Expert: Erin Reid Coker - 4/14/2008

Question
Hi
I got my first DSLR canon 5D as a present from my wife and i have been playing with it and i have troubles understanding how it focuses.
What happens is i have Fuji S7000 and it takes great photos and focus is distributed evenly throught the photo, another words from the center to the corner sharpness of the photo does not change unless i am very very close or shooting macro mode
With 5D center is the sharpest and clearest part of the photo. I was looking throught professional photography sites and found the same pictures with clear center and blurry everything else.
Here is the example go to www..........com view images (Ctrl+F images - 9999, 9999, 9999, 9999, 9999, 9999)
I took photos of my wife and kid with S7000, Powershot S400 and 5D and 5D came out the worst. S400 was the winner. All four corners as well as center clear and sharp, same with some zoom applied
I am kind of dissappointed it is suppose to be good camera.
Changing apature setting did help with depth of field and redused corner blurrness but not by much

So my question to you is is it the way DSLRs work or am i doing something wrong.
So i have Canon 5D and 22-70 L-Series lenses.

Thanks

Answer
Although I don't own a 5D I do plan on buying one soon.  I have read some stories online about the images being a tad soft around the edges and from what I understand, that could be due to the camera being a full frame camera.  If you have checked your points of focus and the in-camera sharpening is not helping I would certainly google for some answers.  Some say the lens you are using makes a difference but if it occurs on every lens you use then their might be an alignment issue somewhere.  If you are still under warranty I would send it in... to fix the autofocus problem Canon may have to recalibrate.

In the end I guess I rally can't help much because I don't own the camera yet.  Best of luck!  On the other hand, if you really hate it I would love to talk to you about selling it!


Erin Reid Coker
www.erinreidcoker.com
www.gallery9north.com