More on the Mk III AF problems

[yakim_peled1]

http://www.prophotohome.com/forum/pro-photo-reviews-articles/73689-canon-1d-

mkiii-autofocus-interactive-review.html

 

Apologies if it was posted here before. I searched but failed to find it.

 

Happy shooting,

Yakim.

[yakim_peled1]

<a href="http://www.prophotohome.com/forum/pro-photo-reviews-articles/73689-canon-1d-mkiii-autofocus-interactive-review.html">Second attempt</a>.

 

 

<p> Happy shooting, <br>

Yakim. </p>

[colinsouthern]

I tried shooting a burst with my daughter on a swing - results weren't great :(

 

One variable I'd like someone to (scientifically) test is shooting a burst at something less than 10 fps (perhaps 1/2 that speed) to see if % keepers improve when the lens has more time to react.

[dave_holland]

It looks like the article was well written. But I have to admit that I didn't have the patience to wade through all the advertising to read the whole thing. Is this a glimpse of the internet in the future? I hope not.

 

Dave

[awindsor]

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[eos 10 fan]

Chuck Westfall - Tech Tips July 2007

http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0707/tech-tips.html

 

If you have selected the center focusing point manually and all other settings are at their defaults, then the center focusing point is the only one that's active. If you want the camera to track the bird using all 45 focusing points, then you must set the camera for automatic focusing point selection. When AI Servo AF is combined with automatic focusing point selection, focus tracking starts from the center point, as mentioned on page 83 of the EOS-1D Mark III owner's manual.

 

"When the AF point selection is automatic (p. 84), the camera first uses the center AF point to focus. During autofocusing, if the subject moves away from the center AF point, focus tracking continues as long as the subject is covered by the Area AF."

 

Page 84 shows how to set the camera for automatic focusing point selection. Hope this helps! By the way, I'll have more on EOS-1D Mark III autofocusing in the next edition of Tech Tips.

 

- The Digital Journalist

 

--

[matt_sallis]

<P>I saw no point in continuing the article once I'd read this:<br>"Many, many of the runs were factory default settings on both cameras. If there are settings that will fix these issues that is great. But that does not equal operator error because there is no current information in the manual about any such special settings that should be used with fast moving subjects."</P>

<P><a href="http://www.wildlifeimagesbyles.net/Technique/1DIII_Guide/1diii_guide.html" target="_blank">This guy</a> seems to have read the manual and found the necessary information.<br>As has <a href="http://www.warehouseexpress.co.uk/?/arouse/reviews/Canon1DMkIII_First_Impressions.html" target="_blank">Andy Rouse,</a> to quote:<br>"I tested it with flying falcons, eagles and kingfishers and the hit rate was higher than I am used to; in fact whole sequences were sharp not just an individual image."<br>"I have to temper this by saying however that you cannot just expect to get results from the MK3 out of the box as the autofocus will need some customization to get the optimum results.".</P>

<P>As suggested, it seems to be operator error, or more accurately, operator ignorance.</P>

[mark u]

It is perhaps unfortunate that Canon have withdrawn the full text of their excellent publication "Getting the most from your EOS 1 Class DSLR" which offered a lot of advice on AF. Perhaps they intend to re-issue it with specific advice for the MK III camera - if so, it would be good if they also included the advice for the earlier bodies, and extended the coverage to lesser bodies as well. Fortunately it can still be found via the Wayback archive:

 

http://web.archive.org/web/20070306212823/http://photoworkshop.com/canon/EOS_Digital.pdf

[yakim_peled1]

Reading many reports I get the feeling that some cameras do have a faulty AF system. This is because many experienced pros which encountered difficulties under the same conditions.

 

Here is one:

 

http://www.naturescapes.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=103425&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=840&sid=ee91eea01e7cbbe4ec919e791b14e6e0

 

OTOH, there are plenty of other pros which experience no problems at all under the same conditions.

 

Here is one:

 

http://www.openphotographyforums.com/art_Arthur_Morris_001.php

 

 

My guess is that there is a problem in the AF circuit. I have no hard evidence to back this up but under so much contradicting evidence it's just seem logical. BTW, Arthur Morris - which had no problems whatsoever - thinks so too: "Are their some types of problems with the autofocus system in some Mark III camera bodies? That would seem to be likely; where there is smoke, there is usually fire". Remembering the problems in the first batches of the 24-105 and 70-300 IS I feel more confident in this guess... :-)

 

Naturally there are other options as well e.g. (A) All cameras work flawlessly and all "problems" stem from user errors and/or lack of sufficient acquaintance with the Mk III and (B) All cameras are faulty and all those which claim their camera is fine have not tested them in these specific conditions. These seem less plausible to me.

 

Last, there is at least one user who claims that Canon admitted to him that there is a problem in his AF system and they await a replacement part.

 

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/549611/23

 

Happy shooting,

Yakim.

[andrew robertson]

I don't think there has been a Canon DSLR yet that hasn't seen some percentage of its users

unable to get good results with the AF. The vast majority of these cases can be attributed

to operator failure.

 

I expect that these problems are mostly operator error as well.