yeah, I'd love to blame the lens, or even the body(ies). I know for an absolute 100% fact I would never even press the shutter unless the autofocus locked on the eye of any animal I would be shooting (unless for some odd reason I was looking for other DOF for effect or emphasis. Despite that I get way more shots than I would like with a nose, or an ear sharp only to find the eye a tad soft, ugh. I have had this experience with a 300
f4 L, 300 F2.8 L on both a 5D and 1DsMK3. I am not sure what percentage of error the pros get but it must be some.
I attribute it to user error...frustrating since I don't know how to solve it, or even what the error is. Just too remote it could be a consistant issue with the gear, though I sometimes get this even with the camera tripod mounted and the subject barely changing positions. I once tested with a ruler to see where it focused and it seemed to do okay.
I am however guilty at times of getting wrapped up in the moment and counting too much on IS, shooting too slow of a shutter speed and getting some soft shots sometimes.
I remember reading something by a pro who had a bird shot with the bird carrying an insect. The one with the antenae perfect he said the autofocus hadn't locked yet and he missed the shot. All the other shots were tack on. I don't know, I shake my head sometimes. Glad that I am not a pro. Now it just frustrates me, if it ws really costing me money I'd be ****ed. COme to think of it it is making me mad. I really should do more testing and figure out what the heck I am doing, the gear is doing, or what beyond generally good shooting technique I could do to improve my tack sharo capture rate. When I get that tack sharp image it is unreal. I get them, but not as often as I'd like. I even have shots at 1/2500th of a second that lack that tack sharp look depsite a locked on focus point, IS, and using a panning head! I am more than open to others suggestions and experiences. I would like to have more keepers.