Canon 20D... need help with AF and shutter release.

MattinSTL

MattinSTL

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Last night I shot a wedding (stills) with a local company and I used their gear... and I'm sure they'll be happy with my shots, but I had some frustration.

Sometimes I pushed the shutter and had a delay while the AF chose new sensors... or else I'd push the shutter to start a burst and the cam wouldn't start taking pics until it chose the focus points.

Is that normal? There were a couple times when a little kid did something funny and I wanted to shoot a burst of frames and figure that one would be adequately in focus... but I'd nearly miss the entire moment as the cam tried to work out a focus point before tripping the shutter.

With my D70s I never experienced this problem... my nikon will gladly allow me to take as many out of focus pics as I want :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)


Another thing that didn't help is they use the Custom Bracket (that's the brand) for the flash and those brackets sucked. You're holding onto a skinny little support and it's skinny under the cam also... which gives the flash tremendous leverage to pull the cam around... especially when you flip the flash bar over for verticle shots.

Also... when I was in verticle mode... I found that the shutter needs finger TIP pressure to fire... whereas on my nikon your finger pressure can fire the shutter. This was extremely annoying and made me want to throw the camera on the floor... especially after a long day of shooting! The position that I had to have my finger in to be sure it would fire the shutter was inducing arthritic feelings in my hand! I can't believe that I'll have to look specifically at the shutter button on my next cam to be certain that I don't have that problem... I've been taking the fat button on my D70s for granted!

But anyway... the thing that was driving me nuts is the AF cloud of sensors in the 20D... and the cam having to pick them before taking the picture.

Is this normal?


EDIT: I think what would best solve this problem is if I can set the cam for a central focus point so that I can choose the most important element, push the shutter part-way down, and then compose the shot... that's how I do it with my Nikon... is this easy to do with the Canon?
 
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Hey Matt
Yes it's normal for the camera to not take a picture until it's locked into focus if the autofocus it on. It's easy to change the focus points. I don't have my camera in front of me at the moment but you just hit one of the top buttons then use the wheel to change the points.

As far as using your finger tip I never noticed it probably because I'm used to doing it already having starting with a canon.
 
Thanks for the answer Silverwolf... this guy has a bunch of 2.8 glass so it's not like I'll be bringing my D70s to these deals because I need HIS glass even though I'd prefer my own camera... but anyway... the guy literally handed me the camera and said to take any shots I wanted to take... ZERO tips about the camera and ZERO tips on the kind of pictures he wanted. It was really weird all the way around. I told him I wanted to get used the camera the day before the wedding... but he didn't reply to this... so whatever.

I think the shutter issue (ergonomically) is partly the fault of the bracket and partly the lack of a verticle grip/shutter button. Aside from that the shutter button is low and flush with that little divot that your shutter finger sits in... which keeps me from accidentally tripping the shutter when I don't want to... but it also makes it hard for my big hands to depress the button... so I have to curl my finger around and come straight at it directly... rather then lay my finger across it and just let the pressure do it.

Getting the focus points worked out will save me a lot of trouble though... thanks.
 
I shot all day today and tonight with a 5D... and I liked this cam MUCH better. I can't believe there's that much difference in a 20D and 5D, but apparently there is... I loved the 5D... a lot. I'm still firmly in the Nikon camp... but I don't see how anybody could say the 5D isn't a wonderful camera. The verticle grip made all the difference also... I might add.

It probably helps that I have a stock of 2.8 glass to shoot with... the pics are outstanding... it's fun when people get excited... and several times tonight I heard "oohs and aaaahs" as people behind me were seeing the preview on the LCD.

It was a good night tonight... much better then last weekend. In next weekend's wedding I gotta' use my own camera! Unfortunately I don't have enough 2.8 glass, but if they make me use my sh*t then they get what they get... I'll miss the luxury of a big bag of 2.8 lenses.

Anyway... whatever... focus issue solved and overall experience way better thanks to the 5D.

Oh, one final note... sorry environmentalists... I am DONE with rechargeable batteries... I don't think they've saved me a DIME... all my AA rechargeables are spent... and so were the ones in the cam they supplied me... and I replaced 'em... and then THOSE were spent. No more AA rechargeables for Matty. I think it's a waste of money and you end up pitching them anyway. Perhaps I've broken even... perhaps NOT... either way I think it's too close to call... and the old moral holds true... if you can't risk losing power you can't take chances on rechargeables. My .02
 
MattinSTL said:
I shot all day today and tonight with a 5D... and I liked this cam MUCH better. I can't believe there's that much difference in a 20D and 5D, but apparently there is... I loved the 5D... a lot. I'm still firmly in the Nikon camp... but I don't see how anybody could say the 5D isn't a wonderful camera. The verticle grip made all the difference also... I might add.

It probably helps that I have a stock of 2.8 glass to shoot with... the pics are outstanding... it's fun when people get excited... and several times tonight I heard "oohs and aaaahs" as people behind me were seeing the preview on the LCD.

It was a good night tonight... much better then last weekend. In next weekend's wedding I gotta' use my own camera! Unfortunately I don't have enough 2.8 glass, but if they make me use my sh*t then they get what they get... I'll miss the luxury of a big bag of 2.8 lenses.

Anyway... whatever... focus issue solved and overall experience way better thanks to the 5D.

Oh, one final note... sorry environmentalists... I am DONE with rechargeable batteries... I don't think they've saved me a DIME... all my AA rechargeables are spent... and so were the ones in the cam they supplied me... and I replaced 'em... and then THOSE were spent. No more AA rechargeables for Matty. I think it's a waste of money and you end up pitching them anyway. Perhaps I've broken even... perhaps NOT... either way I think it's too close to call... and the old moral holds true... if you can't risk losing power you can't take chances on rechargeables. My .02
Click to expand...

I was just doing an IMAG event today and we normally take pictures and put them up on the plasmas we have setup. Well I was helping train a new guy who happened to bring his camera with him. I normally bring my 20D and shoot with it but I figured hey if the new guy wants to do it then who am I to say no :-) Well the point that i'm getting to is that he had a 5D and I played with a little and it is much better than the 20D. For one is has like a little finger nook were your middle finger can rest plus the lcd is much bigger for better previewing.

Of course on the flip side you do get what you pay for since the 5d was about an extra 1,500 more than the 20d but I feel ya Matt
 
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