canon 5d speed setting dilemma

[mickeyt]

hi..wonder if u can help:shrug:

I'm trying to take fast moving shots of our little dog to freeze in him when he catches a ball..its soo difficult!

I have a canon 5d mk 3 and am shooting with a 70-200 f2.8 lens

settings I've tried

av..iso 100 shutter speed 125 al servo multi shutter

tv...iso 300 f4 shutter speed 1/1000 sec..al servo multi shutter

plus various manual

still not having any joy..:bang:

shooting raw.(some said jpeg is faster? for action shots?):bang:

can u plse give me some help which is right?...even if its to catch a fast bird in flight?

whats the best settings for these plse?..ive had some great success on trial and error on settings...but want to get proficient in freezing the action...


thanks..(yup..its a dumb question for u knowledgeable chaps n chapesses!)

mike.

 

[Russ77]

Post the pictures up on here and hopefully we'll be able to work out what's going on.

I'd have thought that at 1/1000sec you'd have frozen the action OK.

 

[mickeyt]

hi russ..to be honest I've taken multiples!,..what I want to work out is the correct settings so I'm on the right line..ie...for canon..for speed ..**** i be un av or tv..whats the best iso and aperture to use and al servo with multiple shutters..or shut i be in manual?..thats what I'm trying to figure out plse..

 

[mart77]

speed is the speed, 1/1000th of a second will stop action ,so it sounds like you arent in focus at the moment.

 

[woof woof]

Golly.

RAW and JPEG are just file formats and shouldn't affect speed until your buffer is full, then your camera will slow down. 1/1000 sec is fast and I'd have thought even 1/500 would be easily enough.

What is your focus set to? Multipoint?

Until you post examples it's only guess work but I'd suggest that you use the centre point only and not a very wide aperture. Keep an eye on your shutter speed and possibly ISO too. I'd imagine that you should be ok as long as your shutter speed is into the hundreds as long as you've focused on the dog and you're using a reasonable aperture.

 

[mickeyt]

Many thanks..I'll have a go if it doesn't rain tomorrow!!

 

[tdodd]

I'd be aiming for 1/1000 minimum for a decent rate of success. The further you drop the speed below that the greater risk of blur ruining the shot. 1/1000 is not a magic figure. It's just a good target to aim for. Of course, the degree of blur is affected very much by exactly how fast the dog is moving. If it is jumping for the ball then there will be a moment, as it reaches maximum height, where the movement will be pretty small, but on the way up or down (or still chasing) there could be quite a bit of speed.

I've just looked through some of my doggy shots and of several where the ball is in play I have shutter speeds of 1/1600 and higher. Maybe I didn't need speeds that high for every one, but at least they are sharp. On the other hand my slowest "successful" action shot is at 1/400. This one is at 1/500 and is very sharp on the head, even viewed at 100%, but it's a gamble with the shutter speed that low.

Here's one at 1/2000....

I don't think 1/125 is likely to deliver the results you are hoping for.

But you have a lovely f/2.8 lens and a camera with low noise, so shoot between f/2.8 and f/4 and crank the ISO a little (if you need to) to get your shutter speeds up. Bright light will help the AF performance and shutter speeds too. In sunshine you should be able to shoot at around 1/1600 at f/4 and 100 ISO, so pick decent light rather than miserable grey weather which could lose you 4 stops or so. For this kind of shooting I suggest you disable IS, if you have it, and really make sure you track the dog accurately with your focus point, panning and following the dog's movements well.

 

[mickeyt]

Great shots !!.and this is all in canon manual or tv mode??.with al servo and multi shutter ??.

As is typical its raining today so won't be able to try till the weekend..but once I've Sussed this technique I'll be chaseing animals all over the new forest..your shots are beautiful and sharp..that's what I want

Cheers

Mike

 

[tdodd]

I almost always shoot with manual exposure and I do pay attention to the type of light and its direction. For shooting this sort of thing I do prefer plenty of light (it helps the AF to perform better and also allows high shutter speeds without pushing the ISO) and with the sun somewhere behind me (not necessarily directly behind, but at least over one shoulder) if possible so that I'm not shooting into the shaded side of the animal.

I'll usually have the camera in low speed drive mode and sometimes I'll rattle off a few in a row, but often I will only fire a single release or a short burst at a time.

The shots above were with my 1D3 and 7D respectively. I don't often use my 5D2 for action shooting, since I do have faster bodies, but here are a couple from the 5D2, both shot at 400mm, 1/1600, f/5.6, 400 ISO....

Note that in the first image the light is very much off to the side and on the shadow side it can get very dark indeed., especially with a dark furred dog. That's why I like to shoot towards the brighter side of the animal and leave the shadows only to enhance form.

p.s. Even with a little dog, so long as there is action involved I prefer to keep the shutter speed up. This was with my 1D3 at 400mm, 1/1000, f/8, 400 ISO....

Oops - just realised you have a 5D3. I saw the "5d" i the thread title and thought you were struggling with an old clunker. So long as you have your AF dialed in accurately then you have a terrific action combo there. I certainly won't pretend that shooting fast moving dogs is easy - it took me a while to get my keeper rate up - but being aware of light that works and light that doesn't, and then practice, practice, practice should have you sorted. Whenever I find an OOF shot (given that I've mostly eliminated blur) it's nearly always the case that I let my AF point slip away from where it should have been. I also find that the fewer active focus points the better, as it is less data for the camera to process and less decision making for it to do. Unfortunately that adds to the photographer's burden to aim and track accurately throughout the shooting sequence.

 

[HoppyUK]

I'm guessing that the sharpness problem is most likely a focusing issue, but you have one of the very best camera/lens combos for tracking action there. It's just a question of selecting the right AF mode/settings, and technique.

Good comments from Tim about shutter speeds. Look at the shot of the black dog, head sharp but feet a blur. Action stopping is hard to gauge in that respect. Obviously faster the better, but then that will push your f/number down, reducing depth of field, making the focus issue harder.

But another thing the 5D3 is good at is high ISO, so push that up to whatever you need. To help get a sharp result, set the ISO at whatever you need to give you say 1/1600sec at f/8. That will cut down all movement blur and give a little focusing leeway.

If that is successful, then work on your technique to get the ISO down and image quality up, making sure you fill the frame etc. Good light helps!

 

[mickeyt]

thanks guys..top top advice....I will try these settings and techniques asap..stepping up a level is desired..spent way too much on the gear and think its time i proved i can show the outlay was worth it!..ill report back with results a soon as poss..enjoy ur bank hol.!

mike.