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How to Focus on Mooooving objects?

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can someone explain the difference between "AI FOCUS" and "AI SERVO"? the manual wasn't very clear about them. just by using AI SERVO it's simple enough to understand what it does, but i haven't tried messing around with the AI FOCUS (mainly because i'm not sure what it does, so i don't know what to look for!)

nsr
 
SNGX1327 said:
can someone explain the difference between "AI FOCUS" and "AI
SERVO"? the manual wasn't very clear about them. just by using AI
SERVO it's simple enough to understand what it does, but i haven't
tried messing around with the AI FOCUS (mainly because i'm not sure
what it does, so i don't know what to look for!)
Click to expand...
AI Focus is a hybrid between One Shot and AI Servo. It always starts out as One Shot, but if it detects that the object is moving, it automatically switches to AI Servo. I find it irritating, since I (almost) never get it to switch to AI Servo when I need it, and sometimes (very rarely) it switches when I don't want it to. I always use either One Shot (80%) or AI Servo (20%).
 
dave_s93 said:
I guess I stand corrected by Doug Pardee. I looks like the AI
Servo won't really help in the Creative Modes. However, with the
Undutchables hack, you can use get RAW in the Basic Modes, so you
can use Sports and still get RAW.

"Full menu's in basic mode including RAW quality"
http://www.bahneman.com/liem/photos/tricks/digital-rebel-tricks.php?page=2
Click to expand...
That still doesn't sound too appealing:(( I don't like the basic modes, I feel so out-of-control of the camera! I want to be able to set my own settings, lol. I guess I'll have to upgrade my camera when it comes time to start shooting moving objects!

--
KK
http://imageevent.com/kzmokramr2
 
i think it depends how far away you are from the subject
a car travelling at 200mph at a good distance is easy to track
easier than someone running past you at 10mph at a distance of 6ft
so it depends what you are wanting to shoot

last night I was shooting a theatre, and at one point there was a sword fight (lots of sudden running about), I was about 6ft / 2m from the action, and I just couldnt hold the focus, and my camera wasnt fast enough to follow it either
I switched to MF and turned on all 7 focus points and hoped for the best
some came out OK -- my biggest mistake was trying to refocus

next time I would probably fix the focus in MF first, then just shoot away and hope everyone stayed within the dof.

--
AJ

http://www.pbase.com/manjade
 
To be honest I don't use it much. Nothing to do with how well it works - more with what I shoot. I did experiment and learn how to engage it, and play with it with the dog running fast a few times, and it seemed to work OK. It probably depends a lot on the lens too - I mostly played with my 28-105, which is very quick focusing. The kit lens and my Sigma 70-300 are not nearly as fast in that regard.
Try it - it's not hard to get it into servo focus mode.
 
Well, I just experimented with the Sports mode for the first time. I am really unhappy with the results! 90% of the shots that I took of my cat playing with a toy came out blurry because it chose too-slow of a shutterspeed.

The lighting conditions were good enough to get good shots, I took a few in manual mode just to make sure of it and I had decent shutter speeds available with good DoF and ISO too. So if I have to use sports mode, where I have no options of choosing any shot settings, then I'm S.O.L. I guess, because I can't take pictures with that mode, RAW or not. Guess no AI-Servo uses for me until I upgrade my body:(

Someone please chime in if there's some other option in a non-creative mode!! I like the idea of AI Servo for when I'm going to need those shots later!
--
KK
http://imageevent.com/kzmokramr2
 
Hmm, is that with the 300D? I've tried it a number of times now and the focus just locks. I can't get it into servo?? Dunno if it's a timing issue or what?? Can ya explain it any better than that, or is that just basically it??
--
KK
http://imageevent.com/kzmokramr2
 
Yes - I have a 300D. It is timing - but once you get it it should be easy to do again. I try and get the movement going a bit before I half-press (but not too long or you run out of room. I hope I've explained it right - you are rotating the camera down (pointing farther out, then rotating down towards your feet). Try different speeds, etc. Also - if you have a USM lens (with FTM focus) several people have reported that tweaking the focus sends it into servo focus mode (don't try this if your lens does not do full time manual focus).
 
Thanks for your tips! I appreciate it:) I'll keep working on the timing and hopefully it'll come to me eventually!! As for the FTM lens, my next purchase is going to have one, so when I get that lens, I'll see if that trick works too:) Thanks again!
--
KK
http://imageevent.com/kzmokramr2
 
KozmoKramer said:
[snip]
So if I have
to use sports mode, where I have no options of choosing any shot
settings, then I'm S.O.L. I guess, because I can't take pictures
with that mode, RAW or not. Guess no AI-Servo uses for me until I
upgrade my body:(

Someone please chime in if there's some other option in a
non-creative mode!! I like the idea of AI Servo for when I'm going
to need those shots later!
Click to expand...
Well, according to the literature, the hack provides full menus in the Basic Modes. I would assume that you can set ISO and AF points, so that might help. Again, I have the XT, so I don't have first hand knowledge of the hack, so I might be wrong.

Don't be offended, but do you know how to focus with AI Servo? You need to focus on the moving object with the center AF point first, then it will track the object between all the active AF points (at least that is how it works in the XT, p.72 of XT manual).
 
dave_s93 said:
I don't have a 300D, but according to the Bob Atkins site, the
firmware hack will let you set AI Servo in the Creative Modes.
"Enables the ability to select the autofocus mode: AI servo,
Oneshot etc."
http://bobatkins.photo.net/photography/digital/digital_rebel_firmware_hack.html

Note: the site also provides a link to the hack.
Click to expand...
I have the 300D with what I believe is the lastest hack - UnDutchables v0.2.3 - and I can "select" AI Servo but I can't take a picture with the shutter button.

-----------------------

From http://www.camerahacker.com/Canon/DRebel_Comparison.shtml

AF Modes - Wasia Hacked 300D "Automatic Selection. Manually Selectable: AI Focus, One Shot, AI Servo. AI Servo mode does not allow shutter to be triggered consistently."

-----------------------

From the Additional Information section at http://www.gpi.dk/300d/ for UnDutchables v0.2.3

In Creative modes, right button changes the focus mode and is displayed on the LCD as follows:

o AF OF Lens set to manual focus

o AF OS One shot

o AF SE AI-Servo (selectable but cannot take a photo - one workaround, press left to release the shutter)

o AF AI AI-Focus (first takes one shot then the camera may switch to AI-servo depending on what you are focussing on)

------------------------

From http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/canon300dfw2/ - Note #3 under Updating the Firmware-New Features and their Configuration

3. A press on the left button of the arrow pad in the shooting mode changes the focus mode: AF OS - ONE Shot, AF AI - AI focus AF, AF SE - AI servo*, or enables indication of the manual focus mode,

AF SE - AI servo (in fact it does not work - if follows the object as a servofocus in Sport mode, but it does not allow to take pictures, you can shoot only after you switch the camera to the manual focus mode using the button on the lenses)

--
Good Day,
Roonal
 
dave_s93 said:
KozmoKramer said:
[snip]
So if I have
to use sports mode, where I have no options of choosing any shot
settings, then I'm S.O.L. I guess, because I can't take pictures
with that mode, RAW or not. Guess no AI-Servo uses for me until I
upgrade my body:(

Someone please chime in if there's some other option in a
non-creative mode!! I like the idea of AI Servo for when I'm going
to need those shots later!
Click to expand...
Well, according to the literature, the hack provides full menus in
the Basic Modes. I would assume that you can set ISO and AF
points, so that might help. Again, I have the XT, so I don't have
first hand knowledge of the hack, so I might be wrong.

Don't be offended, but do you know how to focus with AI Servo? You
need to focus on the moving object with the center AF point first,
then it will track the object between all the active AF points (at
least that is how it works in the XT, p.72 of XT manual).
Click to expand...
Ahh, i'll take another look at the hack route and see if I can understand it better then.

Don't worry, no offense taken:) I'll get the manual out and read up on it again. When I was using it in sports mode, none of the AF points lit up at any point! The center point did continually focus during tracking, but if the subject went outside of center, the center point would just readjust the focus on whatever was in the center now ... it didn't track the subject, only kept whatever was in the center point focused and refocused if I moved the center point. Again, I'll re-read about it to get it figured out, but I definately won't be using any creative modes if I don't have access to shot settings.

Thanks for your input, hopefully I'll get it all set up eventually :))

--
KK
http://imageevent.com/kzmokramr2
 
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