Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II Review: 7. Operation & Controls: Digital Photography Review

Exposure / Focus / Metering / Drive modes (cont.)

Auto Focus modes

Mode

Description

One
Shot

One Shot AF

In this mode a half-press of the shutter release activates AF and locks onto a single focus distance. The focus confirmation light (a dot on the viewfinder status bar) will be lit once a focus is achieved or blink of it can not be. You can, if you wish, recompose the shot while 'holding' the focus distance by keeping the shutter release half-pressed.

AI
Servo

AI Servo AF

In this mode the camera constantly refocuses on a moving subject. If the subject is moving at a constant rate towards or away from the camera the focus system will 'predict' the new focus distance. This is especially successful when AF point selection is set to auto (the camera can use all 45 focus points to track a moving subject). In this mode the focus confirmation light only indicates if focus can not be achieved (it blinks).

	• P.Fn 13 allows you to switch AI Servo auto focus between focus-priority (default) and shutter release-priority.
	• C.Fn 20 can be used to change the AI Servo tracking sensitivity (standard, slow, moderately slow, moderately fast, fast) so that focusing isn't thrown off if (example) something crosses the path of the lens.
	• C.Fn 21 allows you to select between focus priority (default) or shooting priority AI Servo

Metering modes

Mode	Description
	Evaluative This metering mode is suitable for general shots and even those which are backlit. It uses the 21 metering zones in conjunction with the current AF point to calculate the optimum exposure.
	Partial Partial metering is more effective for strongly backlit subjects, metering is weighted at the center of the frame covering 8.5% of the viewfinder area.
	Spot Spot metering is useful for metering very precisely a single subject or area within a scene. The metering is weighted at the center of the frame covering 2.4% of the viewfinder area. With AF points limited to 11 or 9 (custom function 13 is 1 or 3) the metered spot will follow the AF point.
	Center-weighted Average In this mode the entire frame is metered but more emphasis (weight) is placed on the center portion of the frame.

	• P.Fn 2 allows you to disable any of the metering modes.

Drive modes

The EOS-1Ds Mark II can shoot sixteen megapixel images at a rate of 4.0 frames per second and buffer up to 32 JPEG frames before slowing. This adds up to a sensor to buffer data rate of approximately 100 MB/sec compared to the EOS-1Ds at 50 MB/sec7.

Mode	Description
	Single frame A single shot is taken for a full press of the shutter release.
	Continuous *1 Press and hold the shutter release and the camera shoots until the buffer is full. As soon as there is space in the buffer (images have been written out to the CF card) the next shot will be taken.
	Self-timer 10-sec delay Camera pauses 10 seconds before taking shot. Countdown is displayed on the top LCD.
	Self-timer 2-sec delay Camera pauses 2 seconds before taking shot. Countdown is displayed on the top LCD.

*1	• P.Fn 19 allows you to reprogram continuous modes to 4, 3, 2 or 1 fps.
	• P.Fn 20 allows you to limit the number of shots in continuous mode, when this setting is enabled the camera will only shoot the specified number of frames for any single press-and-hold of the shutter release button.

Top of camera controls (right)

Right side of camera controls

Button / combination
	Acquires a flash exposure lock, attached flash will pre-flash and meter for the correct flash output. Also used in Multi-spot metering mode to select a meter point.	No function
	Illuminates top or rear LCD status panels with blue LEDs for six seconds.	No function
	Select exposure compensation: • +/-3 EV in 1/3 or 1/2 EV steps *1
	AE Lock - lock exposure as it is currently metered, this allows you to then recompose the image and shoot.
	Enter AF point select mode: Main dial dial (top) used to select AF points horizontally, quick command dial (rear) used to select AF points vertically.

*1	• Exposure compensation steps can be set to 1/3 or 1/2 EV via C.Fn 6.
	• C.Fn 4 allows you reprogram the function of the shutter release and AE Lock buttons to various combinations of AF / AE Lock.

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