How do you disable AI Servo?

[PaulyOly]

I have yet to test if this still happens when I'm shooting
portraits or using the kit lens.

So... for those who have problems with AI servo kicking in when
they don't want it to (or the other way around), what
lens/distance/subject/firmware/etc are you using?

PS - Thanks to all who contribute to this forum. I had been lurking
here for 2 months to ensure the D Rebel was the right choice for
me. So far so good!

Anthony

I tried many things to see if the AI Servo was working, but it
never kicked in most of the time. Even when I'm half pressing and
switching subjects at different distances, it hardly changed,
unlike when I switched to sports mode. Especially when I'm
recomposing a portrait, I never had the problem (touch wood though).

 

[PaulyOly]

for me it is the opposite, I have the servo seldom kicked in in my
normal day shooting. Someone walks up to me, no servo; a bird
flying over, no servo. Could there be so much difference in camera
tunings, is it our shooting style?? The only good solution is to be
able to set this manually. This part is more a problem for me than
the metering modes, I can compensate that by shooting RAW and
postprocessing (at least, that's what works for me), but getting
good focus is something which can only be achieved in the shot
itself.

Is the same as mine, you just shot differently and different subjects at different distances and with different lenses. with a 400mm lens and subject at 15 meters, i try to focus on one point then recompose over a point that is further/closer to me it refocuses. It's done the same with the kit lens though, i try to focus on my wifes eye, then recompose with her nose in the center and voila a sharp nose, this is less of a problem though.

 

[PaulyOly]

(You have a very good eye
for photography, Daniella.
But when technical quest-
ions are discussed here,
you never seem not to list-
en properly. Why is that?)

--
db.

that's exactly what I meant. If I use the 7 points focus and the
camera pick up points that are spread, lets say one on the left and
one of the right, then I get evaluative meetering. If the camera
would pick up onle the point on the right, then I get partial.

But since I am using the manualy selected central focusing point, I
always get exposure that is strongly weithted toward the center. I
don't want to use 7 points focus...it does not focus where I want
it to be, but I would like to be able to get evaluative no matter
what focusing point I use.

My only work around so far is to pay attention to focus right on
the edge of dark/light areas. I must constantly pay attention to
where exactly I focus on a contrasty subject...a pain in the ass!

Atleast not for me and what i shoot, trying to flip that little tiny, itty, bitty switch on the lens to manual focus and hold the camera at the same point where you focus locked is not very ideal, especially considering the rebels very limited depth of field. Please understand that i don't want more options, i just want to get rid of this one!

 

[Daniella68313]

No, Daniellla: TomCee pointed
it out correctly: you choose one
single point for focussing, but
then--instead of keeping the
shutter half pressed--you change
AF to MF on the lens (does not
take longer at all! Why should it?)

maybe because you need to find the switch button on the lens? for me this look like even more trouble then trying to focus in the middle of 2 contrasty zones. Not to mention that if you use that MF switch each time, you can really wear it out after sometimes.

and then recompose: that way
you have your focus where you
wanted it, but your light metering
is still evaluative ( not partial).

but then you must do 3 steps, pre-focus, switch to manual focus and then press the shutter again to do the exposure calculation...simply switching the focus to manual after you have half pressed will not recalculate the meetering. Just too many steps if you are trying to do things quickly for a moving subject.

Works all the time and seems
easy to me.

it takes too long. And then you must switch back to AF for the next shot and each time you want to do another shot..this is just not practical.

(You have a very good eye
for photography, Daniella.
But when technical quest-
ions are discussed here,
you never seem not to list-
en properly. Why is that?)

--
db.

that's exactly what I meant. If I use the 7 points focus and the
camera pick up points that are spread, lets say one on the left and
one of the right, then I get evaluative meetering. If the camera
would pick up onle the point on the right, then I get partial.

But since I am using the manualy selected central focusing point, I
always get exposure that is strongly weithted toward the center. I
don't want to use 7 points focus...it does not focus where I want
it to be, but I would like to be able to get evaluative no matter
what focusing point I use.

My only work around so far is to pay attention to focus right on
the edge of dark/light areas. I must constantly pay attention to
where exactly I focus on a contrasty subject...a pain in the ass!

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

 

[Daniella68313]

I don't bash the camera...i just state the FACTS...now call it bashing if you like..nothing will change my mind about the crippling of that camera..

got it???

that solution is just unpractical and too slow when you need the speed to capture a moving subject like a flying bird or an animal. by the time you reach the freaking button, your subject is already out of the freaking focusing point...

advice as you wish...how do you propose that will work with a moving subject? most of my subject are moving...until I learn how to freeze the time..I will have problem with this.

I mentionned the same thing in a different thread. Daniella has
been offered advice by other people on metering. She chose to
dismiss the advice and bash the camera again. Maybe she should
just get a 10D. Then complain about the focus "issues" on that
one.

Maybe some day you will stop your personal attack? this is worse than bashing but hey...there will always be people like you.. no matter what.

Then get a 1Ds and find something wrong with that one. Maybe

we should start a survey on how many people have ever used a camera
with manual focus only. Those by the way usually didn't come with
a built-in flash.

maybe some day you will grow up?

Richard

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

 

[Daniella68313]

it's just plain silly to even thing about it. how do you think it is possible to do this when you're tryign to catch a fast moving subject?

yeah right....it amaze me how people are tryign to justify this camera crippling...

Canon is really a good judge of foolishness...they did the right thing I think..only a fiew of use understand the catch.

(You have a very good eye
for photography, Daniella.
But when technical quest-
ions are discussed here,
you never seem not to list-
en properly. Why is that?)

--
db.

that's exactly what I meant. If I use the 7 points focus and the
camera pick up points that are spread, lets say one on the left and
one of the right, then I get evaluative meetering. If the camera
would pick up onle the point on the right, then I get partial.

But since I am using the manualy selected central focusing point, I
always get exposure that is strongly weithted toward the center. I
don't want to use 7 points focus...it does not focus where I want
it to be, but I would like to be able to get evaluative no matter
what focusing point I use.

My only work around so far is to pay attention to focus right on
the edge of dark/light areas. I must constantly pay attention to
where exactly I focus on a contrasty subject...a pain in the ass!

Atleast not for me and what i shoot, trying to flip that little
tiny, itty, bitty switch on the lens to manual focus and hold the
camera at the same point where you focus locked is not very ideal,
especially considering the rebels very limited depth of field.
Please understand that i don't want more options, i just want to
get rid of this one!

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

 

[Richard300]

got it???

that solution is just unpractical and too slow when you need the
speed to capture a moving subject like a flying bird or an animal.
by the time you reach the freaking button, your subject is already
out of the freaking focusing point...

advice as you wish...how do you propose that will work with a
moving subject? most of my subject are moving...until I learn how
to freeze the time..I will have problem with this.

I mentionned the same thing in a different thread. Daniella has
been offered advice by other people on metering. She chose to
dismiss the advice and bash the camera again. Maybe she should
just get a 10D. Then complain about the focus "issues" on that
one.

Maybe some day you will stop your personal attack? this is worse
than bashing but hey...there will always be people like you.. no
matter what.

Then get a 1Ds and find something wrong with that one. Maybe

we should start a survey on how many people have ever used a camera
with manual focus only. Those by the way usually didn't come with
a built-in flash.

maybe some day you will grow up?

Richard

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

--

Richard300

 

[Daniella68313]

got it???

that solution is just unpractical and too slow when you need the
speed to capture a moving subject like a flying bird or an animal.
by the time you reach the freaking button, your subject is already
out of the freaking focusing point...

advice as you wish...how do you propose that will work with a
moving subject? most of my subject are moving...until I learn how
to freeze the time..I will have problem with this.

I mentionned the same thing in a different thread. Daniella has
been offered advice by other people on metering. She chose to
dismiss the advice and bash the camera again. Maybe she should
just get a 10D. Then complain about the focus "issues" on that
one.

Maybe some day you will stop your personal attack? this is worse
than bashing but hey...there will always be people like you.. no
matter what.

Then get a 1Ds and find something wrong with that one. Maybe

we should start a survey on how many people have ever used a camera
with manual focus only. Those by the way usually didn't come with
a built-in flash.

maybe some day you will grow up?

Richard

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

--

Richard300

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

 

[Richard300]

got it???

that solution is just unpractical and too slow when you need the
speed to capture a moving subject like a flying bird or an animal.
by the time you reach the freaking button, your subject is already
out of the freaking focusing point...

advice as you wish...how do you propose that will work with a
moving subject? most of my subject are moving...until I learn how
to freeze the time..I will have problem with this.

I mentionned the same thing in a different thread. Daniella has
been offered advice by other people on metering. She chose to
dismiss the advice and bash the camera again. Maybe she should
just get a 10D. Then complain about the focus "issues" on that
one.

Maybe some day you will stop your personal attack? this is worse
than bashing but hey...there will always be people like you.. no
matter what.

Then get a 1Ds and find something wrong with that one. Maybe

we should start a survey on how many people have ever used a camera
with manual focus only. Those by the way usually didn't come with
a built-in flash.

maybe some day you will grow up?

Richard

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

--

Richard300

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

--

Richard300

 

[Daniella68313]

Daniella,

Have you tried moving the camera just a tad and try the auto focus
a second time? I've been amazed at the number of times I've been
able to get a focus lock on the second try, with just slight
movement of the camera. I know this is not scientific, but it is
almost as if the camera "knows" that I don't want the first
selection and tries to give me a second.

The problem is that sometime it's just very slitly out of focus so it's really really hard to judge if the photo is out of focus from the viewfinder. I usualy get back home to see the blurry photos. I find it near to impossible to judge the sharpness of a photo on the LCD. If you zoom all the way it looks very blurry and if you zoom back even the blurry photos look sharp.

And I am under the impression that when permitting auto selection
of all focus targets, the evaluative metering remains, even if the
camera only selects one focus point.

I had very different experience with it. I did some tests and really paid attention to the focusing points..when the camera selected more than one focusing point, the exposure was really evaluative. Sometimes it pick up only one point and it is much more weighted. Is my camera broken? that'S the way it works for me.

In other words, I think there

is a difference in metering mode if YOU select one focus target vs
permitting the camera to select one focus target. In the former, i
think you force the camera into "partial" metering, whereas in the
latter the evaluative metering persists.

have you tested this? then my camera is definitly defective because it meeter differently according to the number of points that it select.

I'll see if i can "test" this in the coming days.

ah..looking forward to see if you will get the same results as me.

And of course, some shooting conditions are more demanding than
others regarding focus. When I am shooting buterflies, I usually
have to manually select a focus point, since i want to focus on the
eye. Also, in extreme close-up work, focus lock and recomposing is
not an option! (all of your images would be OOF).

I work with shalow DOF mostly..so yes the focusing point is important for me. So far i have been very disapointed with the 7 point focusing. Just not practical for my type of photos.

Of course I could use manual focus but damn that is hard with a moving target..I would then find myself back in the point and shoot days where I was pre-focusing and hoping that the bird would come at that right focusing distance...bummer.

So I usually

select target 2 or 6 and I'm good to go. BUT, I have to be very
careful about the metering, much more so than when all focus points
are active. And when you are shooting wildlife, etc, probably the
center focus target selected is a good idea, again if you are aware
of the special metering demands of the shot.

yes so far it's my only work around...I focus right on the edge of the contrasty zone. Not practical for when you want to have the eye in focus, but better than to have the light areas blown out.

Cheers,

jim

--
galleries at: http://www.pbase.com/sandman3

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

 

[Daniella68313]

got it???

that solution is just unpractical and too slow when you need the
speed to capture a moving subject like a flying bird or an animal.
by the time you reach the freaking button, your subject is already
out of the freaking focusing point...

advice as you wish...how do you propose that will work with a
moving subject? most of my subject are moving...until I learn how
to freeze the time..I will have problem with this.

I mentionned the same thing in a different thread. Daniella has
been offered advice by other people on metering. She chose to
dismiss the advice and bash the camera again. Maybe she should
just get a 10D. Then complain about the focus "issues" on that
one.

Maybe some day you will stop your personal attack? this is worse
than bashing but hey...there will always be people like you.. no
matter what.

Then get a 1Ds and find something wrong with that one. Maybe

we should start a survey on how many people have ever used a camera
with manual focus only. Those by the way usually didn't come with
a built-in flash.

maybe some day you will grow up?

Richard

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

--

Richard300

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

--

Richard300

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

 

[Alexey]

I never thought of a dof-button as something that's also use to
freeze setting. I thought it just close down the aperture to your
setting so you can see what your DOF is.

I will try the DOF button to see how it works.

The dof-button freezes the settings. Have you tried????

AMAZING! It really does seem to be a way to disable AI-servo. I would have never thought of that! How did you come up with something like this? Is it in some manual somewhere?

Is it safe to do though? Won't it break the camera or something?

 

[Richard300]

got it???

that solution is just unpractical and too slow when you need the
speed to capture a moving subject like a flying bird or an animal.
by the time you reach the freaking button, your subject is already
out of the freaking focusing point...

advice as you wish...how do you propose that will work with a
moving subject? most of my subject are moving...until I learn how
to freeze the time..I will have problem with this.

I mentionned the same thing in a different thread. Daniella has
been offered advice by other people on metering. She chose to
dismiss the advice and bash the camera again. Maybe she should
just get a 10D. Then complain about the focus "issues" on that
one.

Maybe some day you will stop your personal attack? this is worse
than bashing but hey...there will always be people like you.. no
matter what.

Then get a 1Ds and find something wrong with that one. Maybe

we should start a survey on how many people have ever used a camera
with manual focus only. Those by the way usually didn't come with
a built-in flash.

maybe some day you will grow up?

Richard

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

--

Richard300

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

--

Richard300

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

--

Richard300

 

[Daniella68313]

no, I had the opposite problem. If I do lock the focus on a flying bird and wait for it to be at the proper angle, it is already out of focus..

I must constantly re-press the shutter button, until the bird is at the correct angle and then snap it right away. when using the AI servo, the camera constantly refocus on the subject and all I have to worry about is to concentrate on the proper pose.

when I use 7 points focus then I have the problem that you stated...then the camera can pick up trees in the background and focus on that instead. That is why I use mostly the central focusing point.

Daniella Thanks for the explanation.

So what your saying is in order to get perfectly focused pictures
when shooting action you cannot compose the shot and waite for the
action to happen with the shutter button half pressed because the
camera will click into AI Servo mode and possibly focus on the
background?

Mac

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

 

[Daniella68313]

got it???

that solution is just unpractical and too slow when you need the
speed to capture a moving subject like a flying bird or an animal.
by the time you reach the freaking button, your subject is already
out of the freaking focusing point...

advice as you wish...how do you propose that will work with a
moving subject? most of my subject are moving...until I learn how
to freeze the time..I will have problem with this.

I mentionned the same thing in a different thread. Daniella has
been offered advice by other people on metering. She chose to
dismiss the advice and bash the camera again. Maybe she should
just get a 10D. Then complain about the focus "issues" on that
one.

Maybe some day you will stop your personal attack? this is worse
than bashing but hey...there will always be people like you.. no
matter what.

Then get a 1Ds and find something wrong with that one. Maybe

we should start a survey on how many people have ever used a camera
with manual focus only. Those by the way usually didn't come with
a built-in flash.

maybe some day you will grow up?

Richard

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

--

Richard300

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

--

Richard300

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

--

Richard300

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

 

[Alexey]

I never thought of a dof-button as something that's also use to
freeze setting. I thought it just close down the aperture to your
setting so you can see what your DOF is.

I will try the DOF button to see how it works.

The dof-button freezes the settings. Have you tried????

AMAZING! It really does seem to be a way to disable AI-servo. I
would have never thought of that! How did you come up with
something like this? Is it in some manual somewhere?

Is it safe to do though? Won't it break the camera or something?

P.S. My IS 28-135 lens with IS turned on starts making some strange noises and starts to shake when I hold DOF-button for a few seconds at 135 with aperture open. Anyone else experiences this?

 

[Daniella68313]

the center focusing point is I think larger and better. I also had problem with the other focusing points...why I only use the central focusing point now.

they have different reach and shape I think. the central focusing point is of a cross shape and wider, from what I understand.

The offcenter focus points don't seem as accurate as the center
focus point or is it just me? I really shouldn't have to though,
the camera shouldn't try to refocus so quickly. I miss that about
digiscoping with the nikon cp990, i always used the top focus point
and it had no problem focusing on a hair on a gnats head, but the
rebel has to have a good size object in order to focus, when this
bird was a little further out i had to focus on the body because
the camera couldn't lock focus on the thin head/neck of the bird,
but that is another annoying issue which problem carries over to
the 10d and other slr's.

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

 

[DaShiv]

I don't think anyone is trying to "justify" Canon's actions. We know they purposely crippled and sabotaged the 300D to prop up their higher-end cameras. I don't think anyone is disagreeing with you by saying that the camera is perfect.

Some people here have proposed some work-arounds though. It's not perfect, but I don't think Canon's going to fix the 300D when they purposely crippled it to begin with. Since we've already bought into the 300D, we can either choose to work with what we have or buy a different camera.

You're right in saying that the work arounds aren't as good as actually Canon fixing the focus, but I'm not holding my breath for that to happen.

DaShiv

yeah right....it amaze me how people are tryign to justify this
camera crippling...

Canon is really a good judge of foolishness...they did the right
thing I think..only a fiew of use understand the catch.

(You have a very good eye
for photography, Daniella.
But when technical quest-
ions are discussed here,
you never seem not to list-
en properly. Why is that?)

--
db.

that's exactly what I meant. If I use the 7 points focus and the
camera pick up points that are spread, lets say one on the left and
one of the right, then I get evaluative meetering. If the camera
would pick up onle the point on the right, then I get partial.

But since I am using the manualy selected central focusing point, I
always get exposure that is strongly weithted toward the center. I
don't want to use 7 points focus...it does not focus where I want
it to be, but I would like to be able to get evaluative no matter
what focusing point I use.

My only work around so far is to pay attention to focus right on
the edge of dark/light areas. I must constantly pay attention to
where exactly I focus on a contrasty subject...a pain in the ass!

Atleast not for me and what i shoot, trying to flip that little
tiny, itty, bitty switch on the lens to manual focus and hold the
camera at the same point where you focus locked is not very ideal,
especially considering the rebels very limited depth of field.
Please understand that i don't want more options, i just want to
get rid of this one!

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

 

[Daniella68313]

I don't think anyone is trying to "justify" Canon's actions. We
know they purposely crippled and sabotaged the 300D to prop up
their higher-end cameras. I don't think anyone is disagreeing with
you by saying that the camera is perfect.

Some people here have proposed some work-arounds though.

If anyone here can do this workaround with a moving target...I would like to know their technique to have enough speed to set all this and not miss a shot.

It's

not perfect, but I don't think Canon's going to fix the 300D when
they purposely crippled it to begin with. Since we've already
bought into the 300D, we can either choose to work with what we
have or buy a different camera.

If I had known how bad it was working in these situations I would have got the 10D for sure..now just don't want to loose money on it. I am not that rich. But if nobody complains, there is no chance that anythign will be taking care of. they could at least fix the bahavior so that the evaluative meetering is not that weighted. it is now too dependant on the focusing point and that is a major flaw.

You're right in saying that the work arounds aren't as good as
actually Canon fixing the focus, but I'm not holding my breath for
that to happen.

That work around should work well for static flower shot, or landscape. It is just not possible for me to do this when trying to capture a flyign bird or a candid shot of a moving person. Good thing the meetering is reliable in 95% of the case. I only have problem with it with very contrasty objects.

For the AI servo..I have just simply gave up on it..but I do get blurry shot because I forget to snap the picture right away and have the tendency to pre-focus and wait for best moment. It is a very hard habbit to get rid of.

DaShiv

yeah right....it amaze me how people are tryign to justify this
camera crippling...

Canon is really a good judge of foolishness...they did the right
thing I think..only a fiew of use understand the catch.

(You have a very good eye
for photography, Daniella.
But when technical quest-
ions are discussed here,
you never seem not to list-
en properly. Why is that?)

--
db.

that's exactly what I meant. If I use the 7 points focus and the
camera pick up points that are spread, lets say one on the left and
one of the right, then I get evaluative meetering. If the camera
would pick up onle the point on the right, then I get partial.

But since I am using the manualy selected central focusing point, I
always get exposure that is strongly weithted toward the center. I
don't want to use 7 points focus...it does not focus where I want
it to be, but I would like to be able to get evaluative no matter
what focusing point I use.

My only work around so far is to pay attention to focus right on
the edge of dark/light areas. I must constantly pay attention to
where exactly I focus on a contrasty subject...a pain in the ass!

Atleast not for me and what i shoot, trying to flip that little
tiny, itty, bitty switch on the lens to manual focus and hold the
camera at the same point where you focus locked is not very ideal,
especially considering the rebels very limited depth of field.
Please understand that i don't want more options, i just want to
get rid of this one!

--
I am not an English native speaker!
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=26918

--
I am not an English native speaker!
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[Daniella68313]

no the exposure lock only lock the exposure. It also switch to spot meetering, wich is not much different from the weighted evaluative meetering anyway.

It seems the best work around to disable AI servo is to hold the DOF button.

I dont' have the camera in my hands here at work but, does the
exposure lock also lock the focus point?

If so, you'd hit your focus point, hold the lock with your thumb,
recompose, then shoot.

Again, I don't have the Rebel with me now... but, try it.

Anthony
http://www.congiano.com

johnrweb wrote:

-use the DOF-check button, or
-set the lens to manual focus

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Regards,
Tom

http://clik.to/tomcee
Canon 300D FAQ: http://www.marius.org/fom-serve/cache/3.html

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