Tough time with AI-Servo, tracking on my 5D3 5DIII

hang your cross wrote in post #17355809
I'm not sure why I couldn't multi-quote. Oh well.

I'm going to try it out with a faster shutter speed (1/2000th) and more focal points and see what happens. Does everyone think Situation 4 would be the correct AF system to use, or should I use a different one?

Thanks for everyone's help.

Sidenote: Quick guide on MQ.

https://photography-on-the.net …showthread.php?​p=17310910

hang your cross wrote in post #17356830
Wouldn't the whole picture be out of focus then? That could very well be the case though. If it's nice out tomorrow I'll try this again.

Depends how far from the dog you were eg at 200mm F3.6 shooting from 5 meters only 0.13 meters is in "acceptable" focus.
If your definition of acceptable is like mine halve it. So only 65mm in sharp focus!
At 10 meters it increases 0.52 meters, halve that and 251mm are very sharp.

I don't think the issue here is motion blur as a result of panning the lens. If that were the case I think we would see one of these two symptoms.:

1. The dog in focus with the fore and backgrounds blurred as a streak in the direction of the panning.
2. The dog blurred with streaking in the direction of the panning and the fore and backgrounds blurred even more with the same streaking.

I do not see any panning type motion blur in the grass in front of the dog.

I'm still learning my new 5D3 so this is a shot in the dark. How do you have the "AI Servo 1st image priority" and "AI Servo 2nd image priority" options configured? If these were set all the way to the left could that be causing the camera not to have enough time to fully AF? (See: http://corleve.com …anon-5d-mark-iii-settings about halfway down the page.)

Unless you have your 5D3 set to only release the shutter on confirmed AF lock, you have no idea where AF actually was. Change this setting in the menu so 1st shutter release is only on AF lock, then try the dog again.

So I tried again, and am getting better results. I stepped down my aperture and made my shutter a bit faster as well as made it Zone-AF. This image is definitely acceptable. I guess if I really want to focus on the eyes, what would be the best course of action?

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/qkqm​ht

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/qkj1​WC

hang your cross wrote in post #17359313
So I tried again, and am getting better results. I stepped down my aperture and made my shutter a bit faster as well as made it Zone-AF. This image is definitely acceptable. I guess if I really want to focus on the eyes, what would be the best course of action?

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/qkqm​ht AF-Test1 by crxgator, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/qkj1​WC AF-test-2 by crxgator, on Flickr

Well thats much better eh.
Note how the chest is in focus, but the tail is not - as expected. re the DOF. [re your other question].
Think you need to move away from Zome AF to hit the eye.
Did you try it at 1/1,000 and a lower ISO.?

qdrummer21 wrote in post #17359033
I don't think the issue here is motion blur as a result of panning the lens. If that were the case I think we would see one of these two symptoms.:

1. The dog in focus with the fore and backgrounds blurred as a streak in the direction of the panning.
2. The dog blurred with streaking in the direction of the panning and the fore and backgrounds blurred even more with the same streaking.

I do not see any panning type motion blur in the grass in front of the dog.

I'm still learning my new 5D3 so this is a shot in the dark. How do you have the "AI Servo 1st image priority" and "AI Servo 2nd image priority" options configured? If these were set all the way to the left could that be causing the camera not to have enough time to fully AF? (See: http://corleve.com …anon-5d-mark-iii-settings about halfway down the page.)

Definitely you want focus priority, unless you are paparazzi - I'd say that was essential ( but then what's the point of an OOF image? )

Hi!

The AF functionality on the 5DM3 is sophisticated and takes a bit of experimentation. Here are a few thoughts.

Grab this guide linked below, and experiment. It is invaluable regarding all of the AF settings you have available to you. I've used it for sports (basketball, soccer), marching band, and ballet. Mostly it's been in very low light situations. This guide is excellent for choosing your AF points and cases.

http://cpn.canon-europe.com …rkIII_eng_Janua​ry2013.pdf

I use only the cross type AF points. That drops me to 41 vs 61. Fine. Canon should have made them all cross type. They didn't. You can set your camera to use only the cross type. Do that. Also, you don't necessarily need a super high shutter speed. The photos below range from 1/200s to 1/500s.

Here are some shots I took. I believe for this I used AF point expansion with 4 points, Case 4, and AI Servo. I chose a group low in the middle, almost to aim toward the girls' feet.

hang your cross wrote in post #17359313
So I tried again, and am getting better results. I stepped down my aperture and made my shutter a bit faster as well as made it Zone-AF. This image is definitely acceptable. I guess if I really want to focus on the eyes, what would be the best course of action?

Rather than zone, try expanded AF and put the center point of the expansion on the eye. With expanded AF you can also choose any AF point to be the center - even the edge points. Usually the camera will focus using the center AF if it can and use the outer points to 'help' acquire focus quickly. If the center AF point is in a low-contrast zone, then it will focus on a different point.

The issue with using one point only that I have found is keeping it right where you want it. Depending on how you usually acquire AF may also depend on how you want to set the AF response. For instance I'm not so good at getting the AF started right where I want it, but am OK at tracking a point once I have AF - even with expanded. So I tend to let the AF to be sensitive and let off a good burst.

Personally I can't get the AF point right where I want it for any moving subjects, so I only use a single point for basically stationary subjects. In fact expanded with AL Servo is my most used setting anytime I have a shallow DOF.

I'll try that method next time. This time it was Auto AF and it did a pretty good job. A lot more keepers for sure.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/pP9W​u2

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/qHDe​WS