I've been shooting with my 10d for the past year. Most of my images were soft and focusing has been a frustration for me. However, yesterday, my camera in AF mode wouldn't fix itself on any of my selected focal points. I thought it might be the lens, so I changed the lens and had the same problem. My battery was fully charged. Then I thought perhaps it's the focal point...so I manually changed the focal point and had the same problem with all of them. I wasn't too close to my subject, etc. I literally shoot like 700 images a week... could my camera be tired? Is this a common problem that can be fixed? Any advice? I am using this for my photog business and am not terrifically happy with the 10d.
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Re: My 10d won't focus
I had the exact same problem with my 10D from the start. Soft images, slow and difficult to focus. I kept putting up with it, thinking it was a problem with me. It never did fail completely, but finally I had enough & sent it back to Canon. They found the focus screen was defective and replaced it, (and a few other things) plus they cleaned the camera and serviced it. So, I think your best bet is to take it to your local camera store. Let them check to make sure it's not something simple and then send it to Canon. I am very happy with the results, wish I'd have done it sooner.
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Re: My 10d won't focus
At 700 images/week for 52 weeks, you're just about at the point where the shutter could fail pretty soon. I don't think that would affect AF though, and AF doesn't "wear out" with use (other than experiencing the random failures that all electronics do).
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First, make sure the lock lever around the cursor pad is in the unlocked position (make sure the "L" is covered up). Then you can use the cursor buttons to move the focus area, or press the center of the cursor pad to center the focus area.
As for the battery issue, have you tried a fresh set of batteries? Does the LCD panel on the top light up with new batteries?
It sounds like you may have commanded the camera to use one of the other 10 focus points in the viewfinder. There are 11, total with one in the very center, and the rest around it. It looks like this:
Page 130 of the manual begins a discussion of Auto Focus. Page 133 details how to change the focus point. If you like to center the subject in your veiw finder & pictures, you should select the center focus point if it is set to one of the others. You may still have dark or soft pictures if the shutter needs to stay open too long. You can reduce the exposure time by bumping up the ISO to a value of 400 or 800 or more - as limited by you liking. The higher your ISO goes, the less time required - but the more grainy the image is.
I have seen bent mirrors and mis-aligned focus screens do this. It is possible for the film plane to be in focus while the viewfinder is out. you can test this with newspaper and a tape measure. buy a cheap roll of neg film and set up your camera on a tripod at a fixed distance, say 6ft. from the paper. Ideally I'd attach the paper to a light stand or the back of a chair. so that the paper is at 6ft, the back wall is at maybe 10ft. and there's something in the foreground in case its front focusing. then set the lens at what the scale says is 6ft regardless of what the viewfinder looks like. Shoot one frame with an aperture of f/2.8 on your 50mm. Shoot a second frame at f/16. rewind the film & develop it at a drug store or 1hr lab. if both images are sharp, the problem is in the mirror/ prism. if the 2.8 is OOF it's the mounting ring. I want you to shoot the F/16 to prove that the stop down lever is functioning.
I am having the same problem. I bought a Tamron zoom lens as an add on. This lens costs more than the camera and yet images are not as sharp as i would expect from such a highly touted camera. My Kodak Z740 point and shoot gives sharper prints. This is very frustrating. I bought Rebel for Dummies and still am having the same problem. Very frustrating
The camera is having problems with your lens and this is why it goues into the error mode. Try first cleaning the interface contacts on the lens ( see enclosed pic ) . If this does not sort the problem out then the auto focus motor ( or related hardware ) inside the lens will need attention. Also try other lenses to see whether it is only the lens ( I very seldom see this sort of problem cause by the body ; it is always the lens that gives this sort of trouble )
I have exactly the same problem and the image looks exactly like what you showed. I didn't abuse either. Currently, I'm talking to Canon Support and they have a known issue on S60 and will fix it for free,provided this issue is same as the experienced by us. Will keep you posted.
I suppose you really can't do much when camera is set to Auto Focus? All you do is aim and shoot? Everything is set up for you. Not so sure about limitations on manual focus. Don't you have different setting when shooting indoors? Good luck.
I shoot with a 10D and at first I thought I might have a problem. Now I think I just wasn't using it correctly. I read a lot of posts on dpreview about how to use the autofocus correctly and that has helped me a lot.
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