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 p.2 #9 · RG on 1D Mk IV autofocus performance | |
Hmmn, this will no doubt get interesting. When I first got my mk4 a few weeks ago, I was a bit worried that the hype might just be that, hype. Obviously, I thought it was a risk worth taking and was an early adopter. I bought my mk3 when some were still having troubles (actually, bought 2 and still have one), but was I guess fortunate in that mine seemed to work wonderfully. Still does. But, I really wanted the ability to shoot some candid sports video and still do what the 1d series can do that my 5d2 can't, so I got the 1d4.
So far, my results have not been anything like what RG reports. I shoot a lot of basketball (high school and middle school levels) and mostly strobed and have lots of galleries up that one could look at if so inclined and bored enough. When strobbing a game, I'll typically shoot about 100-120 frames. With my mk4 and the 70-200 2.8, and I'll end up tossing a few to focus issues or what not and probably end up posting about 70. Of this 100-120, some are tossed because I got the refs butt and not the play I was watching a nano second before pressing the button. Most deletions are these kind of issues.
Admittedly, of the ones that I post, the 70 might not all be worthy of praise from an action and or framing perspective, but they are in focus and thus are posted in the hopes someone might buy one. Occasionally, they do. The point is that only a small percentage of my shots get tossed due to focus errors for which I can blame the camera. Most of the time, the focus issue is my fault. Most, but not all.
Sometimes, with basketball, the action will present itself suddenly and I will be forced to pretty much point and shoot. Sometimes I (the camera) nails it and sometimes not. These types of shots are pretty difficult and the players are probably moving fairly fast and I am not spending too much time focusing on the player before hitting the shutter button, so I may in fact be focusing on the fans or another player. So, some of these are those that get tossed due to focus are clearly a weakness of the photographer being unable to track the action properly or anticipate correctly. Sometimes I am slow.
But, this mk4 is not perfect either. Sometimes, I think I am tracking the player well and when I examine the photo, I'll see that the camera missed it. Sometimes I don't know why. Could another player crossed my path so quickly I did not even see them and that threw the focus off a smidgen? Maybe. From my experience, I've not found a camera that nails the shot every time and clearly, this camera will miss some that I think it should have nailed. However, I think it does do a better job than any I've used so far (1d, 1d2, 1d2n or 1d3).
I do think it does a great job of tracking a person and oftentimes, I'll get an image of a person directly in front of my target, obscuring most of my target. The person in front of the image is out of focus and the largely obscured target is still in focus. The camera has essentially followed the subject even when the subject is (mostly) hidden.
However, as good as I think the mk4 is, you have to realize that it is not perfect. You will miss shots. I am unaware of any camera that is perfect. And despite all of the rumblings about Nikon being better now, my friend who shoots along side me with his Nikon D3 averages about the same number of keepers per game as I do.
I am continually amazed that with many of my shots when I am following the action with my center AF point and then snap the shot, I'll get an in-focus image even though the red lit AF is not on my subject as I intended, but the camera continued to follow my subject.
The custom AF settings can also negatively change your results too. If you have a uniform that is tough to focus on (like all black with small numbers or something) and you allow the surrounding AF points to assist, you may well end up focusing on something that you did not intend. You need to experiment and learn what works best for you, your style of shooting and the environment you are shooting in.
Edited on Feb 11, 2010 at 02:24 PM · View previous versions
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