61 AF points vs Single AF point

I am going to +1 leecamera's inputs.  I am primarily an event shooter (weddings included), so I understand the concept of shooting speed and accuracy very well.  I was a 5D2 shooter for the last 5 years and I always did center point focus and recompose. I would like to have used other points than the center, but every time I did, the focus accuracy was worthless.  I now have a 5D3 and 1DX and the new system has, as lee reported, changed the way I shoot...sort of.  My default choice is now a cluster of 9 points (Zone AF) in the top section of the viewfinder, which is about where I would put people's faces in the recompose.  Now if I am doing any recomposing, it's only horizontally to pick which person in a group I want to focus on.  It makes my shooting workflow a little faster, but more importantly, I have a large cluster of points to hold over the face I want instead of just a single point.  Previously with only a very small focus point, I've missed focus a few times by missing a face and catching the gap in-between people (wall behind them get the focus).  Now I can very easily catch a face with the cluster.  I've added a pic of the point selection menu for the 9-pt cluster and another pic of the points I use (highlighted in yellow).

The more substantial change for me however, is when I need to shoot something other than posed people pics.  When I turn on AI Servo, I frequently turn on all 61 points and I can lock onto a subject and shoot without having the recompose.  This is even more useful when the 1DX detects a face and holds it.  Now most of my viewfinder can grab and lock focus -- think about brides walking down the aisle, people entering a room, etc.  I also find myself using single points all over the grid when shooting room shots wide open.  In those cases with really low DoF, focus/recompose can leave you with an out of focus image after the recompose.  With 61 points to choose from, I can compose, pick exactly what I want to focus on, select the closest point, and then shoot with 100% accuracy.

Outside of the event world, shooting things like sports or wildlife are now in a completely different league than with a 5D2.  I found AI servo on the 5D2 to be pretty much useless and now I feel like it's so easy it's almost cheating.

One thing I will have to admit to, however...the 5D2 locks focus in low light faster than the 1DX and 5D3, even with flash and AF assist beams.  This sounds ridiculous -- and it definitely is -- but I'm not alone in that assessment.  The saving grace is that once it locks, it's far more accurate than any other camera, it just adds a noticeable lag in time waiting for the focus lock to happen.



My normal event setup is to use Zone AF with the top 9 points selected (highlighted in yellow)