OMG! MKIII Autofocus is INSANE!

tonylong wrote in post #7121198
OMG, Perry! And "Eh" is not for the States!

To the OP, congrats, and, well, those folks who are advising the 1D3 and 5D combo are giving pretty good advice...or, alternatively, trying to lure you into a perverse but elite club of very happy shooters -- take your choice!

International forum, blah blah blah.

OP,
Does your 1D have Blue dot? What is blue and yellow dot means anyway?

Perryge,
There are so many used 1D3 in TO! man i wish i was there!

perryge wrote in post #7122520
International forum, blah blah blah.

I've had a girlfriend who was a kiwi, but I'm at a loss as to how to respond in an appropriate way, bloke.

"OMG! MKIII Autofocus is INSANE! "

Yes it is.

I have yet to take mine outside in daylight hours since there's not many things I would take pictures of in the dead of winter, but I've taken many many local indoor sports shots and along with the crazy good autofocus, I was equally impressed with ISO6400.

The buzz nowadays is how good the Nikon D700 is at high ISOs. I even owned one for a month and it deserves its reputation. But the MIII more than holds its own.

Dmab wrote in post #7124130
I have yet to take mine outside in daylight hours since there's not many things I would take pictures of in the dead of winter, but I've taken many many local indoor sports shots and along with the crazy good autofocus, I was equally impressed with ISO6400.

The buzz nowadays is how good the Nikon D700 is at high ISOs. I even owned one for a month and it deserves its reputation. But the MIII more than holds its own.

Quoted for truth.

I downloaded the demo for NIK DFine 2.0, and the 1D3 @ 6400 cleans up perfectly. I even pushed it a stop and it was fine. If there were too many shadows you got some residual chromatic noise, but apart from that it's stunning.

That said, at least here on the Maine coast it's been cold enough long enough that we're getting mini-icebergs on the shore. They make for truly wonderful photos if you can brave the cold. Not sure what you might find up in Wisconsin, though.

Anyway, congrats to the OP - it's way too much fun to be able to play with this camera. Every time I pick it up, I feel like I've borrowed my dad's camera and I'm getting away with something - even though I'm 32...

I'm interested in your statement about Ring of Fire,
You say "I shoot strictly on AI Servo and center point with my 40D"

And now say you use ROF on the MKIII how do you find it compares to centre spot?
I am shooting Football at the moment and find using ROF can pick up the background sometimes, and am always using centre.

Whats the advantage of ROF?

Swaffs wrote in post #7124571
I'm interested in your statement about Ring of Fire,
You say "I shoot strictly on AI Servo and center point with my 40D"

And now say you use ROF on the MKIII how do you find it compares to centre spot?
I am shooting Football at the moment and find using ROF can pick up the background sometimes, and am always using centre.

Whats the advantage of ROF?

On the MKIII, the RoF is highly usable, and works better than center mainly in two conditions:
1) Fast moving sports where you rarely have enough time to keep the subject's face dead center.
2) Focus and recompose.

For the first, yes, the camera can track faces, you just need to first tell it where the face is. Doesn't work like P&S face detection, just a little technique you can use since the AF system is very sensitive on the mkiii.

For the second, more or less self explanatory. You need to have it on tracking priority and slow for it to work properly, but if you have them on, you can focus and recompose with a moving subject.

Swaffs wrote in post #7124571
I'm interested in your statement about Ring of Fire,
You say "I shoot strictly on AI Servo and center point with my 40D"

And now say you use ROF on the MKIII how do you find it compares to centre spot?
I am shooting Football at the moment and find using ROF can pick up the background sometimes, and am always using centre.

Whats the advantage of ROF?

You can adjust the AI Servo sensitivity. Make it slower and it wont jump to other subjects quickly.

Also, ROF is good for wildlife. I like to use it for larger sized animals when running, etc.

I know about changing the AI-SErvo tracking speed and also weather to just use assist points left/right or all around.

So if I'm shooting a soccer player using ROF how do I prevent it from picking thwe goal post or crowd (as per you comment "you first have to tell it where the face is")

Sorry if I'm sounding think I have used 1DMKIIN very succesfully for last few years with motorsports and football using centrespot, however am struggling to nail focus with MKIII.

If someone a year ago had talked about insane and Mark III AF in the same sentence they'd have been describing something completely different (see previous endless Mark III AF problems threads.....)! Nice to see people happy now.

Holy crap. My 85L is a completely new beast on the MKIII. It's SO much faster than on the 5D!!

perryge wrote in post #7164927
Holy crap. My 85L is a completely new beast on the MKIII. It's SO much faster than on the 5D!!

Hahah 85L focus is still kinda slow(vs 35L:p) changing up your gearlist eh?

perryge wrote in post #7164927
Holy crap. My 85L is a completely new beast on the MKIII. It's SO much faster than on the 5D!!

Why did you have to say that, i've been wanting an 85L really bad, and this didn't help things :X

perryge wrote in post #7164927
Holy crap. My 85L is a completely new beast on the MKIII. It's SO much faster than on the 5D!!

IMHO the 85L is perfect on the 1D3