Custom Functions for 1d Mark IIn and Football

[mmcaleer]

I am trying to tweak a 1d Mark IIn for football and had a few questions. Here is what I have setup. Chime in if I am wrong or you have something better I should try.

I shoot in Av mode in afternoon games when the light is changing, otherwise Manual.
Center Point Focus
A1-Servo
CF 4-3 for back focus and real-time meter reading. Anyone use 4-1 instead and why?
CF 13-3 to reduce focus points to 9
21-1 - Release Priority: I have this turned on but it fires at the drive rate even if the lens did not yet focus on moving subjects. Anyone use this or turn it off?

I am using Manual focus point setup for the center point. Does anyone use AFPS with A1-Servo where it starts with the center once it locks on a subject then hands off to another FP if the subject moves off the center.

Other settings:

CF 17 - Anyone use this cluster feature to expand AF activation area?
CF 18 - Anyone use this?

I just need practice keeping my center focus point on my subject. I need to get my keeper rate up. I also need an idiot light to warn me that my ISO needs to be increased when shooting in Av mode. I keep letting my SS drop too low before noticing because of the setting sun.

Thanks,

Mike

[mattman]

Mike - I set mine up just like SI does - here's the link:

http://www.siphoto.com/?canon1DM2N.inc

[mmcaleer]

Thanks Matt. Thanks helps a lot.

[dminton]

Originally Posted by mmcaleer

I just need practice keeping my center focus point on my subject.

No no no no no.


Focus points. You have 45 of them. Use any of em you need. It might be difficult for people to grasp and adjust to when moving up to a EOS 1 series camera from a xxD, but ALL of the focus points on an EOS 1 are at least as good as the center AF point on a xxD camera. Even at the edges of the frame.

Change your AF point to suit your composition. You will instantly see an improvement in your images.


And 11 points is more useful than 9 (CF 13-2) and (CF 20-3) is best for football.

[mmcaleer]

Originally Posted by dminton

No no no no no.


Focus points. You have 45 of them. Use any of em you need. It might be difficult for people to grasp and adjust to when moving up to a EOS 1 series camera from a xxD, but ALL of the focus points on an EOS 1 are at least as good as the center AF point on a xxD camera. Even at the edges of the frame.

Change your AF point to suit your composition. You will instantly see an improvement in your images.


And 11 points is more useful than 9 (CF 13-2) and (CF 20-3) is best for football.

David,

So in football, you spin the wheel to select the best focus point based on the play and composition you are looking for? I have been focusing on the center point then cropping to the composition I was looking for. My method cuts out a lot of pixels in a bad way.

How about CF-21? On or off?
Mike

[dminton]

Do this.

[mmcaleer]

Originally Posted by dminton

Do this.

Sweet! Thanks David.

[dminton]

Make sense?

[mmcaleer]

Originally Posted by dminton

Make sense?

Yes it does. I went to my son's practice tonight and my keepers went way up by using that technique! Thanks. It is much easier to get the composition you want rather than shooting everything in the center then cropping. I was even getting used to changing the FP on the fly with no problems.

Here are some examples. These were all shot with the 1d Mark II, 70-200 f/2.8 with ISO anywhere from 1250 to 3200. NN applied.

[Crashoran]

Does SI have custom settings for the 1D3?

[mmcaleer]

Here is an equvalency sheet. You can use it to convert the SI IIn settings to III using this sheet.

www.author-works.com/media/media-23360.pdf

The SI page http://www.siphoto.com/