AF speed of NIKKOR lens

[myworkshop]

<p>I shoot a lot of eraticaly fast moving subjects, (kids and sports), and I need a super fast lens in terms of Auto Focus. I just switched all my Canon gear for Nikon and need another lens, having just one currently. I have a D700 and I know to use the 9point Dynamic AF in continuous mode to get max speed out of the camera but my AF-S NIKKOR 50mm 1.4 G seems too sluggish when someone is racing past me. I may want to get another 50mm with faster AF and something longer like an 85mm and/or a 70-200mm. Which has the fastest AF on a moving subject? Also, has anyone seen a review site that can measure AF speed?<br>

Thanks, Pete</p>

[ilkka_nissila]

<p>The 60mm AF-S Micro has very fast autofocus, also the 70-200/2.8. The 50/1.4 AF-S is a typical very wide aperture lens in that to achieve accurate autofocus wide open, the speed of rotation has to be sacrificed somewhat.</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>It is quite well known that the 50mm/f1.4 AF-S has relatively slow AF; apparently it is more optimized for AF accuracy with the shallow depth of field at f1.4 rather than AF speed.</p>

<p>I wonder why you switched from Canon to begin with and which Canon lenses you had before (or perhaps still own). If those focal lengths worked for you in Canon, most likely they are still fine in Nikon (factoring any potential "crop factor" differences). Pretty much all long Nikon AF-S lenses from the 70-200mm/f2.8 AF-S and up have very fast AF. I am talking about the 300mm/f2.8 AF-S, 200-400mm/f4 AF-S, etc. One exception is the 300mm/f4 AF-S; I have never been happy with its AF speed.</p>

[pete_s.]

<p>Pete, Sigma's 50/1.4 is supposed to be faster than the Nikon you have. I don't own the Sigma myself so I can't compare.</p>

[hans_janssen]

<p>My old AFD 50/1.4 and 85/1.8 are much faster in AF as the new 50/1.4 AFS. The AFD 50/1.8 is as fast and very cheap.</p>

[wpahnelas]

<p>check out this article from the PN archives, and in particular note what lenses they used:<br>

<a href="http://www.photo.net/learn/sports-photography/bill-frakes/2009/super-bowl">http://www.photo.net/learn/sports-photography/bill-frakes/2009/super-bowl</a></p>

 

[elliot1]

<p>Your AF speed issues may be due to in-camera settings rather than the lens. Before you get another lens, try shooting with a single AF point from one of the three center columns (all of which are cross type) instead of 9pt Dynamic Focusing. When shooting sports, I find this works best. Also, make sure your Focus Lock-on is set to off. Having this feature on can give the impression that the lens is focusing slowly.</p>

[niccoury]

<p>Many of the AF-s lenses focus fast enough to track moving subjects and the D700 is fast enough in AF to track anything.</p>

<p>I shot the Moto GP this year for work with a D700, D300, 70-200 and a 400.</p>

<p>The D700, 70-200 combo is fast enough to track speeding motocycles, so it's fast enough (easily) to track people running.</p>

<p>Try using AF-C and/or focus lock modes too.</p>

<p>Other lenses you might want to check out are the 70-300 AF-s f/4.5-5.6</p>