Tripl7 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (12 years 8 months 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 1330 times:
I use Cannon EOS 300N AF. At a recent airshow, my camera went hunting for focus everytime I pressed the trigger for an action shot. I thought this was a niusance and switched to MF. This slowed me down considerable, especially in action shots.
Any way to work with AF on, and still be fast on the trigger?
PhilB From Ireland, joined May 1999, 2915 posts, RR: 14 Reply 1, posted (12 years 8 months 3 days 19 hours ago) and read 1148 times:
Autofocus has problems with large white areas (difficult for airliners) and certain camo colours.
I've just lost a very dear friend, a 1985 Canon T80 with full autofocus whose chipset has died. I have taken over 10,000 shots, all on autofocus, and the trick is to focus on something dark, like a nosewheel tyre, and using the one shot option, hold the focus until you have the shot fully framed - then shoot.
Where a tyre is not available and the object is likely to be fast moving, focus at a point on the ground above which your subject will pass. Hold the focus with the shutter button half depressed until you can frame and shoot.
FastGlass From United States of America, joined Jan 2002, 0 posts, RR: 5 Reply 2, posted (12 years 8 months 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 1136 times:
Sounds like your camera doesn't have focus tracking, a gimmick that works rather well. It is predictive autofucus that can keep-up with a moving object (i.e. aircraft).
AIRCANON From Austria, joined Aug 2000, 238 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (12 years 8 months 3 days 13 hours ago) and read 1136 times:
I am using a Canon EOS 300 (Rebel 2000 in the US) and one of the basic modes is the sports mode funktion. This mode has AF tracking and works very well at aviation photography as i experienced. There is nothing i could complain about exept that if i focus on an airplane up in the sky and the airplane is still far away, the AF needs some time to get focus. As soon as the object, in this case a airplane, is somewhat closer everything works perfect. I should say that all my lenses are original canon. What lens(es) do you use? If you are using third party lenses, this could be the reason. Not certain... Just a thought.
Tripl7 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 4, posted (12 years 8 months 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 1114 times:
Aircanon:
I am using my EOS 300 with 75-300 cannon lens. I find the autofocus to be rather a niusance at airshows when there are more than one aircraft in the frame. It hunts at random and often spoils the perfect shot. No problem when there is a single aircraft. In fact, I find that it can track and focus even when the aircraft is just a speck in the viewfinder. This is when I select the "window" I want to focus (example centre), and I frame the plane within that particular square.
Manual focus would be risky.
How do you take your pics?
Mirage From Portugal, joined May 1999, 3120 posts, RR: 16 Reply 5, posted (12 years 8 months 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 1106 times:
When at airshows and if the planes are at a distance longer than infinite focus I just pass to MF, focus to infinite and take the pictures. It's not 100% reliable because in airshows there's lot of action and speed and you must be very alert, faster than the planes but you can be more concentrated in framing and composing forgeting if the camera will focus or not.
Ckw From UK - England, joined Aug 2010, 530 posts, RR: 18 Reply 6, posted (12 years 8 months 2 days 7 hours ago) and read 1096 times:
And I though auto-focus was supposed to make life easier! I think you've all just confirmed my decision to stick with Canon manual focus - I hate having to think about what the camera is thinking about ...
AIRCANON From Austria, joined Aug 2000, 238 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (12 years 8 months 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 1091 times:
Tripl7:
I am using my EOS with 75-300 canon lens since approx. 2 months now. Therefore i have no experience using it at airshows till now and cannot give any comments on this yet. Yes... of course i agree with you, that when selecting the "window" you want to focus, there is no focus problem then. The focus problem occurs when (for example) using the full auto mode and the airplane (still far away) comes closer and clouds are behind.
Thank you for your comment and info.
Have fun and lot´s of success in aviation photography with your canon gear.
Tripl7 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 8, posted (12 years 8 months 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1087 times:
Thanks guys for all your helpful and interesting comments.
Luis - I used to focus at infinity and let it be when I had a fully manual camera with up to 210mm zoom. With 300mm though the depth of field is critical at even great distances, especially when using speeds up to 1/1000 sec or above (which I rarely use).
Nice pics those. Alpha Jets?
I used to take excellent pics with my old yashica FX-2 and 210 lens long ago. Technology can work against you. Just have to learn to master it I guess.
What is a good non-canon (but for cannon) up to 500mm zoom?
Edwin, thanks for your advice. You should take your camera at a good airshow. I think it is an excellent overall performer. I simply have to learn it's strengths and weaknesses a bit better
Mirage From Portugal, joined May 1999, 3120 posts, RR: 16 Reply 9, posted (12 years 8 months 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 1080 times:
Well it's not 100% reliable, sometimes I get disapointments using MF at infinity. Yes those are portuguese Alpha jets, last year in an airshow at Evora.
Hias From Germany, joined Sep 2000, 349 posts, RR: 14 Reply 10, posted (12 years 8 months 7 hours ago) and read 1072 times:
Hi there,
I am using a Nikon N90s and a Nikon N60 camera and especially the N90 is very fast with the focus and you can switch to a small autofocus meter, which makes life easier, when you want to take pictures of aircraft far away. The N60 doesn't have such a feature.
Regarding the question of a good 500mm lens, I can say, that I am using the Sigma 5,0-6,3/170-500mm lens and it makes wonderful pictures regarding that pictures with 500mm couldn' t be the same as 50mm shots.
Hias From Germany, joined Sep 2000, 349 posts, RR: 14 Reply 12, posted (12 years 7 months 4 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 1047 times:
yes, the sharpeness of the background is better with a 50mm lens compared to a 500mm lens, depending on tha fact, that a 50mm lens is receiving more light through the lens...
Ckw From UK - England, joined Aug 2010, 530 posts, RR: 18 Reply 13, posted (12 years 7 months 4 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 1050 times:
The sharpness of the background has nothing to do with the amount of light received by the lens - this is about depth of field - ie. the area in front of and behind the point of focus which will be sharp in the image. Focal length and f.stop determine the depth of field - smaller f.stop (eg, f16) produce greater depths of field, while longer focal lengths reduce the depth of field. A 500mm lens will have a very shallow depth of field rendering forefround and background out of focus ... but the subject itself, properly focused (and the lens held steady!) should be just as sharp as a pic from a 50mm lens.
Many photographers use this shallow depth of field to advantage, for instance, by isolating a subject from a cluttered background.
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