Me thinks that you might be expecting too much from the 1:1 crops of the converted TIFFs. The detail in the WHITEs of the crane does look a lot like that in the recent Osprey image…. Revelations soon. a

As I have been working a lot with Michael Tapes on the new release of FocusTune (coming in June I believe) do not dismiss AF issues; wait till you see some of what Michael calls “the outliers.” Outlier: an observation point that is distant from other observations.

artie

I think you might have me on this one. The full image really looks to me like the 1DX – super sharp, good contrast and really nice detail. However, the 1:1 crop looks a little softer than I would expect, so from this, I would say that it is the 7DII. On the other hand, since the 1DX only has 7MP in the APS-C sized part of its sensor (even fewer than my old 40D, which has 10MP), I could also be convinced that the pixel resolution in the 1DX isn’t high enough to show a really sharp 1:1. So I guess what I am saying here is that I really can’t tell!

It would be interesting to see what your optimization techniques could do with the 1:1 crop or show us a same size blow-up of the same area from image #1.

Regarding the 3 shot sequence technique, I agree with you completely. I developed a multi-shot technique like this on my own using my trusty 400mm 5.6 ‘toy’ lens. Since this lens has no stabilization, you really have to work to get sharp images and I learned very quickly to just leave the drive setting on high speed and take multiple shots every time I push the shutter button. This obviously has more to do with photographer jitter than AF issues, but the multi-shot technique addresses both and the result is the same – multiple shots give you a much better chance to end up with a ‘keeper’.

Steve