Canon SLR Troubleshooting and Comments

   / Canon SLR Troubleshooting and Comments
  • Thread Starter
#11  
Not even maybe!!! You can easily test a body with a lens and battery. Almost all used bodies are sold because the owner upgraded.

I'm going to start looking around town tomorrow. We have several pawn shops. Nothing nearby on CL yet.

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   / Canon SLR Troubleshooting and Comments #12  
I've never bought anything from a pawn shop. The other places besides local CL I have used have been Amazon used and eBay. Buyer protection with both.
 
   / Canon SLR Troubleshooting and Comments
  • Thread Starter
#13  
I've never bought anything from a pawn shop. The other places besides local CL I have used have been Amazon used and eBay. Buyer protection with both.
yep, will likely be an internet based transaction. Small town America here. :D

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   / Canon SLR Troubleshooting and Comments #14  
Check Charlotte CL. Rich bankers like to trade up cameras!
 
   / Canon SLR Troubleshooting and Comments #15  
It could be a dirty sensor and you can CAREFULLY clean it yourself. There are several youtube videos on exactly how to do it. I've done it myself a couple of times before I got a model that has self cleaning sensor. I won't post a particular video as I haven't reviewed them and don't want to recommend something I haven't watched but pretty easy to do before investing in another body.
 
   / Canon SLR Troubleshooting and Comments #16  
It could be a dirty sensor and you can CAREFULLY clean it yourself. There are several youtube videos on exactly how to do it. I've done it myself a couple of times before I got a model that has self cleaning sensor. I won't post a particular video as I haven't reviewed them and don't want to recommend something I haven't watched but pretty easy to do before investing in another body.

Camera shops can clean the sensor too for about $25=30 around here. Nothing magic but having done it a few times helps confidence. Newer cameras clean themselves with a vibration mode that can be set to work every time you shut the camera down.
 
   / Canon SLR Troubleshooting and Comments #17  
So a little back to basics perhaps ?
What ISO is the camera set to ? Set it to 1600 on the back menu to help have a known faster shutter speed to identify the cause of the focus issue.

OK, next set the camera on Av mode (aperture value). Now rotate the rotary dial right behind the shutter release to set the aperture value to the lowest available for the lens you have (3.5-4 if you have a typical zoom lens). Set the lens to its widest angle/shortest focal length.

Take a piece of newsprint or a black and white printed page with good size text on it (about 1/2" high test would be ideal) and fasten it to something so that you can put the camera on a tripod and have the back of the camera parallel to the page. The text on the page should fill the frame.

Make sure that the switch on the lens is set to AF, not MF. Go to the menu on the back of the camera, first page, AF Mode: set it to "one shot". Below that "metering Mode" pick the top of the 3 options (square with an ellipse with a dot in the center). Directly below that, ISO speed = 1600 The very top item "quality" should be set to L with a curve to the left of it.

Last check, for the focal point, press the button top right of the camera back (on top of the camera it should show a cross with all of the available focal points). While holding down the botton, rotate the wheel behind the shutter release until the focal point directly in the center of the viewfinder is illuminated (just 1 not all of them and right in the center).

Now fix the camera to the tripod, press the shutter release half way and see if the text is sharp in the optical viewfinder. If it is, press the shutter release in all the way and take a picture. If you are too close to the sheet of paper the camera may not be able to focus or if it is dark it may try to use the AF illuminator which may not focus accurately. So do your test in daylight, possibly not in direct sunlight since the contrast would be severe.

If the image is sharp in the optical viewfinder, it should be sharp in the image file. Sometimes with a wide angle lens it is very difficult to judge the focal point, so zoom in and then the depth of field will be reduced and the focus may be more exact. Even more important to use the tripod with a longer focal length since unless the exposure time is shorter, you are more likely to get blur from camera movement.

If none of that works, then it suggests that there is some problem with the optical phase shift of the focusing system and may need repair. That may render the camera a candidate for astrophotography or similar pursuits where the focus is always at infinity....
 
   / Canon SLR Troubleshooting and Comments #18  
If Westcliffes instructions seem a bit complex, just try this: put the camera on a table or chair. Set the exposure dial to the green rectangle (full auto) and use the self timer. Aim the camera at a bookshelf or similar item and click. Check the center of the exposed image for focus.
 
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   / Canon SLR Troubleshooting and Comments
  • Thread Starter
#19  
I'll try both of these and be sure. Last thing I want to do is buy a new body when there is a less costly correction that can be made.

Last night I did a full factory default reset on the camera and there is no improvement in AUTO mode. I hate factory resets because my personal settings/preferences get lost but in this case I would be facing the same with a new body anyway, so what did I have to lose.
 
   / Canon SLR Troubleshooting and Comments #20  
Last night I did a full factory default reset on the camera and there is no improvement in AUTO mode. I hate factory resets because my personal settings/preferences get lost but in this case I would be facing the same with a new body anyway, so what did I have to lose.
I used to shoot weddings and events. Prior to either I got in the habit of a "Clear All Settings" and start fresh. I did this because I had left some settings one or two times that I had forgot about that caused me a lot of grief in post processing.

jlgurr, are you doing anything in the way of sharpening when or if you edit your images? Perhaps the better eyesight after the laser surgery is bringing out the softness which is somewhat inherent to typical DLSR images.

Take some shots outside on a sunny day, ISO about 400, camera on Av, and set the aperture to f/16. At f/16 the lens will have a wide DOF(depth of field) and most all should be in focus enough to tell if there is a focus problem with the camera.

Also if any of your lenses have a "protective" UV filters on them, ditch them and try some shots without. Some inexpensive filters can cause reflections between the filter and the front lens element and mess with the cameras AF system throwing focus off.
 

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