whitejon
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 Re: 5D Tips? | |
Sure. This is a good and appropriate question.
I\'ve actually used mine as a backup to my 1D IIn and 1D IV with great success for hockey, soccer, lacrosse and swimming! Althought the autofucus process is a bit slower (servo tracking) and the peripheral AF points (if you\'d ever use them) are said to have accuracy issues, much can be done with regardless.
I have the most success with it in servo AF, center-point selection, which is pretty normal. I have found that 1) it takes a bit of pre-tracking (and I mean only a second or so) of the subject to get its lock and 2) it sometimes benefits from re-locking with a lift of the finger and a re-halfpress of the shutter button. I find that I do that continually as I ready for a snap with the 5D, and it works fine.
Monito\'s point above is an excellent bit of guidance. Find situations in which you can let the subject come into an already-set field of focus from time to time. Exposure can be set for that field, too. Manual is wonderful in so many ways.
I would say that over several thousand sports shots with the 5D I have only mis-focused about 5%, and that is almost always when I\'ve been on the knees and wanted the face and things like that. So, middle point and re-focus presses seem to keep servo AF on track with my system.
Of course, watch your reciprocal rule in terms of shutter speed and focal length. When you can, a monopod can help (I use one all the time, regardless of shooting at 1/500s or faster). Depth-of-field can be the culprit (or lack thereof), as I used to see in the beginning days when I found that the chest focal plane (well, for most men) and the facial plane were two different places at f/2 and f/2.8.
Busy sports may fool the 5D servo system, as when someone crosses the path of your target, or arms/sticks/legs grab its attention away from the body center. Even the pros have these frustrations, and believe me, even though the 1D IV CAN do almost any AF task, one has to learn how to set it and how if actually responds to say that it has been mastered.
The same can be done, to a degree, with your system.
Jon
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