Improving AI Servo Hit Rate on the 7D

The ones i took a few hours later came out even better actually, I just had more problems with blur because the best SS i was managing was about 1/800

So its either higher shutter speeds with less chance of motion blur but slightly less AF accuracy, Or lower shutter speeds but better AF accuracy

Anyways, So of all the ones i imported heres the keepers i picked...

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …unetsukiphoto/6​739852011/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …unetsukiphoto/6​739899005/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …unetsukiphoto/6​739899133/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …unetsukiphoto/6​739899263/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …unetsukiphoto/6​739899401/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …unetsukiphoto/6​739899569/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …unetsukiphoto/6​739899713/

I'm wondering if maybe the dog is moving away from the camera and close to the camera very quickly? As in, moving through the dof rather quickly. I remember panning the Blue Angels a few years ago when I worked in the tower in the Navy. These guys were going crazy fast and I was getting great shots with my Rebel XT and a sigma 70-200mm. Close to supersonic passes too. But, like I said, a dog is really going to move to and from the camera a lot more than a plane going by you. Just my thoughts I guess.

If these are the same series of shots, they look far superior un-pixel peeped.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #13746048
If these are the same series of shots, they look far superior un-pixel peeped.

One is, The others are from different "series"

I was only pixel peeping as a way of "measuring things up" I wouldnt mind trying to shoot say, Agility or a herding demonstration sometime and knowing the limits of my AF system and how to best use it for astonishingly sharp shots would be a handy thing to know

But yeh, overall i tend to weigh composition > motion blur > per pixel sharpness

I agree with Jay, these look like some great shots.
Your dog really feels at home in the snow, great captures!

3Rotor wrote in post #13746066
I agree with Jay, these look like some great shots.
Your dog really feels at home in the snow, great captures!

Thank you

and shes pretty spry for an almost 14 year old dog of her size with arthritis!

Was it overcast as well? The color of the dog and overcast skies is tough on the AF. On the other hand when you have snow cover and direct sunlight then exposure gets tricky.

K6AZ wrote in post #13746230
Was it overcast as well? The color of the dog and overcast skies is tough on the AF. On the other hand when you have snow cover and direct sunlight then exposure gets tricky.

It changed a bit, and Oh yeah, the snow + her was a pain, The meter couldnt decide exactly -what- it wanted to do, So i had some underexposed, Some overexposed, My solution was to just leave EC set in the middle and fix it in post...

Some people complain about the 7D's sensor and dynamic range and that, but i sure dont, I have plenty of leeway in RAW to fix all but the most horrific overexposure

KenjiS wrote in post #13749723
It changed a bit, and Oh yeah, the snow + her was a pain, The meter couldnt decide exactly -what- it wanted to do, So i had some underexposed, Some overexposed, My solution was to just leave EC set in the middle and fix it in post...

Some people complain about the 7D's sensor and dynamic range and that, but i sure dont, I have plenty of leeway in RAW to fix all but the most horrific overexposure

As long as the light was even, I probably would have done spot metering off the snow and jacked the exposure up a couple of stops or so above center (you could probably go about 2 1/2 stops without blowing anything significant out).

Your shots look fine. The only thing I can add is that my experience with the 7D taught me that panning a moving target on a diagonal was much more successful than one coming straight at the lens. Why, I'm not sure.

For example, a basketball player coming straight at the lens would tend to misfocus one or more shots like you mentioned. Moving on an angle and with a larger target to focus on, no problem getting accurate focus on all shots in the sequence.

Another thing to consider is that using the expansion points around the centerpoint may shift focus off your dog's face and to a higher contrast area like her collar or another part of her body. Where the expansion points really help is when you're tracking a bird in flight at a distance and where you might briefly lose the centerpoint off the bird.

The way I saw expansion points was big target that fills the frame/viewfinder = centerpoint with the dot in the middle. Centerpoint + expansion points better for smaller targets that don't fill the frame and viewfinder.

dave

This may help. Your shots look good though, better than mine of my border collie.

http://garyluhm.net/bi​o/tips_0310.html

Id say those are fine, TBH. But, old pooch looks like she needs her nails trimmed - daggers!

try changing AI Servo AF tracking method to main point instead of continuous if you are using expanded AF points. It might make it a little less twitchy and improve your hit rate. I certainly noticed a positive difference.

I would also do some testing on the AF tracking speed. in some situations, having it faster worked better for me than just leaving it at slow. Just kind of depends on the situation with both of those settings though. The best thing I did was keep changing settings and I was able to correlate when certain settings work better than others depending on what I'm shooting.

jase1125 wrote in post #13754216
try changing AI Servo AF tracking method to main point instead of continuous if you are using expanded AF points. It might make it a little less twitchy and improve your hit rate. I certainly noticed a positive difference.

Interesting finding, Jason. I noticed the contrary with my 7D.
When i used AF-point expansion + Main Focus Point Priority on a scenario where there was a perched bird, showing up about 10% of the frame. I have the "main" center AF point on him, thinking that should nail the focus. However, one of the AF-Expansion points picked up some leaves' movement a few inches in front of the bird (in other words, leaves were between me and the bird). Since i have "Main Focus Point Priority" set instead of "Continuous AF Track Priority" for my AI Servo, it ended up picking the leaves to focus on.
Similarly, I would imagine for the OP, to avoid having the AF incorrectly focus on the nose of the dog, shooting WITHOUT the Expansion points is probably going to yield more keeper.

I do find the AF Expansion comes in handy for bird-inflight where the subject stands out clearly against a pure background (blue sky).