PhotoKhan
Veteran Member
2 days ago I received my 1DMKIII back from Canon after sending it in for the recent announced periphery AF points campaign. This is the third intervention regarding the AF system in my camera.
Yesterday I went on to test my camera in AIS mode.
I decided to prepare a test where a series of AI Servo, Continuous speed drive modes (LOW and HI) would be used in perfect sequence, with four different lenses. The lenses used were the 70-200 f2.8L IS, the 300 f4L IS, the 24-105 f4L IS and the 135 f2L.
I elected to photograph license plates from incoming vehicles as they function as good contrast subjects which are easy to track and favor later assessment.
You'll notice that the files numbering run in perfect sequence (except for the 2 cases noted below). The "missing" files between the mid day and afternoon runs were expended in control shots.
The sequences were made in contiguous sequences to make this a "real world" test. This way, no specific runs could be specially selected based on the perceived (bad or good) performance, from a larger sample of runs. This was it.
I ran a series at mid day to cater for a subdued, "in-the shade" light at the licenses plates and a second one later in the afternoon in order to have very high contrast light cast on the plates.
These 2 runs were identical in what comes to set up and sequence.
2 photos (U3035 and U3036 ) are missing from the afternoon run due to misfire.
5 photos (U3120 to U3126) are missing later in the same afternoon run due to an attempt to shoot the following target from a previous one, while the buffer was still being emptied, forcing me to abort that sequence.
The series were prepared to allow mixed settings, regarding in-lens IS, focus point and speed drive selections according to this table:
Relevant C.Fn III settings were as follows, in line with Canon's recommendations:
C.Fn III -2 set to 0, as this function specifies the timing for determining when to switch subjects being tracked, something that was not a factor. The "0" setting corresponds to "Standard", as per Canon.
C.Fn III -3 set to 0, as this allows for AF priority for the first shot, followed by tracking priority for the issuing frames (side note: subjects were already being tracked in all series upon shutter release)
C.Fn III -4 set to 0, as this specifies that focus will be mainly in subjects in the selected AF points and I was confident I could track the licenses plates which move in a very predictable track.
Accordingly, I tagged as "user errors" the frames which are unusable where it can be clearly seen that I let the subject drift away from the selected focus points.
The ones where the same happened but were still usable, where credited to the camera.
C.Fn III -8 set to 1 (Enable left/right assist points) to account for left/right fluctuations while tracking the license plates, helping the AF by supplementing the selected AF point.
Option 2 (all surrounding assist points) was not selected since, according to Canon, option 1 is the only one that has no impact in overall processing speed ("preserves the utmost AF speed").
Other C.Fn settings were set as per my normal use or to accommodate a specific requirement in this test . For instance C.Fn III-17 was enabled to limit the bursts to 12 frames in Low Speed Continuous drive and 15 in Hi-Speed Continuous (...although I did forget to change from 12 to 15 in the afternoon series...).
The series can be seen here, featuring an initial control shot for the mid day and afternoon series and cropped copies for each frame of each series. The first shot in each series is also featured in full size, at the beginning, for reference and tagging purposes.
(I shot a second afternoon series but I will decide later if I process and analyze that third series as the 2 first ones seem enough and all this is a bit tiresome...)
http://www.pbase.com/photokhan/aismar09
I analyzed the photos and tagged them according to my evaluation: "Good" for the in-focus, perfect shots, "Acceptable" for the photos that can still be used, (especially taking into account that these tests were carried out before any AFMA of the individual lenses), "Non-acceptable" for the clearly OOF shots and "User Error" as described above.
These are the results:
This last intervention canceled all the previously stored AFMA settings in my camera, so I intend to run a similar test sequence at later stage, after these four lenses undergo new AF micro adjustments.
I would love to hear your opinions.
PK
--
“Loose praise may feed my ego but constructive criticism advances my skills”
************************************************************
-------------------------------------------------
http://www.pbase.com/photokhan
(PBase Supporter)
Yesterday I went on to test my camera in AIS mode.
I decided to prepare a test where a series of AI Servo, Continuous speed drive modes (LOW and HI) would be used in perfect sequence, with four different lenses. The lenses used were the 70-200 f2.8L IS, the 300 f4L IS, the 24-105 f4L IS and the 135 f2L.
I elected to photograph license plates from incoming vehicles as they function as good contrast subjects which are easy to track and favor later assessment.
You'll notice that the files numbering run in perfect sequence (except for the 2 cases noted below). The "missing" files between the mid day and afternoon runs were expended in control shots.
The sequences were made in contiguous sequences to make this a "real world" test. This way, no specific runs could be specially selected based on the perceived (bad or good) performance, from a larger sample of runs. This was it.
I ran a series at mid day to cater for a subdued, "in-the shade" light at the licenses plates and a second one later in the afternoon in order to have very high contrast light cast on the plates.
These 2 runs were identical in what comes to set up and sequence.
2 photos (U3035 and U3036 ) are missing from the afternoon run due to misfire.
5 photos (U3120 to U3126) are missing later in the same afternoon run due to an attempt to shoot the following target from a previous one, while the buffer was still being emptied, forcing me to abort that sequence.
The series were prepared to allow mixed settings, regarding in-lens IS, focus point and speed drive selections according to this table:
Relevant C.Fn III settings were as follows, in line with Canon's recommendations:
C.Fn III -2 set to 0, as this function specifies the timing for determining when to switch subjects being tracked, something that was not a factor. The "0" setting corresponds to "Standard", as per Canon.
C.Fn III -3 set to 0, as this allows for AF priority for the first shot, followed by tracking priority for the issuing frames (side note: subjects were already being tracked in all series upon shutter release)
C.Fn III -4 set to 0, as this specifies that focus will be mainly in subjects in the selected AF points and I was confident I could track the licenses plates which move in a very predictable track.
Accordingly, I tagged as "user errors" the frames which are unusable where it can be clearly seen that I let the subject drift away from the selected focus points.
The ones where the same happened but were still usable, where credited to the camera.
C.Fn III -8 set to 1 (Enable left/right assist points) to account for left/right fluctuations while tracking the license plates, helping the AF by supplementing the selected AF point.
Option 2 (all surrounding assist points) was not selected since, according to Canon, option 1 is the only one that has no impact in overall processing speed ("preserves the utmost AF speed").
Other C.Fn settings were set as per my normal use or to accommodate a specific requirement in this test . For instance C.Fn III-17 was enabled to limit the bursts to 12 frames in Low Speed Continuous drive and 15 in Hi-Speed Continuous (...although I did forget to change from 12 to 15 in the afternoon series...).
The series can be seen here, featuring an initial control shot for the mid day and afternoon series and cropped copies for each frame of each series. The first shot in each series is also featured in full size, at the beginning, for reference and tagging purposes.
(I shot a second afternoon series but I will decide later if I process and analyze that third series as the 2 first ones seem enough and all this is a bit tiresome...)
http://www.pbase.com/photokhan/aismar09
I analyzed the photos and tagged them according to my evaluation: "Good" for the in-focus, perfect shots, "Acceptable" for the photos that can still be used, (especially taking into account that these tests were carried out before any AFMA of the individual lenses), "Non-acceptable" for the clearly OOF shots and "User Error" as described above.
These are the results:
This last intervention canceled all the previously stored AFMA settings in my camera, so I intend to run a similar test sequence at later stage, after these four lenses undergo new AF micro adjustments.
I would love to hear your opinions.
PK
--
“Loose praise may feed my ego but constructive criticism advances my skills”
************************************************************
-------------------------------------------------
http://www.pbase.com/photokhan
(PBase Supporter)
