Canon 5D Mark IV AI servo settings for fast cats (moving towards you, changing direction, speed etc)

Hi,

I'm trying to take photos of my cats (action/movement shots) but I'm not really getting any shots in focus. Before I declare that "I just need to practice more" I want to make sure I'm using the right settings  (AF system is so complicated and new to action shots as well). Based on these next photos my hypothesis is I have one or more of these issues concurrently:

* Shutter speed of 1/1000 just not fast enough for some of these shots (but F2.8 is widest I can go -- I do have a 50 mm F1/4 but that will give me an even shallower depth of field so thinking it would actually cause more out of focus shots?). What shutter speed would you recommend?

* F2.8 is not giving enough depth of field to account for movement -- but then if I increase to F4.0 my shutter speed may not be fast enough.

* Handover to another AF point not happening quickly enough

My settings:

Manual:

* Shutter: 1/1000

* Apperture: 2.8

* Iso: Auto-iso

AF - Large Zone AF

AF - Case 5/Case 6 (for erratic subjects moving quickly in any direction / change speed and move erratically)

AI servo 1st image priority - equal

AI servo  2nd image priority - equal

initial AF pt, AI servo AF - AUTO

I use BBF (AF-ON button set to metering and AF start). I held this pressed throughout the shoot

Here are a few examples with AF points on:

A couple more examples as I couldn't work out how to insert 4

Im rarely out of case 1 and I have tracking sensitivity set as -1 as well

<font stylevertical-align: inherit;><font stylevertical-align: inherit;>bluecorr</font></font> wrote in post #19006386
=<font style="vertical-align: inherit;"><font style="vertical-align: inherit;">bluecorr</font></font>;19006386]Hi,

I'm trying to take photos of my cats (action/movement shots) but I'm not really getting any shots in focus. Before I declare that "I just need to practice more" I want to make sure I'm using the right settings  (AF system is so complicated and new to action shots as well). Based on these next photos my hypothesis is I have one or more of these issues concurrently:

* Shutter speed of 1/1000 just not fast enough for some of these shots (but F2.8 is widest I can go -- I do have a 50 mm F1/4 but that will give me an even shallower depth of field so thinking it would actually cause more out of focus shots?). What shutter speed would you recommend?

* F2.8 is not giving enough depth of field to account for movement -- but then if I increase to F4.0 my shutter speed may not be fast enough.

* Handover to another AF point not happening quickly enough

My settings:

Manual:

* Shutter: 1/1000

* Apperture: 2.8

* Iso: Auto-iso

AF - Large Zone AF

AF - Case 5/Case 6 (for erratic subjects moving quickly in any direction / change speed and move erratically)

AI servo 1st image priority - equal

AI servo  2nd image priority - equal

initial AF pt, AI servo AF - AUTO

I use BBF (AF-ON button set to metering and AF start). I held this pressed throughout the shoot

Here are a few examples with AF points on:

Hosted photo: posted by bluecorr in
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Hosted photo: posted by bluecorr in
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This lens is to slow for action

grzegorz9992 wrote in post #19006396
This lens is to slow for action

And 1/2000 minimum

Thanks for the feedback. I do have a 50mm (F1.4) but won't that give me an incredibly shallow depth of field and virtually any movement will put the subject out of the area of focus?

grzegorz9992 wrote in post #19006396
This lens is to slow for action

I hope you are referring to focus speed. F/2.8 is not a slow lens. F/2.8 is contributing to the thin DOF problem. A faster-aperture lens will not help.

grzegorz9992 wrote in post #19006402
And 1/2000 minimum

1/1000 is more than fast enough to freeze most motion.

OP, there is nothing wrong with the lens you are using. From your posted EXIF data, your biggest obstacle here is that you are shooting in really poor light. My guess is that you are shooting in heavily overcast daylight, a very cloudy day, or near dawn/dusk. Shooting in bright daylight will allow you to make the necessary exposure adjustments to accomplish your goal.

Your next biggest obstacle is a poor choice of ISO setting. I shoot an 80D, which is near noiseless at ISO 6400, if processed properly. Your 5DIV is most assuredly better than that. Do not be afraid of ISO!

If you shoot in bright sunlight, or light haze/overcast, you can can get good results at around: ISO 1600, 1/1000, and f/11. Setting ISO to 3200 will allow you a lot of leeway in your shutter speed for frisky kitties, and/or your aperture for more depth control.

Besides the lighting, auto-ISO seems to be causing problems. Wait for better light. Set ISO to 1600-3200, mode to Av @ f/8-11. If shutter speed comes out 1/640 or faster, you're good. If not, raise ISO a bit.

PentaxShooter wrote in post #19006418
OP, there is nothing wrong with the lens you are using. From your posted EXIF data, your biggest obstacle here is that you are shooting in really poor light. My guess is that you are shooting in heavily overcast daylight, a very cloudy day, or near dawn/dusk. Shooting in bright daylight will allow you to make the necessary exposure adjustments to accomplish your goal.


Your next biggest obstacle is a poor choice of ISO setting. I shoot an 80D, which is near noiseless at ISO 6400, if processed properly. Your 5DIV is most assuredly better than that. Do not be afraid of ISO!

If you shoot in bright sunlight, or light haze/overcast, you can can get good results at around: ISO 1600, 1/1000, and f/11. Setting ISO to 3200 will allow you a lot of leeway in your shutter speed for frisky kitties, and/or your aperture for more depth control.

It was a really bright sunny day but being February the sun is quite low (UK based). The photos look dark because of the -2/3 EV compensation (this I can fix in post; I picked this as I was hoping this would keep the ISO low). But I get your point about not being afraid of the ISO. Ultimately, I'd take a sharp photo with some noise over an out of focus photo @ ISO 400.

Another thing I'm wondering, should I be using Manual mode in this instance or should I use Tv or Av? With my cats, I just don't think I'll get a chance to change settings quickly between shots so maybe I should set F4.0/F5.6 and higher ISO at the outset like you suggested and hope lighting conditions are bright enough for camera to pick a 1/1000 or faster.

PentaxShooter wrote in post #19006418
...which is near noiseless at ISO 6400, if processed properly

Do you have any tips for that? I use Lightroom Classic but I've not found the ISO 6400 as smooth as you mentioned. Wondering if I'm missing a trick!

bluecorr wrote in post #19006423
Do you have any tips for that? I use Lightroom Classic but I've not found the ISO 6400 as smooth as you mentioned. Wondering if I'm missing a trick!

The first rule of high-ISO shooting is to get the exposure right, in camera. Digital cameras are prone to blow highlights with too much overexposure. A way-worse problem is under-exposure. If you start with underexposure, your noise level will be worse when you raise it in Lightroom. In this situation, I would start with +2/3 EC. If that doesn't blow some highlights, turn it up to +1.

At ISO 1600, you could have used f/5.6 in the posted photos. More ISO will get you smaller apertures, if you need them. Shutter speed at 1/1000 should be good enough.

You can get about 1 more stop of noise control out of almost any modern camera if you shoot raw (.cr2), and process the photo yourself. It does take some trial and error, though. I don't bother with raw on my 80D until I get to ISO 3200. Your 5DIV should work just fine in JPG at ISO 3200.

I just noticed you are shooting MONOCHROME picture style. To my mind, with digital cameras, there is NEVER a good reason to use MONOCHROME picture style. Shoot color, it gives you WAY more control over the final product wrt saturation, contrast, and color manipulation. Yes, color manipulation. Converting to B&W is a one-click operation in LR.

Thanks for the tips PentaxShooter

5D IV has a nice setting to set the minimum shutter speed in Auto Iso mode. I've not used it until now but setting it to something like 1/1000 would let the camera pick whatever ISO setting corresponds to 1/1000.

I shoot RAW so I can change back to colour in post with no loss. I use M picture style during shooting because I find it helps me focus on my composition better.

bluecorr wrote in post #19006435
...

I shoot RAW so I can change back to colour in post with no loss. I use M picture style during shooting because I find it helps me focus on my composition better.

That is a nice tip. I will try it. Thank you.

Both color manipulations of one monochrome frame. First is by decreasing yellow. Second is by increasing red. Random photo, arbitrary adjustments.

Original colors.