topic Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

noleks — Fri, 05 May 2023 14:34:56 GMT

I have searched this forum and the 90d owner's manual to no avail...

Is there a way to assign a button to toggle between two drive modes (single shot and high speed burst)? Maybe the back AF button for example would be a good candidate for this.

I find myself toggling this constantly while taking photos of my son's sporting events (rowing).

I have been using sports mode but if I can create a custom mode that mimics it and has this functionality, I will do the work!

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

John_Q — Sat, 06 May 2023 01:20:53 GMT

Hello noleks,

Unfortunately, that is one thing that is not customizable to a single button on the EOS 90D. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

ebiggs1 — Sat, 06 May 2023 14:42:21 GMT

"I have been using sports mode ..."

I would suggest if you are using Sports mode you aren't getting the best results that are possible with a 90D which is a fantastic camera. However to advise I would need to know more about you gear and how you shoot like form where. Wat lens. Location is the number one main most important thing in sports photography.

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

wq9nsc — Sat, 06 May 2023 15:06:58 GMT

With a little practice, you will be able to trigger single exposures in high speed mode. I shoot sports with a pair of 1DX III bodies and I leave them set in high speed drive mode (16 FPS) but the overwhelming majority of the images I take at an event are single frames rather than a burst. It takes just a little practice and then you will quickly master firing single frames when desired rather than a burst.
Maybe this is where my years of ham radio experience have come into play. For sending Morse code, which has characters consisting of a pattern of short dots and long dashes, many of us use electronic keyers which automatically generate a fast string of dots or dashes depending upon which paddle is used. Sending Morse at 36 words per minute means the dot paddle is generating around 16 dots per second so I am used to getting a single "capture" with a mechanism that generates a string at high speed.
For sports, I use manual mode with the shutter speed fixed at least fast enough to freeze motion for that sport and aperture in most cases is wide open (both because many sports are lacking in illumination and because you often desire the shallow depth of field that makes the athlete pop out from the background). Set ISO to auto to let it complete the exposure triangle and if ISO is going too high for the results you need/camera body used then revisit shutter speed and aperture as needed.
Allowing assigning custom shooting modes to a configurable button would be a nice firmware upgrade for the 90D. With my 1DX series bodies I use C1 at many sports events configured with a wider aperture and slower shutter speed to provide roughly the same ISO as the "game" settings which provides a significantly greater depth of field for quick capture of post score celebrations or other times where a group shot is needed. This is an example of when you instantly need to be able to toggle between two setups.
Rodger

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

noleks — Mon, 08 May 2023 12:17:44 GMT

Yes I admit I'm still getting used to the camera and admittedly the sports mode is a bit of a crutch right now but I'm getting decent results at least for my requirements.

This weekend I rented a Tamron 100-400 to shoot a crew regatta, where we get a mix of sun and shade over water at 100-500ft I'd say. The 90d does a wonderful job of capturing the entire stroke of the rowers and there is a minimum blur at T=1/1000. I have been playing with shutter priority mode and sports mode to see what's different- I can't see a lot but perhaps the sports mode has a little more flexibility to modify the shutter speed to get the best exposure.

The coaches love seeing these full stroke bursts BTW to give feedback to the rowers. I may have opened up a can of worms on my son Lol.

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

noleks — Mon, 08 May 2023 12:22:22 GMT

Yes I agree and I'm getting better at the single shot. There are times though say when I'm shooting greater distance subjects (as the boats approach for example) that I really only need one and since I am giving folks all my mistakes along with the good shots I'm trying to minimize the total number of shots taken. This weekend I took almost 700 shots of several boats (there are over 30 heats or starts whether head-to-head or time trials at each regatta)... I'm still learning but this round was 80% less than my second round. 🙂

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

wq9nsc — Mon, 08 May 2023 14:55:36 GMT

I suspect you will continue to get better at firing the exact number of shots you need!

As far as sending everyone all of your shots, whether you shoot in jpg or RAW or edit at all (and I STRONGLY advise using RAW since that allows you to make significant adjustments not available with jpg files), the free DPP software from Canon will allow you to quickly look at your images in Quick View mode and select the ones you want to keep.

You can mark the desired photos either with a star rating or a check mark in DPP and the two work a little differently. If everyone, including you, gets the same set of keepers then the star system works well. Just scroll through the photos in Quick Check and press the 1 key to mark each one you want to keep. The star method is hierarchical with a choice of 1 through 5 so it also is useful in creating supersets and subsets. If you want to create a smaller subset for everyone else, mark those with a 5 star rating and if you want a complete set of keepers in a folder for yourself mark the additional photos for you with a 4 star (or lower numeric rating). The selection system allows you to select a number plus everything higher so you can do the 5 star group for other parents and the 4 star and above for you.

But my preferred method is using the other DPP annotation/selection system with check marks instead of stars and those allow selection of a specific check mark.

For example, I always save images in RAW format and I process those through DPP (with a few going to Adobe for additional editing on occasion after DPP does the RAW conversion). For a few events, I will grab a few photos for the opposing team during post. So I use a system where I mark primary team photos with a check mark 1 during editing, other team only photos with a 2, and photos that would go to both with a three.

I then batch process from RAW to JPG in groups by selecting each check mark group separately and batching the jpg output into different working folders. Then it is easy to upload the three groups where they belong with a separate group of images for each team which includes their team specific photos plus those images going to both teams.

This sounds more involved than it is 🙂

I strongly suggest you shoot in RAW format for best results but even if you only save JPG output, DPP allows you to annotate via star or check mark as quickly as you can look at them. Then it is a matter of simply selecting the groups via DPP menu in order to copy/move the desired group into its own folder.

At a longer sports event, I may capture in the neighborhood of 1,500 images between three camera bodies. Using 1DX II and III bodies with L series glass, only a tiny number will not be focused on the athlete(s) of interest and a slightly higher number will be where I missed the key part of a play or there is a composition error in the way the athletes are shown. So probably there will be over 1,200 "good" images from this event but I will share at most somewhere in the 200-300 range and this number is that high only because I also try to capture every team member who is on the field during that event and for those who typically get little playing time then I will go heavy on them for the game that they do. I will also have probably 20-30 bench, coach, and other non-sports field photos in the mix.

At a recent track meet, two Canadian geese did a perfect low altitude flyby directly over the finish line during a 1,600 meter and they made the cut 🙂 As I noted on the link that I shared with the head track coach, "Unfortunately the USAF Thunderbirds were already booked but we were able to get a couple of stand ins to perform a high speed low level pass".

Rodger

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

ebiggs1 — Mon, 08 May 2023 14:13:59 GMT

Although Rodger has a scheme that works for him a better, IMHO and the set up most pro sports photographer use is as follows. Use Av mode and set a reasonable aperture perhaps wide open or one stop down. Your 90D will select the faster SS possible for correct exposure. Use Auto ISO and set an upper and lower limit you can live with. Average daylight and use Raw formant, never ever use jpeg. I prefer One shot over Ai-servo and just the center focus point.

For best sports photos you must use a post editor like Photoshop. Not wanting to go that route for whatever reason you can d/l DPP4 from Canon. It is free and is pretty good. Last piece of advise, never show the bad ones! A dozen excellent photos are better than a 1000 bad ones. Besides not to mention the boost to your reputation as a capable photographer.

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

noleks — Sat, 13 May 2023 23:26:29 GMT

Thank you both for this advice. There is a two-day regatta this weekend and somehow my switching to RAW format did not "take" so I took a bunch of JPEG again. I'm sure that was user error.

Anyway I'm going to try manual mode with RAW format tomorrow and see what happens. I will install DPP tonight.

I do think that I'm noticing that the AF of the Tamron A035 (100-400mm EF mount) seems to focus a little less sharply than my Canon 55-250mm EFS. I've Googled this subject after seeing some more blurred images... do you have any experience here?

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

deebatman316 — Sat, 13 May 2023 23:54:09 GMT

Please post pictures so we can better assist. So we can see if the blurred images are a result of slow shutter speed or missed focus.

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

noleks — Sun, 14 May 2023 10:24:47 GMT

Will do- need to do this after this weekend though as I've got to be there for our rowers in < 1hr!

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

wq9nsc — Sun, 14 May 2023 12:16:44 GMT

What shutter speed were you using with the 100-400? And what was your distance to target? If you are fairly close, the depth of field gets pretty shallow with a 400mm even at f6.3 so it is possible you need to fine tune the focus of your lens using the micro focus adjustment built into the camera.

But softness is likely either due to some blur from camera shake and/or subject motion due to too slow shutter speed and it could also be from increased ISO and resultant noise reduction if using fast shutter speed with a f6.3 aperture if it wasn't in direct sunlight.

If you are shooting from land, then 1/500 shutter speed is going to be the minimum and higher is better. If you are shooting from a vessel, then double this as a minimum and preferably even faster if conditions permit. You can do a lot with noise reduction if you start with a RAW file but once you have motion blur, it is baked in and there is no clean way to remove it. So with fast moving objects, be biased towards accepting a higher ISO and the resulting noise reduction.

I recently acquired a Canon EF 200-400 f4 with the integrated 1.4X extender making it a 280-560 f5.6 with the flip of a lever. It is incredibly versatile and produces very sharp and high contrast images in both 1X and 1.4X modes and I love it for daylight field events. But for night events, I will continue using my EF 400 f2.8 rather than giving up a full exposure stop. With sports, on a few occasions you get more light than you want in places (too much dynamic range between highlights and shadows), on rare occasions it is just what you want, but most of the time you are choosing the best tradeoff between shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.

Rodger

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

noleks — Mon, 15 May 2023 18:52:45 GMT

I think I'm starting to detect a pattern here...

In the attached photos I used the 9 point AF pattern and got a fuzzy result in one of them. I think it must be because the camera is trying to focus on the water as well as the rowers.
This becomes significant for me because sometimes the single point AF seems to do the same thing... perhaps with my single point AF it's a miss. Then again in 2/3 attached photos I think the right auto focus occurred. What I'd really like to do is guide the AF to a 5 point AF along the lower middle to steer it towards the boat and rowers.
Unrelated... CR3 takes much longer to write to my card than jpeg. Would a UHS-II card make a difference here?

For the files I attached:Paint Shop Pro 2023 batch options823882398242af pattern: 8239
8238: decent
8239: fuzzy
8242: decent

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

wq9nsc — Mon, 15 May 2023 20:13:29 GMT

A UHS II has a faster write speed and that will make a difference BUT that varies a lot by card brand/model so take a look and compare write speed. The CR3 files are bigger than the jpg files so they will write slower.

As to focus points, with the distance and the amount of "stuff" in frame I think you are going to be better off using a single focus point and putting it where you want it to make sure that the AF locks on what you want. I often use single point for sports for that reason. For many situations, single point in the middle isn't the right choice and you may want the single point lower in the AF array than centered.

I don't like back button focus but instead reassign that button to stop focus on those occasions where I want to lock focus and to change framing. This won't work with a fast moving target but it will be helpful at times.

Rodger

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

noleks — Mon, 15 May 2023 20:48:04 GMT

Is there a way to design my own custom AF pattern?
Can I assign the back button focus to stop Servo AF?
This is a bit of a challenge for me esp. at greater distances- I might need a gimbal and tripod. My birthday is approaching quickly. 🙂

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

deebatman316 — Mon, 15 May 2023 21:07:17 GMT

You can use Manual AF Point selection for that.
Yes that would be an AF Stop Button. Some lenses already have an AF Stop Button built in.
I recommend using the Center AF Point when using teleconverters. Not all of the AF Points can be used with Teleconverters depending on the lens and camera combo. This is due to the new max aperture.
So check your camera manual for this. Also check the lens manual and teleconverter manuals too. Link to Manual

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

ebiggs1 — Tue, 16 May 2023 15:06:26 GMT

You seem to be a little hesitant to take the advice of the very experienced folks here. A single focus point is what you want and should use. The camera will try to focus on the closest thing to the camera that has sufficient contrast to achieve focus. If you give it multiple choices it has a greater chance of finding that point. Using just the center focus point it will focus exactly on what you put it on. I would say 90% all focus issues people have as user error and not camera error. Try just the center point and aim carefully.

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

noleks — Tue, 16 May 2023 19:06:21 GMT

I'm not hesitant but I do seek full understanding. Digital photography is still pretty new to me so I am trying to exhaust multiple possibilities with my questions.

In this case I had shots go wrong because the single point AF didn't work, either.

This sport is fast-moving when the rowers are not at the dock and so it seems the best way to get the contrast while panning would be to shoot for the waterline.

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

deebatman316 — Tue, 16 May 2023 19:25:33 GMT

What focus mode are you using. Depending on which one you use the AF system works differently. One Shot is Focus Priority meaning the camera won't take a picture unless it's in focus. AI Servo is release priority meaning the camera has no focus lock. The camera will take pictures regardless of if the subject(s) are in focus or not. AI Focus is a hybrid mode of the 2. The camera will start out in One Shot AF then will switch to AI Servo if the camera detects subject movement.

One Shot AF
AI Servo (renamed to Servo AF in newer cameras)
AI Focus AF

Re: EOS 90D How to Toggle Between Drive Modes

noleks — Tue, 16 May 2023 20:23:50 GMT

AI Servo and drive mode High speed burst