R5 on AirPower 2022

Zeee wrote:

Zeee wrote:

Karl_Guttag wrote:

Zeee wrote:

Karl_Guttag wrote:

Joe Reynolds wrote:

>>With Vehicle (or None tracking), AF worked over 99% of the time (in over 20,000 photos) to the point that I could concentrate on framing (zoom and positioning in the frame) and panning technique.<<<

With planes there is not a clutter around so not surprising “object” tracking is decent.
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/joereynolds3/

I have been practicing and experimenting at the public plane spotting location at DFW (they can get ~100 people on a busy evening) in prep for Wings Over Houston in October and Wings over Dallas in November. I'm trying to see what shutter speeds to use and to improve my panning technique.

What was TS and Switching Tracked Subjects set to?

Good question (that I discussed elsewhere in this topic under "Case").

Answer: For those shots, the Case controls (for others: AF/pink menu, tab 3) of Tracking Sensitivity and Accel/decel tracking were both set to -1. I did this when I first set up my R5 based on Jan Wegener's excellent R5 setup video (part on Case setup: https://youtu.be/-nnRqgXu7QI?t=945).

I'm not Jan but I've never agreed with using Spot focus. Rudy Winston said in an article and video not to use it for action shots. To get a subject in focus (when the camera can't find an eye) I use Single Point or Zone AF. Single Point is larger so more contrast to work with.

I've gone back to old school and use the shutter. I never had an issue keeping the shutter half pressed but did use BBF with my 7D2 and 5D4.

I set that purple menu on page 5 to Auto. The camera starts to look for an eye after it wakes up. No intervention from me. It's usually pretty good. If it can't the AF-On is set to small Zone AF for BIF and * to Single point for static objects. If it can't find an eye on a perched bird and the bird is OOF I press the *. The AF can be anywhere on the birds body. Once the bird is in focus I go back to Eye AF.

Even if I lift my finger off the shutter between bursts the white prefocus square is still on the birds eye. Thats just me. Many way to set up the camera.

I should have said even though Rudy advises not to use Spot for action shots I know people do. Whatever works. I just don't understand why I need it as a pre-focus technique to get the subject in focus. To me the more contrast you work with the better.

I do use Spot for specific purposes. Lots of foliage in the way, small subject so the AF point is pocking up the background, etc or I want focus on a precise area of the curvature of an eye.

After I read this and his explanation of Precise is not the same as Accurate I changed my approach to Spot AF.

https://web.archive.org/web/20180323124819/http://learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2014/spot_AF.shtml#page2

Either way this has been a good thread. Lots of good info.