Which AF points best for hockey(Canon1dmk2N)

papaglock

I just got a Canon 1DMK II N. It is FAR different from my Canon 20D!!

I have been taking a lot of hockey photo's for a Major Junior Team here. What would be the best AF point settings for hockey with this camera? I have been getting some good shots, but am also getting shots that are out of focus.

Any ideas?

I am a newb so thanks for the help!

Tony

ziggy53

papaglock wrote:

I just got a Canon 1DMK II N. ... What would be the best AF point settings for hockey with this camera? ...

Hi Tony and welcome to the Digital Grin.

It kind of depends which lens you use and how much total light you have to work with, and even the uniforms the teams wear.

I used a Canon 1D MKII and an EF 70-200mm, f2.8L (non-IS) to shoot night football, and the settings I found that worked best were:

1) Center focus dot only.
2) AI Servo
3) "Pumping" the autofocus by repeatedly pushing the shutter button halfway until the action started, and then just jamming that shutter button down in hi-speed continuous capture until the action stopped or I lost the action in the viewfinder or ran out of buffer.

I was getting an acceptable number of in-focus shots that way, but out-of-focus is inevitable even with the 1D MKIIN which has potentially better autofocus than the MKII.

jdryan3

ziggy53 wrote:

1) Center focus dot only.
2) AI Servo
3) "Pumping" the autofocus by repeatedly pushing the shutter button halfway until the action started, and then just jamming that shutter button down in hi-speed continuous capture until the action stopped or I lost the action in the viewfinder or ran out of buffer.

I also have become a big fanboy on separating the shutter button from the AF function. My 5D assigns it to the * button (AE lock) using custom function Cf4.

papaglock

hockey
I am shooting a 70-200 2.8L IS. The uniforms for the rest of the year for the home team are white with red. The light is sufficient. The arena was built by the city and hold many events such as concerts as well as the NCAA Basketball tournament. There are no strobes.

Does this information help?

Thanks so much to everyone! This is an awesome site!!

Tony

ziggy53 wrote:

Hi Tony and welcome to the Digital Grin.

It kind of depends which lens you use and how much total light you have to work with, and even the uniforms the teams wear.

I used a Canon 1D MKII and an EF 70-200mm, f2.8L (non-IS) to shoot night football, and the settings I found that worked best were:

1) Center focus dot only.
2) AI Servo
3) "Pumping" the autofocus by repeatedly pushing the shutter button halfway until the action started, and then just jamming that shutter button down in hi-speed continuous capture until the action stopped or I lost the action in the viewfinder or ran out of buffer.

I was getting an acceptable number of in-focus shots that way, but out-of-focus is inevitable even with the 1D MKIIN which has potentially better autofocus than the MKII.

ziggy53

papaglock wrote:

I am shooting a 70-200 2.8L IS. The uniforms for the rest of the year for the home team are white with red. The light is sufficient. The arena was built by the city and hold many events such as concerts as well as the NCAA Basketball tournament. There are no strobes.

Does this information help?

Thanks so much to everyone! This is an awesome site!!

Tony

The full name for the autofocus technology used in the Canon 1D series (and Nikon D2 series for that matter) cameras is:

"Area SIR (Secondary Image Registration) TTL passive phase detection"

The way it works is by splitting the light paths being sampled for focus and measuring the "phase difference" between the two light paths to determine whether the subject is in front of or behind current focus for the lens.

While not only based upon contrast difference, like the average digicam autofocus uses, it still relies upon some contrast variation for best, and fastest, results. (High contrast variations yield stronger signal differentiation.)

To see if the team uniforms will make a good target, take an image, mostly of the uniform, and process the image by desaturating it.

The autofocus sensors deal mostly with luminance information, so you will see luminance contrast differences more easily this way.

If you see abrupt luminance changes in the image, so will the autofocus sensors.

Since the autofocus sensors only get part of the light transmitted through the lens (most of the light gets transferred to the viewfinder), more light (higher EV) means a better signal to test for the phase difference.

If you are shooting very tight, try to put an AF dot on a region of high contrast like a helmet outline or some such. If you're shooting looser, multiple players for instance, you might try 9 focus points but I would not use more than that. (CFn 13)

You will never get 100 percent in-focus images, but you can feel good knowing that the Canon 1D MKIIN is "still" one of the most accurate autofocus cameras ever built, regardless of manufacturer.

Also, your success will improve with time and experience, same as any camera and lens combination. That's the reason Sports Illustrated hires "experienced" shooters and not just people with nice cameras.

papaglock

Thanks!
Great stuff! This is the context that works best for me. I am a bit of a detail freak, my wifes words! I am shooting again tonight and wil get there early to play with some settings.

Thanks again!

Tony

ziggy53 wrote:

The full name for the autofocus technology used in the Canon 1D series (and Nikon D2 series for that matter) cameras is:

"Area SIR (Secondary Image Registration) TTL passive phase detection"

The way it works is by splitting the light paths being sampled for focus and measuring the "phase difference" between the two light paths to determine whether the subject is in front of or behind current focus for the lens.

While not only based upon contrast difference, like the average digicam autofocus uses, it still relies upon some contrast variation for best, and fastest, results. (High contrast variations yield stronger signal differentiation.)

To see if the team uniforms will make a good target, take an image, mostly of the uniform, and process the image by desaturating it.

The autofocus sensors deal mostly with luminance information, so you will see luminance contrast differences more easily this way.

If you see abrupt luminance changes in the image, so will the autofocus sensors.

Since the autofocus sensors only get part of the light transmitted through the lens (most of the light gets transferred to the viewfinder), more light (higher EV) means a better signal to test for the phase difference.

If you are shooting very tight, try to put an AF dot on a region of high contrast like a helmet outline or some such. If you're shooting looser, multiple players for instance, you might try 9 focus points but I would not use more than that. (CFn 13)

You will never get 100 percent in-focus images, but you can feel good knowing that the Canon 1D MKIIN is "still" one of the most accurate autofocus cameras ever built, regardless of manufacturer.

Also, your success will improve with time and experience, same as any camera and lens combination. That's the reason Sports Illustrated hires "experienced" shooters and not just people with nice cameras.