Archive 2015 · Canon 7D2 settings and Friday Night Lights

Scott T
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Canon 7D2 settings and Friday Night Lights

I don't post often but love to browse the sports forum often for inspiration and enjoy the work of the talented photographers here.

I am shooting high school games, and now that the days are getting short, having to battle the poor stadium lighting.

I recently bought a 7D2 after moving from a 7D to a 5D3, and I'm enjoying the high frame rate and crop, but still adjusting.

As I use it more, I have two specific questions:

1) I turned the "flicker" mode on and it seems to be better at managing white balance, but I suspect it is also slowing down the frame rate. Pros/cons to using this feature with outdoor stadium lighting?

2) Any advice on the AF Case settings? I have moved between Case 1 and 4, I seem to have the same number of out of focus shots, just different causes.

Any thoughts on max ISO and minimum shutter speed appreciated. I seem to get inconsistent results regarding blur and noise, 1/400 to 1/800 seems to be sweet spot, but would like input.

I'm between ISO 6400 to 8000, but think I need to go higher, especially towards the end zones where the light really falls off.

Any other thoughts, tips or recommendations welcome - I'm here to learn.

Here's an example of what I'm seeing with regard to AF...the pics of the receiver running were in focus, but as he slowed from the contact, the AF seems to expect a consistent speed and he goes OOF. This was Case 4 "Subjects that accelerate or decelerate quickly".

Oct 25, 2015 at 11:57 PM

ronlane
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Canon 7D2 settings and Friday Night Lights

Scott,

I'm shooting the 7d mk ii this year too, although not with a 300 f/2.8. I also shoot high school games and was struggling with some of the same issues. I'll give my thoughts on what you have asked.

I do shoot with the anti-flicker turned on and really don't notice a frame rate decrease. But as you mention, I like the consistency that it gives the images. (saves time later)

The second question about the case, I believe that I am using case 2 most of the time. I got this from a post here that linked to what Peter Read Miller uses.

I have been shooting my images at between 1/640 - 1/1000 of a second at f/2.8 - 3.5 using auto ISO with the upper range set at either 6400 or 12800 and then I have been dialing in +1.0 EV.

I wished that on the range for auto ISO, I could set it at either 8000 or 10000 as the max but I haven't seen that choice yet.

Oct 26, 2015 at 06:24 AM

timgangloff
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Canon 7D2 settings and Friday Night Lights

I've had just about every Canon body that has been manufactured. I currently have the 5d3, 7d2 and 1dx. From my experience, the 7d2 is not very good at high ISO/dark football fields as far as AF tracking goes, at least compared to the 5d3 and 1dx. In daylight, its much better.

I've tried different cases and a variety of AF settings, but it just doesn't handle the dark well and I'm not a fan of the noise above ISO 5000 or so.

I don't think the anti-flicker hurts the frame rate significantly and really like that feature. It works and I wish my 1dx had it.

I am disappointed enough with the 7d2 as a night sports body that I am now looking to buy another 1dx or 1d4 for my 2nd body for night action. The 7d2 costs a lot less than the 1dx and the 1d4 (price at launch time) and I believe you get what you pay for. I've got 2 or 3 more HS football games this season and unless I see some remarkable improvement, I'll be shelving the 7d2 for night games.

Basketball season will be here soon and the local arena has really good LED lighting - ISO 2500, 1/1000 and about 3.2. I'll be curious to see how the 7d2 does there.

Oct 26, 2015 at 08:50 AM

Scott T
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Canon 7D2 settings and Friday Night Lights

ronlane wrote:
Scott,

I'm shooting the 7d mk ii this year too, although not with a 300 f/2.8. I also shoot high school games and was struggling with some of the same issues. I'll give my thoughts on what you have asked.

I do shoot with the anti-flicker turned on and really don't notice a frame rate decrease. But as you mention, I like the consistency that it gives the images. (saves time later)

The second question about the case, I believe that I am using case 2 most of the time. I got this from a post here that linked to what Peter Read...Show more →

Thanks for the advice Ron, and glad I'm not the only one shooting at stupid high ISO's.

I hadn't thought to use auto ISO, most fields I shoot on are fairly evenly lit, but our home field has pretty bad fall off...I didn't notice how bad until I was going through the pics that it was down to 1/160 in some spots at f/2.8. ugh.

I'll give Case 2 a try...though I'm not in the same league as PRM, but who knows!

Oct 26, 2015 at 11:04 PM

gschlact
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Canon 7D2 settings and Friday Night Lights

A few comments for you:
.. Anti flicker will stall the shutter by 0 to 1/2 of the 60hz cycle, but would average less. So the max is. 08 sec.
.. I would try accel decel case subsetting at - 2 instead of the default and see if that helps the AF on the hits.
.. I would contend 1/500 is definitely too slow for football, you'll have to boost ISO to get speed up. This will help crispness of the shots. I would say get sharp first with, in of 1/1000 before you try slower.

@Tim - it was my understanding that the 7dii has the lowest light Af at - 3ev. Strange you are having troubles. Last winter shooting basketball, I did pretty will at 1/500 ISO 6400-10000 f2.8. Are you finding it is hunting for focus Or having tracking issues when you are experiencing the trouble? If the former, subsetting tweaks/changes would likely help.

Oct 27, 2015 at 11:26 PM

timgangloff
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Canon 7D2 settings and Friday Night Lights

Guy, not sure what to say. The 1dx blows the doors off my 7d2 for AF accuracy at night. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places, but I don't really see anyone regularly posting great, sharp, night action images from the 7d2 - apologies to anyone here is doing well with their 7d2, I'm not slighting you, probably just have not noticed your work - and while I do see some pretty good shots with it from time to time, nothing that makes me think it can hang with a 1dx. With the 1dx, I am usually picking the best action image from a series and with the 7d2 I am picking the best in focus image from a series.

I also disagree on 1/500 being too slow for football action. I regularly shoot that slow. It's the slowest I will go, but it works and while you may see some blurring in the feet and hands, most everything else should be pretty good.

Oct 28, 2015 at 07:35 PM

gschlact
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Canon 7D2 settings and Friday Night Lights

Tim,
If interested, I'll stay on the lookout for a Series of "night" action series.
While you are getting the whole burst in focus on the 1dx, are you up to modify your 7dx case subsettings to optimize, the goal would be to get a whole in-focus burst from the 7dii, but obviously noise won't be quite as good as the 1dx but you help a bit through downsizing (down-res) to match.

What should we consider "Night" lighting? 1/500 ISO 6400 F2.8 ? More / less available light?

First/Secon shutter = FOCUS
Try -1 or -2 on Tracking Sensitivity (if you are using single point, spot or expanded). But first make sure you are on subject and then press BBF.
Accel/Decel = +2
AF Point Switching = +2 (will only help in expanded or any of the zones)

Oct 29, 2015 at 08:48 AM

Scott T
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Canon 7D2 settings and Friday Night Lights

Tim and Guy, thanks.

I'm going to try a few combinations of the AF settings as above and see how it goes, but at this point I'm in agreement with Tim's thoughts. The 7D does do a nice job in mixed/low light, so I was disappointed with the dramatic falloff in performance when things get really dark. It almost seems ridiculous to be complaining about performance at ISO 10K, but hey, that's what it's made for.

I'll likely try the 5D3 also this Friday for comparison's sake...but I sure like the crop and fps of the 7d.

Edited on Oct 29, 2015 at 01:37 PM · View previous versions

Oct 29, 2015 at 11:18 AM

Mark Kuhlmann
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Canon 7D2 settings and Friday Night Lights

I'll echo what Tim said, I bought a 7d2 as a backup for my 1dX hoping that it'd give me extra reach and FPS over the 5d3. So far, the focus in poorly-lit situations has been average as best, nowhere near what the 1DX can do and worse than the 5d3 as well. For day games, it's fantastic, but the night/indoor autofocus and image quality is making me seriously think about swapping back to a 5d3 for a second body.

Oct 29, 2015 at 12:43 PM

Scott T
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Canon 7D2 settings and Friday Night Lights

Just an update. Busy week and didn't have time to try new AF settings. Went with the 200/1.8 only, it was raining pretty hard, so easier to manage in a rain cover.

The 200 is a little short on focal length, so I followed the action from the sidelines, but the AF was dramatically better. I still had a few OOF, but they were more in line with what I'd expect, and not the random "lose acquisition" in a series of shots. Big enough difference I'll probably stick with this combo for awhile.

This is a mildly cropped jpeg straight from the camera.

Nov 02, 2015 at 01:45 AM


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