Asking too much, or wrong technique?
I've recently started shooting bicycle crit-type races with my D700. These guys and gals approach 35mph at times, so they are pretty quick. My track access allows me to the edge of the riding surface. yeah, it's CLOSE!
I've been trying to sit in a slow radius apex to the inside and shoot them as they pass at maybe 22-25mph coming pretty much at me. I have shutterspeeds in the 1/2000th range and focus set to "Continuous" mode instead of "Single".
And by far the vast majority are out of focus.
Am I asking too much of the D700 in "Continuous" focus mode and CH (burst/6fps) even with a high shutterspeed of this body?
Thoughts?
I've been trying to sit in a slow radius apex to the inside and shoot them as they pass at maybe 22-25mph coming pretty much at me. I have shutterspeeds in the 1/2000th range and focus set to "Continuous" mode instead of "Single".
And by far the vast majority are out of focus.
Am I asking too much of the D700 in "Continuous" focus mode and CH (burst/6fps) even with a high shutterspeed of this body?
Thoughts?
0
Comments
What lens are you using? What aperture are you typically shooting at?
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Single point of my choosing for the frame. Typically a landscape shot with the focus point to the high/right of center. I try to grab their head/helmet or chest.
I don't recall ever touching/setting anything like that so my assumption is I've been shooting a factory default this whole time. But I'll look it up and check when I get it back Wednesday. Thx.
, that could be it. I believe the default is set to "release" on the D700, it isn't a very useful mode for many people.
I only use Back-Button focus, as the Canon shooters used to call it, known to us as "AF-ON". For really erratic or fast subjects, or in really poor light, I like using dynamic focus point mode with the number of points set to 9.
However, when the going gets tough, honestly I just switch to manual focus and "lay in wait"... Wait for the rider to pass through your plane of focus, and click shots in rapid succession as they pass.
Also, what the heck aperture are you shooting at? At ~24mm you should be able to get pretty good DOF if you're willing to stop down. Your DOF isn't going to be that shallow anyways if you shoot wide open, so just forget that goal and stop it down to f/5.6 or f/8. This should give you a pretty sizable window of DOF for you to capture riders. I don't know the hyperfocal attributes of the 24-70 off the top of my head, but I'm betting that if you set focus to about 10-20 feet, you'll have plenty of in-focus shots.
It also helps if you get a battery grip and use AA batteries or a D3 battery, to hit 8 FPS.
So, in short, yes your camera should be able to handle focus tracking like that, if you use the right AF point method and stuff. However it may not even be the optimal way to shoot such a situation, anyways...
=Matt=
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What's this 8fps you speak of? Is it as simple as popping in a different battery into my battery grip other then the EN-EL3? And would I need to also swap the in-camera EN-EL3 as well?
I believe that you need the vertical grip plus EN-EL4 battery (or AA batteries). (... or is it now the EN-EL4a?)
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