85 1.2 II AF Question

First off this is my favorite lens to use (might be cause it is my most expensive as well). Being that it is an extremely fast lens it would be great for sports if it wasnt for the slowish AF. Recently I shot an 6th Grade Elementary basketball game for the coach of one of the teams so that he would have some pictures to give his players at the end of the year. I took along my 3 main lenses one of which being the 85 1.2 II even knowing about the slow AF. In the end the AF still did better then myself manually trying to focus (with apertures between 1.2-2.0).


So now to the question would a camera body that is deamed to have a faster AF system allow the 85 1.2 to focus on the subject quicker?


Current lineup: Canon 40D, 85 1.2 II, 70-200 2.8 IS, 24-70 2.8


Thanks in Advance


P.S. Some of the images may of been out of focus do tothe camera front focusing, thats another reason I would like to upgrade (AF Microadjustment),

Shooting at 1.2 would a very shallow depth of field no matter how fast the AF. I have a hard enough time at 1.4. Have you considered pre-focusing to an action prone place on the court and then waiting for some action to fill it instead of trying to follow?

"barba"- Yes prefocusing does help and yes 1.2 is extremely shallow, but the question without restateing it verbatum is not regarding that. I didnt use it much that night anyways, the court was really really short with hardly any sidelines so I used the 24-70 and two flashes on the end of the court in the corners which gave the "best" results, I say "best" because when I would get the 85 right.....it was alot better. Thanks anyways "barba" [:D]


Thanks


Joel

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Joel Bookhammer

So now to the question would a camera body that is deamed to have a faster AF system allow the 85 1.2 to focus on the subject quicker?

---

I don't know. My best guess is that the slowness is an issue of the 85mm f/1.2 lens itself in this case. Another issue aside from focus speed is accuracy. I would guess that a different body (e.g. 1D4) would be more accurate -- especially if using more than just the center point.

My intuition says the same as Daniel. I have that lens, and the USM driving the front element just feels fairly sluggish-- which is probably intentional, allowing for extremely fine adjustments. That's not going to change much. But if the camera is telling you you're focused and the shots aren't as sharp as you like, a new body might suit your needs.