Tracking my Son with the 7D Mark II and 200mm f2.8L II

Hello I recently got my 7D Mark II and love it however I am noticing some heavy focusing issues when I try to track my Kid. I am not sure what Case I was in, I typically do 1, 3, or 4. Al Servo Priority was set to Release and then focus for 2nd. Setting both to focus resulted in terrible results. Default middle might work best for me. I had this exact same issue on my 1D Mark IV with 70-200 IS II, It tracks cars or birds no problem but anything to do with my kid running around, It struggled really bad.

Do you think this is an issue with settings, lens or user error?

Below is a sequence of 18 images shot in RAW Converted to JPEG then uploaded to Imgur. Looking at the grass, There is plenty of focus room. I don't get it.
Settings were 1/800th - 1/1000th, f3.2 - f4, ISO 800 to 1250.

http://imgur.com/galle​ry/RqvpB

Looking at the sequence of 18 images (and I admit, I only looked at about half enlarged) they all seem to be sharp, with perhaps one or two that are slightly front focused. And depending on where you placed the focus point, I got the feeling the front focus shots were the result of the 7D picking up on the hands and jumping out in front of the body.

So just a few comments from me:

1) I always put my EOS bodies in focus priority when using servo. Speed priority doesn't make sense to me because having the shutter release when the focus has not been achieved does nothing for me but create a shot I will delete later in post.

2) Learning to use the AF cases well involves looking at the three factors that they adjust and simply focusing on that. Never mind so much the description (although in general I suggest case 4 or case 6 for most use). But this is how they work:
A - Tracking sensitivity is best thought of as how quickly the camera will give up on the subject and jump to an obstacle or the background if something gets in the way or you wander off target for a moment. In tough situations it is generally best to head towards the negative settings for this, otherwise you get a lot of shots of sharp backgrounds.
B - Accel tracking is how the camera responds to jerky movement. On the low end it smooths out performance but you may get a miss here or there on a subject that just moved abruptly. On the high end, a sudden move by the subject can force overreaction and OOF shots. I tend to default to the middle here and only experiment on the edges is special cases.
C- auto switching is only of interest when you enable a multi-point setting, and then it governs the handoff.

3) Finally - AF systems do miss sometimes. If I'm shooting something very tough like basketball I will expect some misses. Older cameras and lenses miss more than the latest. I find that my 5D3 and lenses like the 70-200/2.8 IS II or the 24-70/2.8L II miss infrequently. And older lens like your 200/2.8 II will miss more. It's hard to say how many misses are too many because of the skill of the operator and the difficulty of the subject being variable. But yeah......sometimes you get a miss and you can see no reason for it.

Great summary, Jeffrey! I concur on setting for focus priority. I do BIF, not KAP ( kids at play), but I'd rather have a slightly nonideal wing position than an OOF shot.

Just curious, does the 80D you have listed not have similar tracking issues with this same lens at the same aperture and lightening conditions? Looking at the photos, the cloudy lighting and slight softness of your son's hair and clothing remind me a bit of my EF 100f2.0 wide open, which is to say maybe the low contrast day makes everything seem a little softer than a bright sunny high contrast day might seem. The grass under your son's feet look to be focusing roughly where you might want, ranging from a little ahead to a little behind. But I don't know anything about the programmability of the 7DII focusing modes, I'm sure they have an effect too.

Jeffrey, great description and useful in many ways. Thank you.

Personnally I don't like using the AI servo mode. As the 200mm f2.8L II is very has a short depth of field while opened at 2.8 or 3.5. I prefer to select manually the focus with the joystick, and focus on the eyes

Best regards

Tristan29photography wrote in post #18402338
Personnally I don't like using the AI servo mode. As the 200mm f2.8L II is very has a short depth of field while opened at 2.8 or 3.5. I prefer to select manually the focus with the joystick, and focus on the eyes

Best regards

AI servo focus can be used with a single focus point, manually selected by the user. It does not have to be used with auto AF point selection. I suggest you consult your manual, because refusing to use AI servo focus will make it pretty much impossible to focus on moving subjects with Canon cameras.

The zone of acceptable focus is thin at f/2.8, that's why nailing the focus perfectly is so important. As someone who shoots a lot of sports at f/2.8, I can tell you this is why the cases and setup are so important.

Ok I didn't know this, thanks for the tips.

I do a lot of sports from college all the way to elementary school kids. The one thing I noticed when I had the 7D MII, when the subject is running at you, you need to adjust the macro focus to be closer to you. It’s almost like by the time the camera can focus and fire the shutter the subject is a half a step closer then when you really wanted to take the photo. So adjust the macro focus about 3-5 points closer to the camera. But that adjustment depends on how fast your subject too

Interesting. I know this is an old thread but I have a 7DII and do primarily T&F, XC and have not noticed missed focus with oncoming runners.