Custom Function for AI Servo Tracking Sensitivity Setting for the Mark III

This has probably been asked and answered before on this forum but I was wondering what the final conclusion was on Custom Function for AI Servo Tracking Sensitivity for the Mark III. I have been keeping mine at the default setting but I was wondering if has been a consensus on which is better for sports photography faster or slower?

Thanks

I'm pretty sure that it's been 'decided' that making it less sensitive will create more in-focus pictures, as the camera will take more time to verify focus.

Although if you aren't having any trouble, *shrug*...

-Therealmr

The tracking sensitivity custom function is mis-understood by many. Tracking sensitivity is simply a delay between when your camera is focused on a subject and when it will focus on a new subject. It comes into play when trying to photograph moving subjects like birds in flight. I specialize in photographing birds in flight, so I am very familiar with this setting. When photographing a bird in flight and you are focused on the bird, but the af point wanders and you miss the bird and hit the bg instead, there will be a very short delay before the camera tries to focus on the bg. If you get the af point back on the bird during the delay and before the camera focuses on the bg, you can avoid focusing on the bg and maintain focus on the bird. This is why I set tracking sensitivity to the slowest setting. When I miss the subject, the camera's af is more forgiving and I may be able to maintain focus without focusing on the bg.

Tracking sensitivity is a double edged sword, because if you do focus on the bg and then try to return focus to the bird, the same tracking sensitivity delay will make it take longer to recover. The cool thing is that you can override the delay when it is working against you. This is accomplished by letting off the focus button and then re-focusing. I call this quick re-focusing bumping the focus. Bumping the focus overrides the tracking sensitivity delay.

To summarize, IMO, tracking sensitivity should be set to the slowest setting and then bump focus should be used to override when needed.

Thanks for the info..Should be very useful since I specialize in photographing paintballs in flight

Jim Neiger wrote in post #5548175
Tracking sensitivity is a double edged sword, because if you do focus on the bg and then try to return focus to the bird, the same tracking sensitivity delay will make it take longer to recover. The cool thing is that you can override the delay when it is working against you. This is accomplished by letting off the focus button and then re-focusing. I call this quick re-focusing bumping the focus. Bumping the focus overrides the tracking sensitivity delay.

Very, very true. That is an under appreciated but very valuable technique.