Help needed - Black-chinned Honeyeater

[Rob Drummond]

I'm wondering if anyone out there has a suggestion. I've had my Canon1D2N into the technicians twice for what I feel is forward focussing but on both occasions they said it is working perfectly. This shot illustrates my concern. Focus was on the eye (which is fine) but it is obviously at the back end of the focus field as the far foot is quite soft yet the perch for several centimetres in front of the bird is in sharp focus.

Canon 1D2N with 500/4 and 1.4X
ISO 400 f11 and 1/640 exp comp -1/3

cheers Rob

[Tony Whitehead]

Hi Rob. I see what you mean but unfortunately have no suggestions. The forum on Photography gear may have more ideas - one of the moderators may consider copying this there for you. I like the image despite the technical issue you have pointed out.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The bird looks sharp enough for my taste. I would use a different aperture, f/5.6 or so to check the focus accuracy. Did you keep the lens in a protected place? AC in a car can have an impact on focusing for quite a while if the lens is significantly colder than the outside temperature.

I like the light but find the branch or trunk in the BG a bit distracting.

[James Shadle]

Rob,

The closer you are to the subject the more pronounced the problem will be.
You handled the problem well by stopping down to F11.
Everything that needs to be sharp, looks sharp.

I don't know if the Mark 2 has AF Fine Tuning like the Mark 3. If it does try that.

Does what you focus on look sharp in the viewfinder and OOF on the resulting image?
Have you tried manual focusing? If so how were the results?

James

[Rob Drummond]

Thanks James.
The focus point in the viewfinder is also sharp in the image. As I said it's more that it appears to be at the back end of the field of focus. I'll look into the manual focus and fine tuning and also test Axel's idea of opening up the lens and see whether the point of focus is still focussed in the image

cheers Rob

[Zoltan Gyori]

Great shot Rob! Love the soft lights and the BG!