1DC: Photo autofocus

J

José Alkon

Member
Has any one got much experience shooting still with the 1DC and in particular high speed autofocus?

As bad as it sounds I barely shoot much stills with my camera and the other day I was mucking around shooting my nephew running at me. I set it up on high speed continuous, AI servo AF, Spot AF, Case 4 in AF menu and obviously AF on my 24-70mm 2.8L at about 28mm. Results were pretty ordinary out of a 8 shot sequence less than half were in focus. I shot similar a few times that night and got consistently average results.

Now this test might have been a bit unjust since it was a low light environment shooting wide open at 1/30 shutter! Having said that I still thought having the DNA of the 1DX, the current 'king' of DSLRs, that the autofocus would be mind blowing. I am running firmware 1.3.4

Would love to hear other 1DC owner's experience with this.

Cheers
 
I don't know where you are firmware wise versus the 1DX?

Canon used to have a 56 page guide to the 1DX autofocus system. It has been updated, and there is also a mobile version now:

http://www.learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2012/1dx_guidebook.shtml

You would probably have to decide if the older or newer version is more like your autofocus.

I know when I had a 1DX there are a lot of variables and tweaks to getting best performance in any situation. How much priority the system gives to being in focus vs getting the shot no matter what. Whether you are tracking a straight line or zig zag subject. Whether it should switch to a new subject or hold the exiting one no matter what.

They also mention being able to track by color and size. I haven't looked at the updated guide as I no longer have a 1DX. It was a significant learning curve, even for the pro sports shooters (some tips in articles by sports shooters.)

It made me realize how incredibly sophisticated that autofocus system is. And how little I knew about it, despite having a 1 series body since 2004. Definitely a camera that is smarter than me. :)

It is also true that newer lenses since 2010 are able to focus more accurately than older lenses on the 1DX & 5DIII. The 24-70 2.8 II would certainly qualify.

Good luck!
Michael
 
I'm amazed that you could even tell what was in focus when trying to photograph a running person a 1/30s.

My 1DC has trouble with focusing in the lowlight conditions you are describing. Of course, my 60D has much more trouble. The region AF might work better than spot AF in those situations.
 
Last edited:
Yes, the 1/30 shutter speed won't even freeze your grandmother chilling in a lawn chair, sipping on an ice tea.

Do another test when you set ISO to A (auto) and define the minimum shutter speed to be 1/250th.

Still, shooting in poor light will make it challenging. A small comfort: if your camera can't nail the focus, no camera can.
 
AndreeOnline said:
Yes, the 1/30 shutter speed won't even freeze your grandmother chilling in a lawn chair, sipping on an ice tea.

Do another test when you set ISO to A (auto) and define the minimum shutter speed to be 1/250th.

Still, shooting in poor light will make it challenging. A small comfort: if your camera can't nail the focus, no camera can.
Click to expand...

Maybe A7s can.
 
marvinhello said:
Maybe A7s can.
Click to expand...

Well, I think the A7s has the pure lowlight and phase detecting side of the equation covered. I wonder about tracking a moving subject though...

But if the general AF-performance of the A7s is "good" (or better) compared to today's higher end cameras, it would be a very interesting camera to pick up.

Have you pre-ordered one?
 
1)Your problem may be with the 24-70L many people say you need to do micro adjustment to make sure it can achieve accurate focus.

2)From my own experience, I usually get better AF result if I use AF single shot and the single middle screen.

3) Is probably motion blur, in case of low lighting level I will at least use 1/60 in Tv mode or M mode and set auto iso.


Overall in past 200k+ number of still on my 1DC I miss more shot in motion blur>wrong AF point>miss focus
 
AndreeOnline said:
Well, I think the A7s has the pure lowlight and phase detecting side of the equation covered. I wonder about tracking a moving subject though...

But if the general AF-performance of the A7s is "good" (or better) compared to today's higher end cameras, it would be a very interesting camera to pick up.

Have you pre-ordered one?
Click to expand...

I am very interest to get one, but I do not have much faith in Sony's PR stunts. I will wait for the actual product and test it out before I will put my money in.

I usually can get a small discount for my shop owner friend if buy a few weeks after release. ( since I need save a bit more money to buy the external recorder and a couple of lens as well of it)
 
Cheers everyone for the tips! Very excited to dig a bit deeper into the camera's full AF potential even if I don't get much need for it.

I had no expectations for it to be sharp shooting at 1/30 it was more the focus wouldn't lock on the subject which filled the center of the frame ie focus kept switching from background and subject.

I guess I was just wondering if the 1DC had gotten all the bells and whistles of the 1DX or if it's photo capabilities were minimized to make room for the extra demands of 4k etc.
 
José Alkon said:
I guess I was just wondering if the 1DC had gotten all the bells and whistles of the 1DX or if it's photo capabilities were minimized to make room for the extra demands of 4k etc.
Click to expand...

The 1Dc is a 1Dx with stuff added to it, not taken away. It has the same capabilities as the 1Dx with one caveat: since both cameras use different firmware we end up in a situation like we have today where the 1Dx firmware has been taken further than that of the 1Dc.

Did you use all of the AF-points, or were you in a mode that limited the camera to a certain point or cluster of points? Did you see the large brackets in the viewfinder surrounding all the AF-points?
 
I have seen on another board that spot autofocus actually uses a very small sensor area. And that it can be slower to lock because it covers a small area.

Per the above, I think you will get best results by using the full array of autofocus points.

You may want to try to isolate and test each component one at a time, so that you can figure out the capabilities of each part. Start with tracking in good light, etc.

Have fun!

Michael
 
AndreeOnline said:
Did you use all of the AF-points, or were you in a mode that limited the camera to a certain point or cluster of points? Did you see the large brackets in the viewfinder surrounding all the AF-points?
Click to expand...

No I used spot AF center weighed thinking that would work the best having my subject dead center. I will try the full range next time and obviously in better light :)
 
Best is to take a look at the tutorial at Canon USA, they have very clear explanation of what is the best setting to use.

However for me they ever work for my scenario (my subject do not stand out from the other objects unless I use face recognition) perfectly since they have these tracking focus 20 years ago, when I bought this I they to give it a try, and not of mode in the setting suit me. So I end up with single point in the centre again, Which is very very try fast and accurate, except when during very low light condition( seems Nikon D4 is a bit better).

in photo mode 1D uses a separate sensor+CPU for AF which make is extremely fast. Also no matter which area you choose in your setting it uses the full sensor to feed it additional info to the CPU( just in case you pan or tilt your camera) for prediction (AI) to make AF faster and more accurate. Selecting the AF point only make its decision more acute and quicker.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top