AF Performance of 5D2 - Birds in Flight

How dare you talk like that about my Extreme baby Girl

Here is my 2 cents

My first video - Excuse me for the bad editing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4aFpGSOzpY&hd=1

Pictures and video taken with 100-400 + Canon 1.4x EF Extender II = 560 mm

Sorry, I didn't understand what the rep. said.. (also didn't get what he meant with "face", I suppose he doesn't mean a real human face..)

Could you tell it in other words for not-very good-english speakers?

No problem, Pablov.

The example was a very long lens tracking a football player running toward the camera. The photographer selected the top focus point, used AF Servo, and tracked the player by keeping the point on the football players face. So, yes, his real face. It was shot wide open, so the DOF was very shallow. The arm was a bit out of focus, the background was completely out of focus, but the face and expression were sharp as can be.

Sorry, I didn't understand what the rep. said.. (also didn't get what he meant with "face", I suppose he doesn't mean a real human face..)

Could you tell it in other words for not-very good-english speakers?

No problem, Pablov.

The example was a very long lens tracking a football player running toward the camera. The photographer selected the top focus point, used AF Servo, and tracked the player by keeping the point on the football players face. So, yes, his real face. It was shot wide open, so the DOF was very shallow. The arm was a bit out of focus, the background was completely out of focus, but the face and expression were sharp as can be.

Thanks a lot Jon!!

I understood it now.

- So instead of using the central AF point (which is more sensitive/faster), it was used the top AF point, right?

- And it was able to track the football player running towards the camera in burst mode, few or single) shoots?

- Any mention to which lens was used?

Very interesting !
Thanks a lot for the tip. (any other are very welcome indeed!!)

Yes, the top point was used because of the desired framing (face near the top of the photo).

I would guess that the photographer used burst mode to get many options. One would have the best expression on the face.

No mention of the lens, but I'd guess that it was very big and white.

I plead guilty to posting the linked thread in our local birding forum. Ralph, you seem to be an authority on AF systems as applied to BIFs, could you please post a link to your BIF galleries? Thanks.

At least there are some proofs (if you didn't get your own yet) that the AF is good.
http://birdphotoph.proboards.com/index. ... hread=2274

No, these are proofs that when you can keep the subject dead center (under the only cross-type AF point) and its movement is not too erratic (in these shots the birds are passing by, not moving forward then stopping then backward like a soccer player), you get a lot of keepers.
Just the fact that he says his friend with a D300 got good results too, is a proof that he wasn't challenging the 5D's AF too much, because the D300 is superior in every way. I once shot mountain bikes with an EOS D60 in AI Servo AF and got a lot of keepers too (I'll let you google up the specs of the D60, just make sure you're sitting on something steady before doing so!!). I got keepers but that doesn't make the AF on the D60 less crappy...

You can't beat a 51-pt AF system (15 cross-type) with a 15-pt (1 cross-type). There's a reason why sports cameras have more AF points, and also more cross-type

Just look at the 7D : 19 points, all cross-type. Made to crush the D300, and it probably does.

I'm not saying the photos are not great. They are great. But they're not a real challenge for the 5D AF.

@Romy :

Didn't know you were a member of this forum... I found your post there, and really liked all the pictures and the comments you wrote, and thought it could be very interesting to post here (I like to bring handy and useful info to this great place )

Cheers,

Pablov
PS: Congratulations for those great pics and post

@Romy :

Didn't know you were a member of this forum... I found your post there, and really liked all the pictures and the comments you wrote, and thought it could be very interesting to post here (I like to bring handy and useful info to this great place )

Cheers,

Pablov
PS: Congratulations for those great pics and post

I'm flattered that the thread is linked to, Pablov.... thanks!

I'm just curious how Ralph was able to comment that "its movement is not too erratic" and "they're not a real challenge for the 5D AF". As far as I know, he was not beside me when I was shooting the posted BIFs. He must be an authority on BIF AF matters if he can make such comments even without knowing the shooting conditions and the local bird behavior!

@ Romy :

I'm very interested to know the performance of your Canon 1.4x TC

Please could you answer these questions?:

- Is it really a Canon brand 1.4x Tele converter (just to be sure what we are talking about) ?
- Did you noticed any AF performance decrease when using it attached to a lens as compared to using the lens alone without any teleconverter ?
- Did you noticed any Image Quality decrease when using it with any lens? (softness at corners, more Chromatic Aberrations, or whatever)
- Did you also used the Canon 1.4x TC with other lenses (like Canon 70-200 F4L IS, which I own, and would like to know hog good is when used with that Teleconverter)
- The Canon 1.4x TC gives you 1 F-stop less ?
- Any other Teleconverter (Canon or 3rd party) that you have used ? (I would like a 1.5x to reach 300mm, although I find Canon's are very expensive)

Thanks a lot in advance.

[58mm Rokkor]

The Canon 1.4 X TC comes in two versions, I and II. Both are good. You lose one stop with the 1.4 but two stops with the 2X. The 2X degrades the image quality more than the 1.4X. Auto focus speed and performance will take a hit when using any TC. It all depends on the host lens. You will retain auto focus with a 2.8 or faster lens but a slower lens might not auto focus when used with the TC.

I used to shoot a lot of sports with my EF 400/2.8 and I would only use the 1.4X TC when I had to. But my 400/2.8 became a 560/4 lens when using the TC. The view in the viewfinder is darker when using the TC as you are giving up light. If you nailed the focus the results from the TC could be really good. But using one reduces your keeper rate.

It should be noted that the 1.4X TC works great with the Canon TS-E lenses. Regular lenses and wide zooms will not work with the TC's though.

Using the TC's really work best with the big, heavy and expensive "white lenses."

Hope this helps...

I recently posted a blog article about how surprisingly great I found the 5D Mark II's autofocus system when focusing through extremely heavy rain.

I have Canon pro bodies too and was extremely pleasantly surprised at this camera's autofocus performance.