Canon 7D and SoloShot, anyone?

I have a question and am getting several different views.

I have a Canon 7D. What I am trying to accomplish is to be able to attach the camera to a motorized ball head to be able to photograph birds in flight and aircraft in flight using my laptop monitor to view.

Now I know I have to be in live mode for the sensor to send image to computer. What happens is I lose the function of the AF to work. Is there a way to get the AF function to work during live view?

The motorized ball head will be controlled by a joy stick and the camera will be triggered with the shutter release trigger while I track subject using the laptop. Any suggestion?

MontanaMike wrote in post #17948204
I have a question and am getting several different views.

I have a Canon 7D. What I am trying to accomplish is to be able to attach the camera to a motorized ball head to be able to photograph birds in flight and aircraft in flight using my laptop monitor to view.

Now I know I have to be in live mode for the sensor to send image to computer. What happens is I lose the function of the AF to work. Is there a way to get the AF function to work during live view?

The motorized ball head will be controlled by a joy stick and the camera will be triggered with the shutter release trigger while I track subject using the laptop. Any suggestion?

I don't have my 7D with me at the moment, but IIRC, you have to actually enable AF in Live View; I think it's off by default.

Also, what sort of motorization are you using (this is interesting); I wouldn't think a motor would drive fast enough to follow planes/birds IF

Thanks, I never shot in live mode before but being so darn shaky I thought this might be the ticket. Not sure how fast it will focus tethered to computer but I am getting closer. Thank you.

Its called Soloshot.

MontanaMike wrote in post #17948220
Thanks, I never shot in live mode before but being so darn shaky I thought this might be the ticket. Not sure how fast it will focus tethered to computer but I am getting closer. Thank you.

Makes sense; found it. You need to Enable LV AF and set it to Live Mode. You may well find, though, that it doesn't AF fast enough that way for you to be able to catch your subjects.


Ahh, ok. Looked up SoloShot...I've seen that before. I suspect that sticking a high res video cam and grabbing stills out of the video is going to be your way to go for getting shots with that setup. I love my 7Ds and 7DII, but I have a hard time imagining them working well in that configuration.

By all means, give it a try; I know what conditions you're working under, but have some moderate expectations about the performance of the setup.

I rather suspect that the 7D in LV will be too slow focusing to give you worth-while results, even if you are able to track the birds/aircraft through a joystick, LV to a laptop (USB2, bear in mind, at best) and motorized head.

MontanaMike wrote in post #17948204
I have a question and am getting several different views.

I have a Canon 7D. What I am trying to accomplish is to be able to attach the camera to a motorized ball head to be able to photograph birds in flight and aircraft in flight using my laptop monitor to view.

Now I know I have to be in live mode for the sensor to send image to computer. What happens is I lose the function of the AF to work. Is there a way to get the AF function to work during live view?

The motorized ball head will be controlled by a joy stick and the camera will be triggered with the shutter release trigger while I track subject using the laptop. Any suggestion?

Heya,

It might work, but you'll obviously be shooting with a very short lens to make this work. They were designed to use their own lighter weight gear. They can be adapted to the 7D of course. But how much weight can it take? Also, how long of a lens?

If you mount a 7D on there, it will probably only work with a relatively short lens (100mm?) and would ideally be stopped down a bit to keep DOF and that alone would help you keep things in focus. Otherwise, there's no way this thing is going to hurl a heavy 7D and lens around following a bird in flight at close distance. It will work fine probably for a bird at distance, but 100mm on APS-C isn't going to do much with a bird at distance.

If you really want to use a Soloshot and track things from a laptop remotely, I think using a dSLR & lens is probably not the way to go.

Very best,

Wow what great feedback. Learned so much today. I realize there are going to be issues to workout and this may very well fail. But I have this vision that if I can get all the elements to work together, the result could be a changer. Guess there's nothing to lose so what the heck.. When and if I decide to pursue this I will post whats happening. Again thanks to all for your help.

I'm pretty sure you CAN'T have BBAF engaged while using remote shooting. Put AF back on the shutter release button.

Bassat wrote in post #17948737
I'm pretty sure you CAN'T have BBAF engaged while using remote shooting. Put AF back on the shutter release button.

This is true, also.

MontanaMike wrote in post #17948223
Its called Soloshot.

So how does "Soloshot" actually follow a bird in flight?

john crossley wrote in post #17949388
So how does "Soloshot" actually follow a bird in flight?

It doesn't. He wants to attempt to track it manually, remotely, with a joystick.

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #17949389
It doesn't. He wants to attempt to track it manually, remotely, with a joystick.

Very best,

Crikey, I think I'd just stick the camera on a tripod and look through the viewfinder.

Here is another thought, how about using a mirror less camera and tether it. That way you are not altering the function of the camera. Maybe Canon has something available or Sony but not familiar with Sony products.