came straight at me. It cross the road in one leap less than 10 feet in front of me. As it unfolded I saw a series of shots in my head as he rosed and fell in his great leap, but I got only one out focus shot... All I remember now was my internal rage and me asking why was it not shooting while it unfolded. Unfortunately the autofocus on my nikon did not track and I got only one shot after he landed, and it was out of focus. It was close to dusk, but I was using flash lighting and had everything possible set to assist the autofocus. Including head lights. I dont know about the other nikons and their tracking ability. But I decided I was going to sell my nikon and get a Canon. But then I read your note. So I am confused as to what I to do. Good luck on your tracking but sometime the grass is the same on the other side.

[Lenny Hartley]

Dont think anything would be good in that situation
IMHO at present the Canon's autofocus as not as good as the Nikon
autofocus in some situtations including low light and bright sunlight.
But if the light is right then its usually pretty good.
Unless you dont have a investment in lens which really is all that stops
many of us swapping around when one company is slightly ahead of their competitor in a particular area that interests us then I would not
consider swapping.
One thing Im confident off is that the next generation of IDx will have
the best autofocus seen to date by any company.
Regarding the latest posts, thanks guys.

[Jerry Skrocki]

The Canon 1 series cameras have more advanced autofocus systems than the non-pro Canon cameras.

My original 1Ds and the 1Ds Mark II have 45 AF points. The autofocus problems began with Canon when they came out with the 1D MarkIII and 1Ds Mark III and tried to improve with 19 cross-type AF points (plus 26 Assist AF points). These focus problems have been covered ad nauseum.

The new Canon 7D is supposed to have an improved autofocus system with 19 all cross focus points as opposed to 9 AF Points (1 Cross Type) + 6 AF Assist Points in the 5D Mark II.

Hopefully they won't repeat history.

[DougAxford]

I know this is an old thread but I was just reading Rob Galbraith's column on the new Nikon 70-200. Rob Galbraith DPI: A first look at Nikon D3S high ISO image quality, plus the new 70-200mm f/2.8

What caught my attention was this line: "The AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR, which went on sale beginning in 2003, is not one of our favourite lenses. At some focal lengths and at wider apertures, it's noticeably soft on the edges on full-frame Nikons, vignetting is pronounced, the slightest grazing of the focus ring will cause the AF system to switch from autofocus to manual focus when you don't want it to and its image stabilization is the least effective of any pro-level Canon or Nikon lens we currently own."

No, I'm not Nikon bashing. It's great that Nikon is bringing out a good replacement. What gets me is 2 things:

One, it's amazing how many reviews are so rosy until a replacement comes out, then the real weaknesses are revealed too. I have no idea what Rob's review of this lens was originally but I wish more reviewers would come clean like this more often in their initial review. Ya, I know, if they give a bad review they don't get the pre-release goodies next time.

Second, to be fair to Lenny, that's the lens that I was using last year that I thought was inferior to Canon's 70-200. So, maybe I was not happy using Nikon based on one of their lower performing lenses.

I'm not trying to open up another can of worms but somewhere here lies some real truths and explanations.