High Speed Focusing Technique

[d2creative]

Please help, I'm used to doing more studio type work so this moving target thing has me confused. For example, i went to the dog park this weekend with my fancy new D200 and was trying to get some shots of my dogs as they were running towards me. I ended up with all blurry shots. Well, not completely out of focus. The focus would end up behind their heads at about the neck or mid-back. How do i get the camera to focus on their face and pop off the shutter quick enough? Or do i just need to shoot with a very small f-stop? Should I use conitinuos focus? Do you not worry about pressing the shutter half way to focuse and then finish pressing to take the shot, but instead just hitting the shutter full click? Is that enough time for the camera to focus?

TIA!

[Wil_Bloodworth]

Dennis,

If the dog is running at you, you want to use "C" mode and focus on it's nose. The D200 will keep the nose in focus. Now... how much of the rest of the dog you want to be in focus will be primarily based on your aperture. Since you're at the park, I'm assuming you're in daylight so you could easily shoot an F8 and even use an ISO like 250 to ensure you're getting a fast enough shutter speed.

When using the C mode, you will need to keep the shutter halfway down so that the D200 continuously focuses. When you finally push the shutter the rest of the way, it will take the photo and it will (most likely) be in focus exactly as you intended. You may want to use Group Dynamic mode with Large focus points so that the dog is easily tracked... play with it... it's fun.

Also, if you don't have it yet, get Thom Hogan's e-book on the D200. He explains, in detail, all of those little modes that we avoid because they're so confusing.

Best of luck!

- Wil

[JohnT]

Don't know anything about Nikon equipment, but Canon has two functions called AI Servo and AI Focus. With either one activated, the camera is in a continuous focusing mode, allowing moving objects to be focused accurately. I believe the latter is for subjects moving toward you or away from you.

[d2creative]

Thanks!
I didn't get a chance to try continous because the sky opened up on me and we had to make a run for the car, lol. But I love that it is a button on the camera rather than an option in the menus!
I will try your suggestions.
I have TH's book for my D70. Man what a monster. Good info though. Anybody want to trade their d200 book for a d70 book?

[NathanJK]

I have had this problem a LOT. Even my 1dmkII with the 70-200 on it cant keep up with my dog running straight for me, I'm convinced she's simply too fast. I always end up with the area between her shoulders being in focus. This is with the camera in servo mode, center focus point...so it SHOULD be at its fastest. I think the best way is to pre-focus on an area and when she gets close fire off a burst, hopefully one of them will have her at the right point!

[d2creative]

Nathan, i too was using my 70-200.

[mdurisseau]

I have seen this often with sports action shots...seems that the issue is lessened with something high powered, such as a 1D Mk. II vs. my 20D...

[PeteQ]

What I have found to be best for me is this: I use single point autofocus (I want it to focus on what I want it to focus on, not necessarily the closest point or surrounding AF sensor) in Continuous Mode. Then I have gone to using the AF-ON button and gotten away from the shutter release button as what causes the AF to activate. I have found an increase in my keeper rate. Another bonus is that it allows easy pre-focusing as you can focus on an object with the AF-ON button and then recompose and when you click the shutter release it doesn't refocus. Using the AF-ON button takes a bit of getting used to, but now that I am using it, I really like the control it gives me.

One other tip. If you can pick a spot of high contrast it will really help your camera track better. When shooting sports I try to lock on to something like a border of two colors or something like that (as long as it's close to my intended focus area) as I find that helps the camera keep things locked. If you are shooting a solid color jersey, dog or something like that the camera may lag a bit as it tries to track because the contrast doesn't change as quickly.

[Wil_Bloodworth]

Yes, the "top end" camera bodies have better sensors and faster focusing than the prosumer cameras so the photos tend to be much better from them.

Personally, I only consder the D2* and the 1D* bodies (for Nikon and Canon) the only "top end" bodies. I don't consider the 5D to be "top end" because I personally feel that it is not built for sports but for great studio work.

- Wil

[Wil_Bloodworth]

I agree with what Pete said. The AF-ON button takes some getting used to... and remembering that you've turned off focusing for the shutter release button. The 1st time I switched to doing it this way, I forgot that I did it and couldn't figure out why my body wouldn't focus... LOL... I'm an idiot!

The other nice thing about using the AF-ON button for focusing is that you can focus at a specific distance... where you know the action is going to be... and then you can control your composition. If you're using the shutter release button for both focusing and taking the photo, you don't have much control over the composition because you've got to concentrate on keeping the focus spot on the subject.

- Wil