7D Mark II - Focus Discussions

Pondrader wrote in post #17857253
Ya have to look really hard lol

Oh wow! I see it now. WHAT'S EVEN THE POINTS? LOL.

notimetochill wrote in post #17856363
Hello
Today was the first day when I tried to capture bif. My Tamron has just arrived from the firmware update.
I tried and tried. I use case 1 in the settings with af zone mode with shutterspeed 1/800 - 1/1250sec but maybe 5-10% keeper with bad sharpness. I know that practice practice is the only way.
What settings do you use when you try to capture bif?

I bet you had the wrong image stabilization mode set and we're fighting it every time you panned your lens?

itw wrote in post #17856580
The Problem: Camera Won't Lock Onto Subject.

(It's so tempting to play with all the buttons and settings !)

It sounds like we have a whole generation of new owners of the 7D II coming on board loaded with the same questions we all had last year that are seemingly just now being resolved.

So, for discussion and my own clarification, I'll put forth my thoughts here in the form of a question for folks like me who might still be having trouble consistently acquiring focus on a moving target like B's IF.

One caveat, I do believe there are some bodies that just can't be tamed and I owned one of them that at times and unpredictably so, just would not lock on target or acquire focus, even on a clean blue background... It's gone now and good riddance, but hold on now.....was it in my setup ? Let's see....

The Setup: Once I picked the "Case" I think will work for me.... even though I had been finger wagged at messing with anything else at this point, I just could't ignore the next line lit up in pink and blue that says "Tracking Sensitivity" It sounds like an easy one doesn't it ? Heck, Of course I want to lock onto my target and stay locked on till I run out of bullets, right ? Who doesn't ?

Scenario: I see the bird I want, I draw my weapon from my hip and bring it up to meet my target.... if in my excitement, combined with a sprinkling of lack of skill I were to press the BF button before I was solidly tracking my bird, my cammy might just lock onto something other than my intended target (being the high precision machine that it is) .... say the foliage in the fore or background ?

If I had followed my instincts, I set that slider to (-) minus 2 'cause I wanted for all the world to stay on target even if momentarily I drifted off.... However, given the above scenario I would be battling with the camera who wants to stay locked onto the foliage that I inadvertently picked in my haste.

I of course want and need to hone my skills and refrain from premature button pushing, but as a hedge I believe now I should maybe have adjusted to (+) 1 or 2 (or just left it alone) which would allow the camera to release what it was looking at and try again to focus on what I was looking at at a more rapid pace.

So tell me, am I on the right track or still in a fog ?

You are on track. TS might vary depending on Af mode and what you are shooting. If single/spot/or expansion, for short bursts, a higher TS is beneficial because it will reacquire more rapidly and hopefully before end of burst. If much longer. Rust, then a lower TS might be of value because one it locks on to desired subject, it will be harder to get shaken off.

However, even in short bursts, it is faster to pump BBF if you fall off to reacquire.

gschlact wrote in post #17857565
You are on track. TS might vary depending on Af mode and what you are shooting. If single/spot/or expansion, for short bursts, a higher TS is beneficial because it will reacquire more rapidly and hopefully before end of burst. If much longer. Rust, then a lower TS might be of value because one it locks on to desired subject, it will be harder to get shaken off.

However, even in short bursts, it is faster to pump BBF if you fall off to reacquire.

Thanks for this.
I went back and read some of what you have already written on the subject in this thread and I think I have a better understanding of how it works and when to use it to my advantage. I am generally a single & spot, short burst shooter. I'll try a bit more pumping too.

how does this with the AF ON button work ?. I'm new to it, it's nice to just be able to quickly focus on stationary subjects, and then focus on something moving just by holding the button instead of pressing again like you do on a stationary motive.

if we say that I want to photograph a sedentary bird, I focus once with AF-ON button, and then what? I can then change so I have the bird out on the edge of the image and still have the focus? I tried it today and sometimes it works but when I look at a program where I see the focus point that has been used, it is completely wrong than I remember.

I keep on learning autofocus system of the camera. The tamron 150-600 don't want to work as I want with 7D Mkii

notimetochill wrote in post #17856363
Hello
Today was the first day when I tried to capture bif. My Tamron has just arrived from the firmware update.
I tried and tried. I use case 1 in the settings with af zone mode with shutterspeed 1/800 - 1/1250sec but maybe 5-10% keeper with bad sharpness. I know that practice practice is the only way.
What settings do you use when you try to capture bif?

As you can see from my previous post I am pretty new to the 7D2! However, so far, I have found the AF and tracking to be very good compared to my 1DX - not quite as good but close. In my books that is high praise indeed!
If it helps I use AF Case 5 (at default settings) and either single point or single point with 4 point expansion in Servo mode. I am not very familiar with your lens, but on my Canon lenses I find it much better to turn IS off and leave it there. Turning my IS off has given me significantly better AF acquisition speed and tracking accuracy on moving subjects. The reason I am using Case 5 is simply because that is what I use on my 1DX and it seems to work well on my 7D2, though I will try other options in the future.

notimetochill wrote in post #17857837
how does this with the AF ON button work ?. I'm new to it, it's nice to just be able to quickly focus on stationary subjects, and then focus on something moving just by holding the button instead of pressing again like you do on a stationary motive.

if we say that I want to photograph a sedentary bird, I focus once with AF-ON button, and then what? I can then change so I have the bird out on the edge of the image and still have the focus? I tried it today and sometimes it works but when I look at a program where I see the focus point that has been used, it is completely wrong than I remember.

I keep on learning autofocus system of the camera. The tamron 150-600 don't want to work as I want with 7D Mkii

If you use the AF-ON or * buttons for back button focus (BBF) AI Servo, you can simulate one shot by releasing the button, following which no AF will take place. You can customise the camera so that these 2 buttons activate different options when selected. I have also found it useful to program the new lever to select the AF mode (spot, point, assist, small zone, large zone, etc.) with the joystick moving the point / zone.

Don't forget the depth of field button on front of camera,,,,,it's very useful for giving added flexibility !

That button I'll never use Is it to get better and more accurate focus?

johnf3f wrote in post #17857847
As you can see from my previous post I am pretty new to the 7D2! However, so far, I have found the AF and tracking to be very good compared to my 1DX - not quite as good but close. In my books that is high praise indeed!
If it helps I use AF Case 5 (at default settings) and either single point or single point with 4 point expansion in Servo mode. I am not very familiar with your lens, but on my Canon lenses I find it much better to turn IS off and leave it there. Turning my IS off has given me significantly better AF acquisition speed and tracking accuracy on moving subjects. The reason I am using Case 5 is simply because that is what I use on my 1DX and it seems to work well on my 7D2, though I will try other options in the future.

I used case 2 and in my 500mm I have the IS on and in mode 2 and on tripod, I will try case 5 did you change anything in 3 parameters like TS, accel/decc? Thanks.

Oh I turned on the IS even if I am using tripod because it is more steady, I used to turn off the IS but even on tripod I can still see shakes in my viewfinder.

Okay today I tried my 7D mkii if it can get focus on subjects that don't move, I was scared that I got a bad copy of the 7d mkii but today it does a good job. I tried almost every af area selections today. But at 500-600 mm on Tamron it's hard to get it so sharp as I can get with my 6D.


One thing that maybe cause worse focus on subjects at long distance is that I use spot af and not single point af. Maybe the narrow focus is hard to get spot on at a subject from long distance?

notimetochill wrote in post #17857879
That button I'll never use Is it to get better and more accurate focus?

No. It is just an alternative to the BBF. I have never likes using the DOF button and never will. Too awkward for me.

notimetochill wrote in post #17857879
That button I'll never use Is it to get better and more accurate focus?

It is just another option to use for focusing and I prefer to use this rather than the shutter button to acquire focus.

johnf3f wrote in post #17857847
As you can see from my previous post I am pretty new to the 7D2! However, so far, I have found the AF and tracking to be very good compared to my 1DX - not quite as good but close. In my books that is high praise indeed!
If it helps I use AF Case 5 (at default settings) and either single point or single point with 4 point expansion in Servo mode. I am not very familiar with your lens, but on my Canon lenses I find it much better to turn IS off and leave it there. Turning my IS off has given me significantly better AF acquisition speed and tracking accuracy on moving subjects. The reason I am using Case 5 is simply because that is what I use on my 1DX and it seems to work well on my 7D2, though I will try other options in the future.

What do find that is different in case 5? It does not make focus initial focus acquisition any better. The only thing I case 5 does is AF switching goes from 0 to 1 compare to case 2 while tracking the subject. Even if it it switches faster you still have to be just as diligent keeping the expansion cluster (or part of it) on the subject at all times just like in case 2. I find that TS set to -2 in case 2 lets me go off the subject completely for a second before it looks for something else to focus on. Of course I could see case 5 TS to -2 as well. I use case 2 with TS set to -2 with single point or expansion for precision tracking.


I have not seen a great benefit in case 5 using expansion so I use it and Case 6 for zone AF. More AF points to work with and they switch faster as I track an erratic subject.

digital paradise wrote in post #17857903
No. It is just an alternative to the BBF. I have never likes using the DOF button and never will. Too awkward for me.

I reset that button to switch between AI Servo and One Shot for my particular uses.