[Video] Autofocus speed of various lenses

I was a little bored, so I made a YouTube video (my first!) to see exactly how quickly each of my lenses would autofocus from minimum focus distance to infinity. I'm not sure if I did it correctly, but the results seem mostly right. I was surprised by how much faster my 200mm prime was than the 70-200mm IS II @ 200mm, but also surprised at how fast the zoom was at 70mm, taking the top spot. This isn't data that you can really use, but I thought it was interesting to test.

https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=Wchl4AMJdIk

Here are the results with the 1D Mark III:

Results:
Canon 24-70mm @ 24mm: 0.40 seconds
Canon 24-70mm @ 40mm: 0.40 seconds
Canon 24-70mm @ 70mm: 0.78 seconds

Canon 70-200mm @ 70mm: 0.27 seconds
Canon 70-200mm @ 115mm: 0.40 seconds
Canon 70-200mm @ 200mm: 0.93 seconds

Canon 24mm: 0.43 seconds

Canon 40mm STM: 0.63 seconds

Sigma 85mm: 0.60 seconds

Canon 200mm: 0.57 seconds

I'll go through this test again tonight with the 5D3. I've always wondered if the 1D batteries improved the AF speed or not. My guess is no.

Heya,

Interesting.

I'd like to see more primes being tested to see which ones truly are the fastest (like the 85mm F1.8, etc).

Very best,

interesting, thanks for posting. Just a question, did the 70-200 have IS enabled? Wondered if that would impact the speed at all.

MalVeauX wrote in post #16772403
Heya,

Interesting.

I'd like to see more primes being tested to see which ones truly are the fastest (like the 85mm F1.8, etc).

Very best,

From memory, the 100mm f/2 (the 85's twin) was a bit faster than the Sigma 85mm that I have now.

Blubayou wrote in post #16772440
interesting, thanks for posting. Just a question, did the 70-200 have IS enabled? Wondered if that would impact the speed at all.

I did have IS on. I will test with it off to determine if there is any impact. I have AF on back button, so there shouldn't be.

The 5D Mark III was slightly slower or equal for all lenses except for the Sigma 85mm, where it improved a little.

Results:
Canon 24-70mm @ 24mm: 0.43 seconds
Canon 24-70mm @ 40mm: 0.43 seconds
Canon 24-70mm @ 70mm: 0.80 seconds

IS was OFF on this lens:
Canon 70-200mm @ 70mm: 0.33 seconds
Canon 70-200mm @ 115mm: 0.40 seconds
Canon 70-200mm @ 200mm: 1.00 seconds

Canon 24mm: 0.43 seconds

Canon 40mm STM: 0.67 seconds

Sigma 85mm: 0.57 seconds

Canon 200mm: 0.60 seconds

Again, I was very impressed with the 200mm f/2.8 handily beating it's big brother, the 70-200mm f/2.8 IS II.

On both my 7D and 350D, there is a massive difference in speed of this kind of test when I am in servo versus one shot with servo being much faster. Where you in servo or one shot for these and have you tested the other option on a given lens on your bodies?

FEChariot wrote in post #16774417
On both my 7D and 350D, there is a massive difference in speed of this kind of test when I am in servo versus one shot with servo being much faster. Where you in servo or one shot for these and have you tested the other option on a given lens on your bodies?

Sorry, I missed your reply somehow.

I was in one shoot mode. I will conduct this test once more in servo and post results.