Exif data: 7DII, 100-400L mk1 @ 300, 1/500 @ f/11, ISO 2500

Actually you are getting there. I hope you don't mind my downloading and doing some PP on the image. I deleted the download when I was done.
I did about 10 minutes of Post Processing in Photo Shop and NIK Viveza, then cropped and did not sharpen. Noise is from the ISO and made to appear worse by cropping. Focus is pretty good, I assume you focused on the bird? Were you using Center Point Focus or expanded center point? For small birds like this I use center point, 400 mm unless I am very close so I can fill the frame as much as possible and if I got close enough I would rotate the camera to Portrait mode for framing. I also set the camera to Spot Meter and meter the bird since it is the most important part.
You could drop the SS to 1/200 or so if the IS was on and you brace on something to steady the camera (practice, exercise your hands and arms and learn to control your breathing while you release the shutter) and that would reduce the ISO down to about 1000-1200, a lot less noise at that ISO. If you are 15-20 feet from the bird or more than f/8 will probably have enough DOF for the bird and his perch the rest can be allowed to go soft-it will actually make the bird stand out more. I find that with small birds, esp dark ones a fill flash works wonders when they are in shade etc.

Exif data: 7DII, 100-400L mk1 @ 300, 1/500 @ f/11, ISO 2500

Actually you are getting there. I hope you don't mind my downloading and doing some PP on the image. I deleted the download when I was done.
I did about 10 minutes of Post Processing in Photo Shop and NIK Viveza, then cropped and did not sharpen. Noise is from the ISO and made to appear worse by cropping. Focus is pretty good, I assume you focused on the bird? Were you using Center Point Focus or expanded center point? For small birds like this I use center point, 400 mm unless I am very close so I can fill the frame as much as possible and if I got close enough I would rotate the camera to Portrait mode for framing. I also set the camera to Spot Meter and meter the bird since it is the most important part.
You could drop the SS to 1/200 or so if the IS was on and you brace on something to steady the camera (practice, exercise your hands and arms and learn to control your breathing while you release the shutter) and that would reduce the ISO down to about 1000-1200, a lot less noise at that ISO. If you are 15-20 feet from the bird or more than f/8 will probably have enough DOF for the bird and his perch the rest can be allowed to go soft-it will actually make the bird stand out more. I find that with small birds, esp dark ones a fill flash works wonders when they are in shade etc.

Hard to tell without a photo. My wild a** guess for softness is not realizing how thin the DOF can be when shooting at the wide side. Try this calculator http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html and at see the DOF, or better yet the thinness. You can try the old fence, railroad track, picking the same spot and shooting from the most open to stopped all the way down. Of course the initial spot should be in focus or this is another issue.

When shooting a single object like a bird, that this DOF is great as I only want the bird and the rest soft. If I'm shooting three turkeys from say 25 feet and not in the same plane I have to stop it down if I want all three.

Once you experiment and get a feel for DOF, you will love the lens.

Good luck!

The minimum focus distance for the original 100-400 L (series 1) is 5.9 feet. (the new series II is a lot closer). The 6 foot distance or thereabout means that the DOF is nil.

Here are two pics from my 5D MkII through a 100-400L series 1 with no filter. These are converted from raw in DPP4. no cropping or any adjustments to anything. I just called them up and converted to highest quality JPEG. The flower is about 15 feet away from me and the widow skimmer dragonfly is about 6.5 feet away. Note how shallow the depth of field is on the dragonfly. zoom in on it and parts of it are in focus and parts are not.

Regarding noise in images... I don't agree with an earlier post where the user limits their 7DII to ISO 400. In fact, that's just about the lowest ISO I ever use! I often use higher... 800 for much of what I shot last weekend and I don't hesitate to use up to ISO 3200 or 6400. Occasionally even 8000, 12800 or 16000... although add'l post-processing noise reduction is needed with thos.e (Note: I do generally avoid the "expanded" ISOs... which are digitally enhanced. I only rarely use them in truly desperate lighting conditions and often will do black & white conversion of the images.)

I shoot RAW, so no noise reduction (or sharpening) is being applied in-camera.

When using higher ISOs, I'm extra careful to avoid under-exposure, because having to boost exposure in post-processing always greatly amplifies noise.

You be the judge. Below is an ultra high ISO test shot I did with one of my 7DII (and, it so happens, 100-400L II.. 158mm focal length and wide open at f/5, note the shallow depth of field). Lighting was from a single 60W CFL bulb and from a small window, both about 8 or 10 feet from the subject.

This was shot RAW at ISO 16000 (sixteen thousand, not 1600)...

https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1659/25860530783_b933736438_b.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1499/25860527623_5a5e0b01f2_b.jpg

The enlarged detail on the right above shows that there's noise in the image. But that's a ridiculously magnified view, far larger than I'd ever actually use or print this image. And, even then, IMO the noise is pretty well controlled. I'd have no problem making an 8x10" or possibly even 11x14" or 12x18" print from this shot.

It might matter what software is used for post-processing. Above RAW conversion was done with Lightroom 6... at it's default noise reduction setting. While I boosted contrast slightly and adjusted the black point in that image... no additional noise reduction (or sharpening) was applied and, if anything, the adjustments I made should have increased the appearance of noise in the image. This test was intentionally done as a "worst case" example. With a high ISO image I'd normally do more careful NR in Photoshop... usually with a Noiseware plug-in I use... but not in this case. IMO, noise is pretty well controlled. It's not random "color noise" as was more common with earlier cameras. In the past, with earlier versions of Lightroom and Photoshop, I wasn't as happy with their noise reduction and used to do my initial conversion of high ISO RAW files in Canon's own Digital Photo Pro software. So, it may make some difference what post-processing software you use.

I think a lot of the problem is how people evaluate their images. Many folks automatically look at their shots "at 100%". On most computer monitors , with a 20MP image from a 7DII, that's like making a 3 foot by 4.5 foot wide print and then viewing it from 18 or 20" away... something you'd never actually do and far more critical than most peoples' "real world" uses of their images. It's fine to highly magnify images for retouching, but silly to evaluate them for sharpness, noise, etc. at those extremes. 25% or 33% is probably more realistic magnification, closer to the size the images will actually be used in the end, after downsizing them.

It's also important to not sharpen images too early in post-processing. Any noise reduction needs to be applied before sharpening, bit depth reduction or downsizing. It's usually best to do sharpening after re-sizing the image for it's intended use, since the level of sharpening required varies a lot and overdoing it can make for pretty ugly results (JPEG artifacts, in addition to amplified noise).

I'd suggest you do some tests yourself.... Take a series of shots at various settings to see for yourself how the higher ISOs of your camera perform in conjunction with the post-processing workflow you use. Then you can make your own decisions about what's usable and what's not. (Note: Personally I don't use Auto ISO very much, either. I prefer to lock down and control ISO myself. Auto ISO can be helpful for certain things... but I think it's vastly overused by many people. And I only use it with Manual exposure setting... which is actually no longer manual exposure, becomes another form of auto exposure when used with Auto ISO.)

It may be necessary to use higher ISOs at times. Image stabilization is very helpful, but still calls for reasonable care along with higher ISOs that may be necessary to prevent camera shake blur. Plus, IS cannot help freeze subject movement... another possible cause of blur in images. Only faster shutter speeds (along with the higher ISOs required) can stop that!

Keep in mind that with higher ISOs noise isn't the only concern. As ISO is increased, there's also inevitably a reduction in dynamic range and even decreased resolution in images. If you shoot that series of tests I suggested, notice how the file sizes decrease with each increase in ISO... That's clear evidence that resolution and DR are being reduced to some extent too. These can require some adjustments (such as what I did with the sample image above.... increasing contrast and tweaking the black point).

Jen,

There's nothing wrong with your pictures. Like others have pointed out, the DOF is a little shallow which makes for some parts of the image to be a little out of focus. Lesson learned but now you need to see for yourself.

Try taking the same picture of the same plant from the same place but use Av or aperture priority. Shoot a pic at f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16 and f/22. Then import them to your computer and look at them full screen. You'll see a lot of differences in the DOF. Sometimes, DOF isn't that important if you need to keep your shutter speed high and ISO low in lieu of a totally sharp image. At least the important parts of the subject WILL be sharp. Use only 1 focus point when doing these experiments and keep that point the same throughout the test.

Jenz,

You mention soft images with the Canon 100-400mm L first version (push/pull zoom) lens, specifically (though you also say other lenses seem soft, too)...

Do you have a "protection" filter on that lens? If so, try without it. It's a common problem with that particular lens, that it "goes soft" when even a high quality filter is installed. I don't know why, but it just seems to be a common thread. More than a few users of the 100-400L have been stunned how much sharper their lens was, after removing a filter that they though was "protecting" the lens from some boogeyman. Besides, the lens' nice deep hood does an excellent job protecting it.

This doesn't explain the other lenses, though. Other lenses may not have the same aversion to filters as the "push/pull" 100-400mm does. Even so, I'd recommend testing all of them with and without filters, just to be sure. And, whenever using filters, for best/sharpest images, only use high quality, multi-coated filters. (Personally I use my lenses without filters most of the time... I have them on hand, but only install "protection" filters when they might actually be needed.)

I've been using a pair of 7DII for several years now... probably have taken about 100,000 images with them. I use the 100-400L II... handheld more often than not... along with a number of other lenses. I see some missed focus (soft) shots, sure. But it's relatively few... probably less than 1 or 2% on average. And I bet at least half of those are my fault. I mark the images "rejected" in Lightroom, when I note missed focus.... then go back and try to analyze what happened. I just looked at a sporting event I photographed last Sunday and found 21 missed focus out of just over 2400 shots. There may be a few more missed focus shots I overlooked, I haven't double checked yet. (I've been concentrating on getting the "keepers" edited... which turned out to be a little over 1300 in this case.)

IMO, focus performance is dependent upon three primary factors: the camera's AF system, the lens' focus drive and max aperture... and the photographer's setup and skill using the camera.

In addition to the 100-400L II, last weekend I used 70-200mm f/4L IS USM and 24-70mm f/2.8L USM. (Shooting sports, I mostly use USM lenses, which are the fastest focusing. I have a couple lenses that use slower micro motor... but they are an ultrawide and a macro lens, where focus speed is less of a concern and I don't tend to use them for sports.)

Because you are seeing problems with multiple lenses... and because I suspect are new to 7DII (and had success with some prior camera?)... I tend to think it's something in your autofocus setup that you've overlooked or have set incorrectly. The 7DII has a fairly complex and customizable AF system. (Note: There's a 50 page user manual for the AF system alone, a PDF of which can be downloaded from the Canon website... while there, also get the "complete" user manual PDF, which is upwards of 500 pages, a lot more info than the approx. 150 page printed user manual that comes with the camera.)

Here's what works for me:

Most of the time I set my 7DIIs to Single Point AF and use Back Button Focusing (BBF). I.e., I disable AF from the shutter release button and only use the AF On button to control AF. Thank to BBF, I can use AI Servo most of the time (more on this below). This means more work for me... When using Single Point and BBF it comes down to me keeping that point right where I want camera and lens to maintain focus. To facilitate this, I've set my camera so that the joystick has direct access to move the AF point around and so that pressing or "clicking" the joystick causes the AF point to return to the center point. This way I can move the AF point around without first having to press another button and while keeping the camera to my eye, watching tracking active subjects (the down side to using the joystick this way is that sometimes the AF point gets moved accidentally, such as by bumping it while carrying the camera).

I occasionally use other focus patterns that the 7DII offers. I'll use one or the other of the two Zone patterns when I'm shooting really fast moving subjects like birds in flight, provided there's a very distant and.or plain background behind them and little or no obstructions in front... I.e., nothing to "distract" AF when using multiple AF points. I also might use one or the other of the two Expansion Points patterns when shooting a fast moving subject that changes directions frequently, making it hard to keep a single point on them.

The difference between Zone and Expansion is that the Zone patterns allow the camera to decide which of the active AF points to start focus with.... While with Expansion I decide the starting point, but the camera can switch to one of the adjacent points if needed. (Zone Focus is a lot like a scaled down or limited version of All Points/Auto... which I never use. All Points leaves it entirely up to the camera to decide where to focus... and it will often do so on whatever is closest and covered by an active AF point.)

I also use Spot Focus, which is a form of single point with a smaller than usual AF point for greater precision. It's handy, for example, when shooting a bird sitting in a tree in a tangle of branches, where a larger AF point is likely to want to focus in a branch in front of the subject. Spot Focus is a little slower than standard Single Point, though.... So I don't use it all the time (though I have seen folks use it for fast moving subjects like butterflies.)

One of the "problems" with using AI Servo as a primary mode of focus is that there's no "Focus Confirmation". There can't be... Because focus never stops and locks the way it does in One Shot (which should only be used with stationary subjects). Focus Confirmation illuminates a green LED, flashes red in some Canon cameras and gives an audible "beep" when focus is achieved... if the user has the "beep" enabled. Some people don't like the noise and turn off the "beep". In fact, I leave it enabled because it immediately alerts me that I'm in One Shot mode... which is the wrong focus mode to use whenever subjects are moving. It's a very common thing that I hear other peoples' cameras "beeping" when I'm shooting sporting events. And whenever I hear that, I can say for certain that a very high percentage of their shots will be mis-focused. The reason One Shot (Canon's term for it... Nikon and Sony call it AF-S, as opposed to AF-C) is incorrect for moving subjects is pretty simple. It focuses on the subject, then stops and locks (and then gives Focus Confirmation). If the subject and/or photographer move and change the distance, focus will be off unless it's re-focused. When a subject is moving, you'd have to constantly be lifting off the button and re-applying it to cause the camera and lens to re-focus... and even then focus will be incorrect more often than it's right, if the subject is moving at anything faster than a slow walk "snail's pace".

AI Servo, on the other hand, is continuous focus. The camera and lens are constantly updating focus... Some number of times per second, far more frequently than a photographer can release and re-apply pressure to a button to update focus. But with AI Servo you have to learn to trust yourself and the camera & lens, that AF is working... because there's no Focus Confirmation. It might help that the 7DII can be set to display various things on the focus screen... such as a little "AF" icon in the corner to indicate whenever AF is running. (Some lenses you also can hear AF and/or IS running, if ambient noise levels allow).

There's a third AF mode on your camera... AI Focus. That's actually not a focus mode at all. It's sort of "point 'n' shoot" style automation IMO, where the camera is supposed to decide whether or not the subject is moving, then switch to use the correct mode: AI Servo or One Shot. Frankly, I've avoided using AI Focus for many years. When I experimented with it on earlier models I found too high an error rate... too often the camera chose wrong or seemed to have a delay while it was "thinking about it" or didn't switch modes when a subject started or stopped moving. I saw a big drop in missed focus shots, soon as I stopped using it. (It also might be a clue... Canon's most pro-oriented 1D-series cameras don't even have AI Focus mode... they only have AI Servo and One Shot.) Maybe newer models do better with AI Focus... I wouldn't know because I prefer to make my own decisions!

I mention using AI Servo most of the time. That mode can get you "into trouble" when using certain techniques, if not also using Back Button Focusing (BBF). For example, if you use a "focus, then recompose" while in AI Servo mode, the camera will often want to re-focus away from the subject, to wherever you moved the active AF point(s). But using BBF allows me to start and stop AF any time I wish. It quickly becomes second nature to do so, with just a little practice.

Another thing that this helps.... Quite a few of today's zoom lenses are "varifocal" designs. These don't maintain focus when zoomed to a different focal length ("parfocal" zooms do). When using One Shot with a varifocal zoom, you have to consciously re-focus when using One Shot. But if using AI Servo, the camera automatically and instantly corrects focus without any effort on the part of the photographer.

There are some other things that might help...

There are autofocus "cases", as Canon calls them. These are 6 different sets of "tweaks" to the AF system that someone designing the camera felt were appropriate for different types of subjects. Personally I don't use any of these "presets". I just leave my cameras set to Case 1 and instead go into the settings to configure the AF system as I see fit. But I've been using 7D-series cameras for about eight years now and have figured out what works for me. Someone new to the camera might want to study and try the Cases to see if they work for them.

In the first AF menu tab on 7DII, you can set priority of shutter release versus focus accuracy, while using AI Servo mode. There are two settings for this: 1st image and 2nd image. In both I choose to set focus accuracy to the maximum because missed focus shots are of little use to me. A photojournalist might set the opposite, needing to get the shot at precisely the right moment and willing to accept slightly missed focus. Setting high priority to focus accuracy may cause short delays occasionally, if the camera needs to prevent shutter release until focus has been achieved.... But with fast focusing lenses (such as most Canon USM) and reasonable lighting conditions, the 7DII focuses so quickly I hardly ever notice a delay. The difference between the two settings is that 1st image governs how the camera treats this with the initial shot in any burst (or any single shot if not using a continuous shooting "drive" mode). 2nd image decides how the camera will treat the next shot in the series... as well as all subsequent shots. In other words, if you have the camera set to 10 frames per second drive mode and hold the shutter button down for, say, 6 consecutive shots... the 1st setting effects the very first image.... while all the other five in the burst are effected by the 2nd setting.

There are another couple settings you might find helpful, but can be a little confusing. These only effect AI Servo (no function in One Shot mode) and are within whatever Case you choose (I leave my cameras set to Case 1 and modify it).

The first is Tracking Sensitivity. Initially you might want to dial this down to the minus side. This doesn't effect focus speed. It effects how quickly the AF will "jump" to a different object, if something comes between you and your primary subject... setting this to low prevents it from switching the point of focus. The down side to this is that the AF will be a little less responsive to subjects that change direction. If using and comfortable with BBF, you can instead use it to "dodge" momentary obstructions when your moving subject passes behind them... by lifting off the button briefly, temporarily stopping AF until past the obstruction, then reapplying pressure to the button and reacquiring AF once the subject is again in the clear. Once you've learned to do that, you might want to dial this setting up to the plus side.

Accel/Decel Tracking is similar, but governs how the camera handles focus on subjects changing speed coming toward or going away from you. I generally keep this set to +1. For me, that works in most situations.

The third parameter you can set (or that's varied depending upon the Case you choose), is for multi-point modes (Zone and Expansion focus patterns), which I don't use a lot and therefore don't change this setting.

7DII have a pretty sophisticated and high AF system. Like the top of the line 1D-series cameras, 7D-series feature a discrete chip running the AF system (in addition to dual image processors to support a high frame rate and rapid metering). Most other Canon models have a single processor to handle everything... focus, metering, images, etc.

Because of it's greater complexity, it can take a while to learn to use the 7DII's AF system really well in various situations. And what works for me might not be ideal for you (I like to keep it simple... K.I.S.S!... with that single AF point most of the time, AI Servo and BBF). Just don't get frustrated and give up.... study the manual, experiment a bit with the different possibilities, try one setting or tweak at a time to learn how each works, etc. Hopefully this info will help!

This is a good observation where maybe focus tuning on the lens will help for wide-open shooting. The stem seems to be in the same plane as the flower tips with the AF point, but the yellow tips don't show the same detail. The bright yellow tip in the sunlight also seems to have less detail available than the stem. This isn't maybe the best test, certainly where shooting at 150mm rather than zooming onto the subject to fill the frame. Also, I'd rather see some hand-held examples representing your typical shooting situations and AF modes than a static shot via Live-View.