Help needed with autofocus for T5i and STM lenses

stevet1 wrote:

Humansvillian wrote:

I’ve ordered a 55-250 IS STM and 24 STM lens for it.

I have a much more modern Canon Rebel and better lenses .

What settings or tips can I get for shooting rodeos using my Canon T5i and STM lenses.

Any help is much appreciated and certainly needed.

Humansvillian,

Slap that 55-250 baby on there and have a ball.

Shoot in good light and ask your daughter for advice.

*ha ha*

Seriously though, for the rodeo, I think if you keep your shutter speed up, you should be fine.

You can use shutter priority mode and let the camera set your aperture; or put it in manual with auto ISO, choose your shutter speed and aperture for the depth of field you want, and let the camera set your ISO for you.

Use the AI Servo mode to allow your camera to adjust focus as you follow the horse and rider.

I use back button focus in order to separate the focus from the shutter button. Holding down that AF button, the camera continually autofocuses as I move the camera. You can set it up for burst shooting and take 3 or 4 pictures in a row.

Steve Thomas

I’m for sure trying out back button autofocus.

Boy howdy in the morning, will I get that I’m a real photographer feeling when I mash that button and follow those horses around the poles.:)

For about $300 I could buy a used OMD M1 (1sr version) and it would have PDAF hybrid autofocus. But from what I read it only sucks a lot less than my contrast detect focus cameras.

I absolutely am certain my daughter’s 2004 Canon Rebel XT has good autofocus because I’ve used it to shoot her running barrels. 
There’s another reason I spent $250 for a high condition 55-250 IS STM and 24mm STM and a nice camera bag to hold the whole shebang and kit.

The end of production of Rebel DSLRs is certain to occur.

The replacement will be better.  There’s no reason at all Canon won’t go to a full frame cheap mirrorless camera for their value entry level camera.

I struggled through fifty shots this morning with my T5i, and gave up using the live view and stuck my eye up to the viewfinder.  The camera doesn’t have IBIS, but those fancy STM IS kit lens and telephoto are supposed to have four stops in the lens, if you want to shoot in bad light.

For $250 for the camera and kit lens and another $250 for the fast prime and telephoto I’ve got a $500 outfit that really should scratch any itch any reasonable amateur photographer could ever have for the hobby.

My 32 year old Amish renter is going to build a mile of fence at the farm this year.  Maybe $500 will buy five spools of heavy gauge four point wire and clips and steeples to make a quarter mile of it.  That fence is going to outlast me, him, my daughter, and my other three children.  I usually take documentary photos of things I hope will still be standing a hundred years from now.

I like my Olympus gear better, because I’m used to it. And, this T5i makes an 8mb file where my M5.2 would only make less than 4mb, and for shooting from a car window there’s no contest the Olympus wins hands down.

But I’m going to document this year’s fence building with a Rebel T5i and smile hoping the graduate students at the local historical society a hundred years from now will say that old man bought a DSLR just before they went extinct.

The gadget has an excellent autofocus too, once I learn how to use it.