Messages

1

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5D MK III Focus Hiccup

« on: August 26, 2012, 01:21:09 AM »

I've encountered this peculiar and bothersome anomaly myself when shooting portraits - I too use the AF-ON button to isolate my metering and AF. I've never seen something like this after having shot with a 40D, 2x 5D2's, and a 1D4 over the course of 5 years, but I thought I was doing something wrong/going crazy! The problem seems to present itself when I least expect it and in good lighting conditions too.

Will you go down the track of sending the camera in to Canon? I may do the same when time permits.

Good luck!

2

EOS Bodies / Re: AF Point Color on the 5D Mark III & 1D X Update [CR2]

« on: July 16, 2012, 07:12:06 AM »

Just because it hasn't been pointed out in plain black and white (and red) yet *insert Dr. Sheldon Cooper snigger/laugh*:

The 1DX and 5D3 both utilise a transmissive LCD screen overlay in the viewfinder allowing the af points, grid lines and other information to be displayed and removed at your whim. This is supposed to be advanced technology and a breakthrough of some sort, however it has also been the bane of our gripes with the new af system: no user-replaceable viewfinder screens, a dimmer viewfinder (especially so when the battery is removed completely from the camera - try it), and a lowered intensity of red light illumination.

The LCD is illuminated from the peripherae by small red LEDs when called upon. The red illumination isn't as intense as that in say a 1Ds3, 1D4, 5D2 etc. as the polarisable molecules in the transmissive LCD are what must scatter the red light back to the viewers eye and are unable to do so with as great an efficiency as the physically permanent af points etched into the plastic (or glass) of the afore-mentioned cameras focusing screens.

This means that it's unlikely Canon will be able to do anything about the dim red lighting when focus is achieved during daylight, which is somewhat useful when focusing - and a whole lot better on say the 5D2.

However, what Canon can do is offer an option such that the points are constantly illuminated when in AI Servo and thus the active af points will be lit red. This would concomitantly illuminate the grid if it is being displayed.

Hope that clears things up..

3

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon EOS 5D Mark III AI Servo AF Point Annoyance Firmware Fix Coming

« on: May 06, 2012, 07:13:55 PM »

6.  The abillity to use the multi controller to choose submenues and the small top wheel to scroll top menues (without     
     going through every single submenu.

There is already the ability to skip over menu groups. To do this, press the [Q] button!

4

EOS Bodies / Re: Shot wedding with 5DIII, dissapointed in AF

« on: April 03, 2012, 03:54:51 AM »

Hi everyone,

Apologies if any of this has been covered throughtout the rest of the thread but I thought I'd clarify some uncertainties I came across:

1) The 5D2 can only utilise AF-point expansion to the 6 additional points in AI-Servo mode AND whilst the center point is selected. It does NOT work in One-Shot!

2) Using the AF-assist (red) light on any speedlite will slow the AF dramatically. If you need speed, turn it off in the custom functions (only the 5D3 can do this, of the 5D bodies - I think this previously was only a 1-series feature - correct me if I'm wrong). This will obviously have the trade-off that you'll have trouble locking onto low-contrast (eg. plain colours with little or no texture)/low exposure value subjects.

3) The AF-assist beam from a 580EX II will not cover all the AF-points of the new 61-point AF-system. I don't know off-hand the extent of coverage to the outer points - it was in the 5D3 manual.

4) The AF-assist beam puts out an array of red vertical stripes to introduce contrast for horizontal line AF sensors to be able to lock on

5) Further to point 4, using the spot AF point mode reduces the area for phase detection and hence isn't recommended for use in combination with the AF-assist beam as it reduces the likelihood and speed of locking on.

6) Fast primes often take longer to focus as accuracy is critical, as one can imagine when the lens may be being shot wide-open

7) My 85mm f/1.2 II is actually quite fast. You just need to know how to use it: turn off focus hunting in custom functions (I always have it disabled) and secondly if you manually pre-focus the lens to an approximate distance to your subject it will be quick at locking on. If the lens is used in AI-Servo the incremental adjustments when tracking a subject are actually quite fast. You just don't want to rack/hunt from one end of the range to the other when shooting action if you can help it.

5

EOS Bodies / Re: EOS-1D X Canon USA Press Release

« on: October 18, 2011, 04:29:42 AM »

61 focus points and all of them crowded together in the centre of the frame!  What's the point in that?  They could have used the 19 point of the 7D and had similar results. Is there anyone here prepared to admit that the only place they choose to focus is in the centre of the frame?  Why not spread the focus points so they have a broader coverage which makes them a lot more usual in the real world.

I second that! I would love to see a far more extensive spread of AF points. I think I'll be sticking with my 5DII for the next 4-5 years (by the looks of it thus far), as the 5DIII certainly won't be trumping the now-flagship 1DX AF-wise.

So long as I have a full-frame camera I'm happy - high DR, low noise, clean, crisp, rich and a nice shallow DOF! 

6

EOS Bodies / Re: EOS-1D X Canon USA Press Release

« on: October 18, 2011, 02:14:50 AM »

Well I don't know about you all, but I'm skeptical of this 'new and improved' AF technology - only 5 f/2.8 sensitive points down the middle of the frame!? What the hell were Canon thinking!? They're adopted the D3/D3s/D700 AF pattern and strategy.. 

I don't know about everyone else, but if the light is anything but bright and sunny I'll only ever trust my single, lone center f/2.8 focus point on my 5D mk II. Even overcast days = less contrast = less to lock onto and for shooting portraits under cloud/shade cover, this can mean the difference between a keeper and OOF shots.

Congrats on the call Craig - I follow this site religiously and am still excited about this announcement despite my somewhat large gripe there..