Focus point help

kelack

kelack

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Kelly
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Just going through yesterday's photos from football and notice that some of the time I miss the focus on the player and get either a player behind or a fence perfectly in focus.

What am I doing wrong?

Can't post an example at the moment as I'm still working through them but it's been bugging me now
 
You would need an example.. also how fast was the subject moving? faster than you aquiring focus then shooting?
 
They weren't moving that fast - it may just be me being slightly off but am I using the right settings etc etc





 
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You probably just missed the focus or using AI servo moved slightly and it refocused on the back ground. The last two, if you were using the center focus point you would have got the back ground anyway. Tracking the action is the difficult part of shooting sports and you can only improve by practise.
 
Thanks Little John, the last one is in focus though. I used that as an example of two photos taken one after the other.

I realise that I'm probably slightly missing so is there a way to combat this (apart from practice) as I've been doing this for years now
 
I thought I had focus lock as it seems to be one in focus, one out of focus and the next one in focus :(
 
Are you using single /centre spot for focusing? If so is it illuminating when focus is secured? Also when you say one in and one out are you re-focusing after the first shot?
 
Gary Coyle said:
Wait until you get focus lock confirmation before firing the shutter
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kelack said:
I thought I had focus lock as it seems to be one in focus, one out of focus and the next one in focus :(
Click to expand...

If you were in AI Servo you wouldn't be getting focus confirmation though, would you?

If you were getting confirmation then you were either in One Shot or AI Focus, neither of which is great for action shots (a bit of an understatement!). :D

Edit:

The Exif shows that you were in One Shot AF, which means that either the action had moved after you achieved focus, or it locked on to the static target. Swap to AI Servo and you should get better results!
 
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Sod it, thanks for your replies, I could have sworn I had AI Servo on........doh!!! Will check settings. See what happens when I don't do sports piccies for 3 months!

Thanks all for your help xxxxxxxx
 
Can you slow down the focus tracking sensitivity on the 40D? This is a custom function that controls how quickly the camera switches focus from the subject it was tracking to a foreground or background object if you drift off the main subject or something comes between you and it.

For example if the ref runs in front of the player you're tracking, if the sensitivity is set to "fast" the focus will jump to the ref, then back again to the subject when the ref's gone past. If set to "slow" the focus will remain on the subject and ignore the ref running through the focus point.
 
my canons have always had a habit of jumping focus to somehting if its closer and brighter :(
 
Tobers said:
Can you slow down the focus tracking sensitivity on the 40D? This is a custom function that controls how quickly the camera switches focus from the subject it was tracking to a foreground or background object if you drift off the main subject or something comes between you and it.

For example if the ref runs in front of the player you're tracking, if the sensitivity is set to "fast" the focus will jump to the ref, then back again to the subject when the ref's gone past. If set to "slow" the focus will remain on the subject and ignore the ref running through the focus point.
Click to expand...


thats useful but on the other hand if you slow the tracking sensitivity down it also slows down how quickly it locks on its initial target, swings and roundabouts, i always settled for the default setting.
 
Gary Coyle said:
thats useful but on the other hand if you slow the tracking sensitivity down it also slows down how quickly it locks on its initial target, .
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surely tracking sensitivity has absoloutly no effect on how quick it aquires.. two different thing..
 
KIPAX said:
surely tracking sensitivity has absoloutly no effect on how quick it aquires.. two different thing..
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Nope, try it and see, the slower you set the sensitivity the longer it takes to aquire focus lock, especially when shutter is half pressed and you want to move to another subject yourself.
 
Gary Coyle said:
Nope, try it and see, the slower you set the sensitivity the longer it takes to aquire focus lock, especially when shutter is half pressed and you want to move to another subject yourself.
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Aquire and track are two seperate things.. unless your saying you move from one subject to another wiht shutter half pressed.. does anyone shoot like that? even then I seriously doubt it will make any difference...
 
KIPAX said:
Aquire and track are two seperate things..
Click to expand...

I am also of the same oppinion.

Also I asked the question a few years ago on Rob Galbraith forum how long focus would remain locked on a subject while tracking and no one could answer, Canon or Nikon.
 
They are seperate if thats how you choose to shoot, however if you prefer to keep back button pressed and recompose then the sensitivity affects how quickly you aquire focus lock on you next subject, of course you can release the back/shutter button and recompose but some choose not to
 
There is another setting which prioritises them too....either fast initial focus or priority tracking...This affect the focus on the first shot....Depends what your priority is
 
Gary Coyle said:
If you choose priority tracking you risk the first one or 2 shots in a burst being OOF
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is that if your always hold of the back button for focus?

which is the better if your hitting the focus when recomposing.. front button.... priority tracking or ?

Haa just checked.. you mean C.fnIII.4 ? mines set to 1 and that will be for continuous focus like gary uses.. for recompose and refocus it should be on "0" I am guessing and have just changed... waddya fink ?
 
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Right, now I'm confused, got camera out for rugby on Saturday, thought, ooo must change to AI Servo and lo and behold, it was in AI Servo. Not quite sure why the exif says it's One Shot :thinking::thinking::thinking:

Am just downloading the pics from this weekend
 
so whats yours on?....everybody ?
 
7D
Focus speed: -1
CfnIII.2.0 AF priority/Tracking
CfnIII.3.1 Cont AF track priority

Seems to work fine for horsey stuff, cricket and runners.
 
kelack said:
I thought I had focus lock as it seems to be one in focus, one out of focus and the next one in focus :(
Click to expand...

If you are shooting on continuous 5fps or whatever, this is what you get with the 30D and 40D.

It is the way Canon set up their focussing on these cameras and have to agree, it's a pain in the derrière!
 
OK - my CFn III - 4 is set to 1: Continuous AF track priority.

For focus then recompose I have CFn IV - 1 (Shutter button/AF-ON button) set to 2 Metering start/Meter + AF start. This enables back button focusing. I focus on the thing I want by pressing the back button, then recompose and press the shutter. If there is a significant difference in lighting with the recomposure and I'm in one of the auto modes, I'll press the * button to lock exposure before I recompose.

Or you can just move the focus point of course.
 
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Tobers said:
OK - my CFn III - 4 is set to 1: Continuous AF track priority.
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Mine was.. but I really dont understand what it works with.. so doing a match tonight.. first half on 1 and second half on 0 .. will do lots of tracking and machine gun shots to see what happens...

Have a funny feeling i wont even notice a difference... Can anyone say in advance what the difference would/should be?
 
DemiLion said:
Don't know if you've seen this before, but you want page 20:

http://www.canonrumors.com/files/1dm4cfnguide.pdf
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yes seen but unless a certain thing is pointed out like you just did its an atherwise momentous read :(

as i thought it works in conjunction wiht another cfn so i turned 8 and 4 off to see if any difference.. i will turn them back on for second half see what happens
 
No matter what you have the tracking sensitivity set at, the initial acquire/focus lock speed will be the same.

If you set the tracking sensitivity to slow, and acquire focus on a first subject then while keeping the camera focusing (half shutter press or back button) then move to a new subject it will take longer to acquire new focus. That's exactly what is supposed to happen.





For CFn III 4 to be enabled you MUST also enable AF point expansion in CFn III 8


The Canon AI Servo AF Custom Function & ISO Speed Settings Guide is a bit heavy going and I think it needs to be read a couple of time to get it to make sense. I need to read it a lot more for it to sink into my tiny brain :thinking::

It does not help when it looks to contradict itself (well to me it does)

[C.Fn III-4-0] AI Servo AF Tracking Method: Continuously Follow One Subject with Main Focus Point Priority
Click to expand...

Then further on in the booklet

‘Main focus point priority’ is effective when you want to continuously switch between targeted subjects.
Click to expand...
 
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Sorry hadnt noticed replies on this..

it was hard to tell on the night even tethered.. i always had at the back of my mind that my current setup works good enouguyh why am I messing.. so i did about 20 mins with changed settings... had a look when i got home and really couldnt see anything untoward... certainly when using it no difference.. i locked onto targets walking or running about.. shot and really couldnt see any difference..
 
Sorry for delay in replying...I wanted to get the new body before asking any other Q's.

My MK IV has arrived and I'm just setting it up now...I'll be asking Q's later...lol

just setting up the MA on the 300 and then again with the 1.4tc attached.
 
Tugster said:
Sorry for delay in replying...I wanted to get the new body before asking any other Q's.

My MK IV has arrived and I'm just setting it up now...I'll be asking Q's later...lol

just setting up the MA on the 300 and then again with the 1.4tc attached.
Click to expand...
What method you using for MA?
 
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