Best AF case for 7D II and track & field?

I purchased a 7D2 last November as a upgrade from my used 7D. I primarily shoot sports (track & field). So far, in playing around with the 7D2, I have been in the default, which is case 1 as I have messed around shooting my dogs in the yard and such. As we approach the actual track season, I wonder if one of the other AF cases might be better?

Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks

Also a relatively recent 7D2 owner, but I'm pretty used to thinking about the variables in the "cases" since I used to tweak them all the time on my original 7Ds. I used case 1 for a few indoor meets this year while getting to know the camera and was super impressed. I'd stick with that unless you need to change things for any of the following reasons:

Tracking sensitivity: I think with T&F you're most likely going to have to turn this down. If you feel like you're frequently tracking runners, someone walks between you and your subject (or you pass over a stationary object between you and the runner) and the camera jumps to that closer object, rather than sticking with the runner, turn the sensitivity down ("locked on" rather than "responsive"). I think it makes the most sense to tweak this tracking variable as needed, but that may just be me. You could switch to Case 2 rather than turning down the tracking sensitivity, but given there are multiple levels of sensitivity, I'd rather pick what works best for me from those levels.

Acceleration/decelerat​ion: The only reason I can think you'd have to use this is if you're trying to get photos of race starts, and the camera is lagging behind when the runner starts moving. This will probably be on 0 by default, but I'd go to 1 for that sudden acceleration if you feel like you need to. (I think this is basically Case 4, if you want to just switch cases and not tweak the variables individually).

AF Point auto switching: I think this one depends a lot on your shooting style. Personally, I like to pick an AF point that will be on the subject's face, then follow them with the camera so they're framed similarly, and always under that AF point. Keeping this setting at 0 will cause the camera to stick with the selected AF point. If you'd rather frame a scene and have the AF track a runner as the runner moves through the scene (thereby changing which AF point is on the runner in the process), you could increase this to 1 or 2. I've never tried this, I imagine it would be tricky to get right, though. I'm also pretty sure it only works with large area or full 65-point focus modes, so if you have your AF set to single point, single point expansion, or spot, this setting is ignored.

TL;DR: Stick with case 1, if you feel like the AF is too easily "distracted" try case 2, otherwise dive deep and learn the individual variables.

Hope that helps a bit!

Thank you for your thoughts! I appreciate it very much. What you typed makes good sense to me. Like you, I track the runner rather than trying to catch them coming through the frame.

The track meet this Saturday is projected to be overcast. Do you use the AWB or change to the setting for cloudy? Just curious as to what folks do.

As long as it’s going to be fairly constant lighting (overcast usually is), I’ll often shoot a custom WB (if I remember). If I don’t, cloudy usually works well and you can always tweak in post. If the light is changing (partly cloudy), I don’t bother as I know I’m going to end up adjusting in post anyway.

Right now it is forecast for overcast but starting to see some blue sky patches, so more likely to be mixed, I think.

Right now it is cloudless. Will see if it holds until 1 pm.