1DX Autofocus Test: Tennis

[bdunbar79]

I was able to actually focus-track a tennis ball in flight.  Yes.  To illustrate this absolutely extraordinary feature of the 1DX, I tracked the ball with single point in Case 6 I believe, and it ignored the closer girl in my foreground.  I cropped a bit here, but just did a quick jpeg save.

[kaihp]

Outrageous - I demand that Canon return to their dodgy and impressive tracking algorithms of the 1D MkIII immediately!     

[rpt]

Wow! Fantastic!

Can you share how you did that? Also the shooting config and settings? Obviously there is some panning visible in the chain link fencing but could you describe your technique?

[bdunbar79]

I don't why I said I used single point.  I had CENTER point with 4-pt expansion.  The girl threw up the serve and at the point where it reaches the high point of the toss, the ball stops, I focused on the ball, held focus in AI Servo Case 6, then held, shot, and panned with the ball.  What was amazing is that even when the ball got that close to the other girl's head, it didn't matter, it stayed on the original subject and held lock. 

[timlo]

bdunbar, that is awesome......!!!!quick queston...when you panned the camera after the ball took off (after the player hit the ball), was it hard to try to keep the ball in the center of the screen (where you initially locked onto the ball)?

[bdunbar79]

I don't know how or why, but after I initially locked onto the ball on the toss up for serve, it just stayed locked.  I was using a 300 f/2.8L IS I lens and I fired a shot at height of toss, relocked, then panned and fired 3 shots, the last of 3 being the one I posted. 

[rpt]

Thanks! I forgot about the tossing of the ball for service. I was thinking rally.

[Chris Burch]

This it quite timely for me.  I am shooting a tennis tournament this weekend with my 1DX and a 70-200 f/2.8 II that should arrive tomorrow.  I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade my original 70-200, plus I have a new 1.4TC on the way.  I'll post some shots next week when I get them processed -- also plan to do some muliple exposure of serves and ground strokes, so that should be fun.

[bdunbar79]

This it quite timely for me.  I am shooting a tennis tournament this weekend with my 1DX and a 70-200 f/2.8 II that should arrive tomorrow.  I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade my original 70-200, plus I have a new 1.4TC on the way.  I'll post some shots next week when I get them processed -- also plan to do some muliple exposure of serves and ground strokes, so that should be fun.

The only problem I have right now with the university is that the courts are enclosed in a chain-link fence cage, and I cannot go inside, due to not disturbing the players.  I understand this.  But it makes shooting tennis with a lens shorter than 300mm very, very difficult, if not impossible.  It's not like pro tennis where there's nothing between the players and your camera.

[bdunbar79]

Well, I don't have an artistic eye per se, and I was shooting these tennis shots from the slope of a grass hill, down onto the courts, at an angle and I cannot for the life of me get the photos leveled.  They look level in ACR, but then when I convert to TIF or JPG they just don't look level and there is no way I'm giving them to the university as is (in case anybody saw them on my personal page).  Ahhhhh!!!

[clicstudio]

This it quite timely for me.  I am shooting a tennis tournament this weekend with my 1DX and a 70-200 f/2.8 II that should arrive tomorrow.  I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade my original 70-200, plus I have a new 1.4TC on the way.  I'll post some shots next week when I get them processed -- also plan to do some muliple exposure of serves and ground strokes, so that should be fun.

Have fun! The 70-200 II Is a HUGE improvement. In all senses. Focusing and sharpness are incredible
Cheers

[Chris Burch]

So I spent 3 days shooting a tennis tournament with the the 1DX and 70-200 f/2.85II.  It was my own tennis association, so I had unfettered access and was able to shoot from the net in-between courts.  This was my first time shooting with the new 70-200 and my first time shooting sports with the 1DX -- the last 3 times I shot this tournament I used a 5DII and the original 70-200.  With the new gear it was so easy it felt like I was cheating.  My goal was always to have shots with the ball somewhere in the frame to better define the action.  With the delay of the shutter actuation in the 5DII and the slow shutter speed, that was always a challenge and I had to take a lot of shots.  I had to keep both eyes open to watch for the ball coming into the frame and then press the shutter right before it entered to be able to catch it.  With the 1DX I had enough time to press the shutter while just looking through the frame and I would still get at least 3-4 shots with the ball in the frame.  My goal shifted to getting the ball on the racquet and that wasn't even very hard. 

Tracking was exceptional and I was able to stay locked on a far single player during a doubles match even with their partner in the frame and closer to me.  I used all points most of the time, unless I was in a weird spot with spot where the net was right in front of me and in the frame or there were too many high contrast things in the background with the subject far away.   In those cases I switched to a center cluster of just kept the player in the middle.  I was shooting on some very busy backgrounds, and the 1DX stayed locked on the players almost all of the time.

Here are a few shots -- still working on editing the full shoot...