Messages

76

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Q: 5d3 Autofocus squares in viewfinder - tracking

« on: January 19, 2013, 05:51:51 AM »

Hmm,
try the following, 61 points, AI Servo, focus on something near a center point, keep the shutter release half-pressed, then slowly move the camera away (left or right). I see other AF points trying to follow the object until its no longer under an AF point.

Load the file into DPP; there you can (ALT+L) display the AF points used, and those that had lock (red).

Hope I understood you correctly?

Cheers

77

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: My never ending Focus woes with my 5DMK3

« on: January 18, 2013, 03:44:14 PM »

You can go to usa.canon.com and download the English version of the manual for free.

it seems like you forgot an IMPORTANT THING

pls review your manual at page 73 and page 77

61 point automatic selection AF both in A+ and AI Servo Modes

dont worry, there's nothing wrong with your 5D3, just wrong user settings.

we all experience it - one way or the other.

That was a very good suggestion. Now I can immediately find the things you all were talking about in the manual. Still no real sucess though. I hope to get out tomorrow with the camera and try some more.
Cheers Brian

78

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: My never ending Focus woes with my 5DMK3

« on: January 13, 2013, 11:23:10 AM »

it seems like you forgot an IMPORTANT THING

pls review your manual at page 73 and page 77

61 point automatic selection AF both in A+ and AI Servo Modes

dont worry, there's nothing wrong with your 5D3, just wrong user settings.

we all experience it - one way or the other.

Wife says we can't afford a new user, so its up to me still.
My manual is in German so not totally certain what points you are referring to as the page numbers may be different.
I watched all three videos and read the book (EOS_5D_Mark_III_AF_setting_guidebook.pdf) again. With AI Servo AF with all 61 points used, it says "Shooting started by pinpointing focus on the leader of a cycling road race with a manually selected AF point". I'm still unclear on the "manually selected AF point", the large picture on page 53 shows 61 points in use.
Just testing getting the camera to focus on a stationary object indoors, it will do that with one of the outer points. Selecting the point or points it uses on its own.
When shooting BIF, usually pretty small ones in our garden, I find I need to anticipate a lot in which direction they will move, for example when taking off. So I will try to track them as much as possible, but I'm hoping for some assistance from the 61 points to get/keep the bird sharp as long as its under an AF point.   

Anyway thanks to everyone for the help and patience.
Cheers Brian

79

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: My never ending Focus woes with my 5DMK3

« on: January 13, 2013, 01:39:12 AM »

There's a very good video on B&H Learn in Depth on Canon AF. It comes in 3 parts.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/indepth/photography/tips-solutions/look-canon-autofocus-system-part-1

It explained to me what each Focus points looks for & what is special about Cross-type points. How to use servo etc

I think the problem is that the car has no contrast points for the AF to lock on to. Or more specifically aiming all the focus points at the car is not the right way. You have to aim one of the little boxes at a point with contrast that contains either a horizontal or vertical line.

Plus you have to give the AF system a moment to focus & lock the target.

HI, thanks for the link, I'll certainly be studying the videos today. 
As I have focus problems with BIF I tried the, what I hoped would be a simpler, situation for the camera  with the moving cars. I only posted a few shots here, but as the car moves across the center of shot, I had assumed that one of the center points would lock on somewhere (as various parts, lines etc. cross) and it would at least follow from then on towards the left of frame.
Having the cars cross at an angle to me and not at 90° would I thought have given the Camera the time needed. We'll see.
Thanks to everyone who contributed here.
Cheers Brian

80

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: My never ending Focus woes with my 5DMK3

« on: January 12, 2013, 12:12:55 PM »

First of all, having the camera in M, Av, Tv or even P mode has nothing to do with AF.  Those modes deal with exposures.  You can set the focus point with any of those modes.  Secondly, in A+ modes, you are letting the camera do all the decisions for you, both the exposure and what to focus on.  The AF cases wasn't designed for that style of shooting, if you call that a style at all.

I know, and I dont use it, but, something works differently when it is set. And I wish I knew what setting causes that.

Remember, none of these will do you any good if you're shooting on the green mode.

True, but I am still intrigued why the outer column will do what I want in green mode,
but not when set to Av, Tv or M. Thats why I set the same parameters in M as were used in A+,
but it made no difference.
I have not selected any AF points, I let the camera do automatic selection.

Also I am using cars as they are a lot more predictable than birds. I though that if I could get it
to work with cars then I'll go back to birds after that and hone the settings.
Cheers Brian

81

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: My never ending Focus woes with my 5DMK3

« on: January 12, 2013, 11:24:58 AM »

In Case 3, the [Tracking sensitivity] parameter is set to [+1]. As a result, subjects that come into the AF points will be focused on more quickly. This setting is most
effective when subjects appear suddenly in the frame (for example photographing skiers in an alpine skiing downhill race,).

But I have to point the focus point there, or in its general direction first, till the object hs been picked up I assume.
I had read the guide such that it would go straight for the movement. I thought that in most cases it would automatically go for the nearest object covered by a focus point.

Just tried the following. Background is clear sky, to the left is the corner of a wall. Point camera at sky,
shutter relase half pressed, now slowly pan camera to the left. No reaction till the 4th AF point column from the left is over the wall/sky line, now it has picked up the wall. As soon as it has picked it up then AF points in the 2nd and 3rd rows pick the wall up too.

So I'm still wondering why the left most column does not pick up the wall, or the post as shown in focus2.jpg?

Cheers Brian

82

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: My never ending Focus woes with my 5DMK3

« on: January 12, 2013, 11:01:24 AM »

I especially waited for good light to try this out.
Cheers

83

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: My never ending Focus woes with my 5DMK3

« on: January 12, 2013, 10:44:54 AM »

Hi ddl,
it looks suspiciously like that. But then I have to ask "what is the manually selected AF point?". In my case it always tries to select a focus point at the center and I cannot get it to focus using one of the outer points.
In A+ I can get it to focus using the rightmost column of points at 1/250th and F5.0, if I switch to M and set 1/250th and F5.6 then I can get the fourth row from the right to focus. I tried using evaluative metering too instead of spot, but that doesn't change anything.
Strange

Cheers

84

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: My never ending Focus woes with my 5DMK3

« on: January 12, 2013, 08:58:43 AM »

Hey,

I'm not interested in the focus point flashing, its the fact that its not picking up the movement and focusing on that. Sorry if I wasn't clear on that.

Cheers Brian

85

EOS Bodies - For Stills / My (seemingly) never ending Focus woes ... BIF advice needed

« on: January 12, 2013, 07:49:45 AM »

Hi,
though I would start a new thread for this after hijacking this one a while ago:

http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=11978.msg213260#msg213260

.

I'm trying to work methodically through the various AF settings as I could never get AF to work well with BIF (Birds in Flight) in my garden. So please bear with me. For my tests I stood by the side of the road and using low-speed continuous shooting took shots as cars came into view and crossed the field of view. Most of them will have been driving around 30-60Kph.
I assume the Camera should be able to handle this situation. Agreed?
Lens is a 70-200 F2:8 L IS II USM (Group A), IS on set to mode 2.  AF point selection set to automatic.

First point. If I set the camera to Automatic (A+), then it will focus on something nearby which is at the side of the AF points. See the picture Focus1. IMHO that is correct.

Now, if I switch to AV, now in AI-Servo AF, then it will only focus using the center points. I tried various Av and Tv settings, I could never get anything other that the center points to "Lock" (flash red).  Picture Focus2.jpg. I was using AF Case 3 here, expecting

In Case 3, the [Tracking sensitivity] parameter is set to [+1]. As a result, subjects that come into the AF points will be focused on more quickly. This setting is most
effective when subjects appear suddenly in the frame (for example photographing skiers in an alpine skiing downhill race,).

I get the effect that it has locked onto someting in the background (Focus3.jpg) and does not change focus even if the car crosses in front of the object that was in focus. Plus, it never tries to follow the car anyway. See Focus4.jpg.
This was done with the three parameters set to default and then tried to increase Tracking sensitivity to +2 without any effect. Now as the AF wont follow a car, I'm not surprised that it doesn't follow a small bird.

I'd appreciate any hints of what I may be doing wrong.

Cheers Brian

86

Animal Kingdom / Re: Your best animal shots!

« on: January 11, 2013, 07:18:54 AM »

Dave

87

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5D III and 300 2.8 II hit rate for sharp pictures very low

« on: January 07, 2013, 02:45:47 PM »

Hi BJD - I had read this article on AI Servo settings a few days ago wanting to get even more in focus BIF shots.  That 5DM3 has a lot of options for tweaking AI Servo.  If you've not gone through these setings (all 6 cases with 3 settings on each) then this article may help you:

http://www.garyluhm.net/bio/tips_0512.html

So, my problem is sorted, at least partially. I saw that all shots at 70mm were pretty sharp and all at 200mm were back focussed. So I took out the AFMA and it was immediately better. I just cannot seem to get any consistent results with Focal at the moment. I only have one place in the house where I can get far enough away from the target, and natural light is very dull at the moment so I intend to try again with Focal as soon as we have a sunny day.
Next thing is to check that I am getting the Camera to focus where I want it to!
Cheers Brian

Here a new example at 200mm.

88

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5D III and 300 2.8 II hit rate for sharp pictures very low

« on: January 02, 2013, 05:34:49 AM »

Hi BJD - I had read this article on AI Servo settings a few days ago wanting to get even more in focus BIF shots.  That 5DM3 has a lot of options for tweaking AI Servo.  If you've not gone through these setings (all 6 cases with 3 settings on each) then this article may help you:

http://www.garyluhm.net/bio/tips_0512.html

Hey Rev, that a very good guide. Thanks for the heads-up. I'll be trying out some of the tips ASAP.
Cheers Brian

89

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Snow tubing with 5D III + 24-70 II

« on: January 01, 2013, 01:02:23 PM »

Somewhere the guy who did these timelapses shows the state of his Camera after a cold night. Admittedly its a 1Dx, but I guess the 5D3 would take the same punishment. At least I hope it would!

http://www.helvetiabynight.com/

The videos are on vimeo.

Cheers

 

90

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5D III and 300 2.8 II hit rate for sharp pictures very low

« on: December 31, 2012, 11:28:44 AM »

Interesting infos about the 1DX Firmware.
..

What firmware version are you on? The site lists 1.1.1 as the latest version...

Neuroanatomist is correct in what I meant. 
I'm on 1.1.3 (the latest for the 5D3) now.
Also I wonder if they really can be certain that the problem does not occur on other lenses too?
So, yes,  I'm hoping for a new 5D3 FW too sometime.
Cheers Brian