Canon 7D AF : advice for high-speed ski competition (120 mph) shooting

[Tabazan]

Hello to all,


I just received my 7D, and I go shooting a high-speed ski competition in 3 day (remember Steve Mc Kinney and Alessandro Casse ?). Free fall, er... no, hill climb at 120 mph or more.


Even though I work a bit on the various AF option, I''m not sure what would fit best for that kind of fast outdoor sport.


Due to speed, I need something that will lock best and give a maximum stop action.


I thought about Extended or manual zone, but honestly I'm a bit lost on this one.


Can you advise ?


Thanks a lot

[peety3]

I'd say Spot AF, center point only. If that doesn't work, surrounding points mode or zone mode might be good alternatives.


My biggest advice to any new 7D owners is to not try the separate horizontal/vertical focus points feature until you know the focus modes intimately. Enabling that feature means you have not just two different focus points/zones "set", it means you have two different focus modes set.


I mistakenly enabled that feature within a week of having the camera. I'd turn the camera vertical, and the camera would change to all-points-active mode. I'd move the joystick, and nothing would happen. I'd turn the camera horizontal to try to figure it out, and it'd revert to single point plus surrounding points. "Darn it, that's what I wanted!" And, I'd turn the camera vertical, only to see it go back to all points active. Roll the camera horizontal, works fine, roll it vertical, it "does what it wants".


I would also strongly recommend that you bring your previous camera with you, and be ready/able to revert to it if you should so choose. I wouldn't gamble with a camera I didn't know unless I had a safety net. That said, I suspect you'll be extremely happy with the images from the 7D (especially the metering against a snowy background) and won't want to use your older camera.


Pete, proud owner of two 7Ds and contemplating how to get a third 7D.

[neuroanatomist]

I'd go with center-point with AF-Point Expansion (in case you have a bit of trouble getting the center point on the skier). Use a very fast shutter speed (Tv mode, 1/2000 or faster).


You may also want to change the defaults on some of the custom functions that pertain to AI-Servo tracking, e.g.


For solo skiers:

• C.FnIII-1 set to slow
• C.FnIII-2 set to 0 {AF Priority/Tracking Priority}
• C.FnIII-3 set to 1 {Continuous AF Tracking Priority}

The idea behind the above settings is that once you're locked onto the skier, the AI-Servo system will try to keep the subject in focus, even if they pass behind a tree, etc.


For groups of skiers where you want to shoot whoever is in the lead:

• C.FnIII-1 set to fast
• C.FnIII-2 set to 0 {AF Priority/Tracking Priority}
• C.FnIII-3 set to 1 {Continuous AF Tracking Priority}

<div>Hope that helps! Good luck...</div>

[freelanceshots]

Man with all the new gadgets this 7D has for focus its a little over whelming. If I had one of these bodies I may not know what to do with myself. I wish there was more business coming in that required me needing a new sports oriented camera body. Sounds like a lot of fun to use. Be sure to post your best pictures from the skiing event like on Flickr so that we can see them.





In this situation would you want to use Highlight Tone Priority because of the bight snow verses skier/trees? I don't know how the 7D works or if it carries this feature but it might be something I would consider depending on the noise levels you see.

[Tabazan]

Thanks a lot to both !


Very useful informations. I'll try to post the results next week.


Regarding the C.FnIII-1, is it so noticeable ?


I've seen the feature and was tempted to use it (but had not yet the opportunity).


All in all, I feel there's plenty of work to take the best out of this 7D but that it largely worth the effort []

[Tabazan]

In this situation would you want to use Highlight Tone Priority because of the bight snow verses skier/trees? I don't know how the 7D works or if it carries this feature but it might be something I would consider depending on the noise levels you see.

There are a lot of unknown elements I'll need to cope with.


I expect grey sky on grey snow (good for AWB, he he) due to difficult weather condition these days in the area at this altitude (3'200 meters), and so on.


What's more, there are two runs per skier, and they're often cancelled so I'd better take an option and live with it.


To be honest, and due to my lack of knowledge of the 7D, I'll take that as a "7D AF 101" stage.


More soon


Thanks

[peety3]

Man with all the new gadgets this 7D has for focus its a little over whelming. If I had one of these bodies I may not know what to do with myself. I wish there was more business coming in that required me needing a new sports oriented camera body. Sounds like a lot of fun to use. Be sure to post your best pictures from the skiing event like on Flickr so that we can see them.


In this situation would you want to use Highlight Tone Priority because of the bight snow verses skier/trees? I don't know how the 7D works or if it carries this feature but it might be something I would consider depending on the noise levels you see.
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I don't know if HTP is necessary - since the skiers probably won't be pure white, the camera seems to do a fantastic job of metering based on the subject, and the snow will be white. I shot a hockey game last month, and afterwards during the jersey auction, I was shooting people with ice behind them. Faces and clothes were perfect, ice was blown out; the ice was white but the faces weren't dark as a result.


The AF has been on the money every time. The five focus modes are all selectable; it's just a different way of thinking to choose between them. (As someone with a 1D3, the M.Fn button is where the FEL button is on a 1D, so I don't think of it for focus mode selection. Thankfully the button is duplicated on the grip.)


The 7D is an AMAZING value. Although I won't actually do it, I have actually thought about selling my 1D3 (and her 40D) to get two more 7D bodies and some glass. Don't think of it as strictly a sports body either...it's good for a lot of stuff.

[Cris]

A bit off topic here (sorry guys)

The 7D is an AMAZING value. Although I won't actually do it, I have actually thought about selling my 1D3 (and her 40D) to get two more 7D bodies and some glass. Don't think of it as strictly a sports body either...it's good for a lot of stuff.
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I have shoot a christening on the past week using a 40d, a 50d and the 7d.. with some L series lens... and all images in maximum quality possible in raw...


I have used iso from 200 to all way up to iso 2000, and let me tell you guys the 7d has a killer autofocus system, but in terms of image quality in iso's until the 1600 range it is at exactly the same level of noise that the 50d and the 40d are... not better...


At least at iso 800 that i had used a lot, and the noise is gorgeous like in all canon xxD cameras... I just couldn&acute;t see any improvement in image quality, versus especially the 50d


In terms of color saturation the 7d tends to saturate a bit more, and overexpose a bit more.


A tip here, i get better results at high iso's if when i&acute;m shooting if i overexposed the image by 1 or 2/3 of a stop and then later in post expose it correctly. All in RAW of course... it&acute;s amazing the amount of noise i can remove by doing this trick.