7D AF point options

I do a lot of portraits and sports shooting and i use single point spot AF in the center for portraits.

which AF point should i use for sports such as soccer? AF Zone in the center?

Al servo AF and AF point expansion focusing.

ok thanks. is there somewhere that explains what each type of AF point setup is best for and why? i have no clue where to start looking and google sends me to canon.com

There are some awesome videos available to help you on this very topic. Goggle is directing you correctly. Check out all of the Canon videos they offer for your camera. I did and do continue to go back to reinforce my understanding of all the camera's features. Here you go: http://www.learn.usa.c​anon.com …ls/eos_7d_tutor​ials.shtml

Also, there are some pretty good videos out there done by enthusiasts and 3rd party vendors that can offer some more insight.

Oops! One other thing...look for a book titled "Canon 7D From Snapshots to Great Shots" Written by Nicole S. Young. I think it's a terrific book and as Nicole points out early on in the book, manuals do a lot with the "how", but provide little to no "why", in understanding the camera's zillion features. I took advantage of Borders' going out of business sell and the 40% discount.

thanks. didnt notice there were videos

Kevan_G9 wrote in post #13009303
Oops! One other thing...look for a book titled "Canon 7D From Snapshots to Great Shots" Written by Nicole S. Young. I think it's a terrific book and as Nicole points out early on in the book, manuals do a lot with the "how", but provide little to no "why", in understanding the camera's zillion features. I took advantage of Borders' going out of business sell and the 40% discount.

Another vote for the book.

Bought it 6 months ago, really easy to read & understand. Also regularly take it away with me & refer to it.

i think i have decided on Zone AF for soccer tomorrow and will buy the book soon

I've been shooting with a pair of 7Ds for almost two years now... mostly sports.

Sorry, but I have to disagree...

I've tried most of the modes extensively (all but All Points, I know better than to use it most of the time) and am back to using just the Center Point nearly all the time.

I get far more focus errors with Expansion, Zone or (God forbid!) All Points. In all those modes you are leaving it up to the camera and it will choose wrong some of the time. Just how well it works depends upon how busy a background you're dealing with and whether the subject is large and dominant in the frame or farther away.

Recently tried Zone and Expansion again with socccer and volleyball, in a casual situation where I could afford to experiment and wasn't under any pressure to "get the shot". In both cases my percentage of missed focus shots went way, way up. To be fair I don't shoot soccer or volleyball a lot, so that was part of the reason I was getting fewer "keepers". But a number of otherwise good shots were ruined when the camera focused behind the subject, on a busy background.

If I were shooting soccer or volleyball and had a less busy, more distant background, Zone or Expansion might work better. Soccer and volleyball are hard to follow with a single point.

Birds in Flight works well with Zone or Expansion, so long as you are shooting against a plain sky or distant scene that's got little detail. However, it's often best to be using a middle aperture, depending upon the size of the bird. Camera might focus on the near wingtip or the bird's body at different times. If your depth of field is adequate because you're using a middle aperture, though, the exact point of focus might not matter that much. If I were going for a large aperture, shallow DOF effect, I'd probably switch back to using Single Point.

With most sports, I simply get far better and more consistent results using Single Point, where I control the point of focus and don't leave it up to the camera to decide.

I use Back Button Focusingnearly all the time. And AI Servo.

amfoto1 wrote in post #13009749
I've been shooting with a pair of 7Ds for almost two years now... mostly sports.

Sorry, but I have to disagree...

I've tried most of the modes extensively (all but All Points, I know better than to use it most of the time) and am back to using just the Center Point nearly all the time.

I get far more focus errors with Expansion, Zone or (God forbid!) All Points. In all those modes you are leaving it up to the camera and it will choose wrong some of the time. Just how well it works depends upon how busy a background you're dealing with and whether the subject is large and dominant in the frame or farther away.

Recently tried Zone and Expansion again with socccer and volleyball, in a casual situation where I could afford to experiment and wasn't under any pressure to "get the shot". In both cases my percentage of missed focus shots went way, way up.

Overall I simply get far better and more consistent results using Single Point, where I control the point of focus and don't leave it up to the camera to decide.

I use Back Button Focusingnearly all the time. And AI Servo.

thats what i normally do but someone told me to use the other AF points and i wanted to do research because i couldnt believe that they could be better than doing single center point spot focus which is what my camera is always set on. and i use back button AF and will be doing servo as well

For some rare sports pictures, like the one below, actually even Servo AF with all points work best. The only thing the camera is capable of focusing on is the lamp, and it's virtually impossible to keep a single focusing point on the lamp. I can't even judge where the borders of the image are with any higher accuracy, so using all points is what works best for me for this kind of shooting.
If I can't use the flash with E-TTL, then I don't even really know if I'm aiming right when i push the trigger button, but if I do use E-TTL, I do at least get a glimpse from the pre-flash.

My experience with AF expansion on my 7D was terrible. It caused me more missed shots than just using center point alone, and I have heard many 7D sports shooters say the same.

Great thread, and thank you for the link to the Canon tutorials Kevan.

What sport is that Anders? Extreme Night Time Navigation? Looks interesting.

Regards, Dutch

im glad i started this thread. it saved me from losing time during a soccer match testing the other AF points and losing a lot of shots too i bet.

and confirmed that single point center is the way to go in most situations

Look for the 7D Faq/Sticky post, it has a ton of reading material, there are some great Canon whitepapers as well that describe the AF in detail.