topic Need help with 5D mark iii correct AF selection for portraits in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Need help with 5D mark iii correct AF selection for portraits

Zuzana — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 10:49:11 GMT

Hi,

I need advice as to what AF selection I should be using for portraits. I have watched tutorials, and read articles, but they all deal with sports, and animals, etc. But I need help setting the camera correctly for portraits, please! I take photos of kids, and toddles, so they are constantly on the move. I figured I should be using AI SERVO. Then under AF setting, I put the camera on Case 2, where it will continue to track subjects and ignore obstacles. But then I need help picking the correct AF area mode. there are 6 options. For single person portraits, is Expand AF area (option 3) or Surround (option 4) more appropriate? What about Zone AF? Can that also be used? Also, what about family portraits, should the 61 automatic selection option be used, since they all need to be in focus? And what about the f stop? What would be the wides f stop to be used on multiple people, using the AF zone system? Thank you!

I just recently discovered these options. I was having problems with my camera focusing (it wasn't showing me the little boxed what it was focusing on), so using the AF zone selection fixes that, I just need to know what settings to use!

Thank you!

Re: Need help with 5D mark iii correct AF selection for portraits

diverhank — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 22:42:47 GMT

The 5D3 focus is so good any settings will work in your scenario, imho. For single person, I'd advice using a single center point and focus on the eye. That is still the best way. For multiple, set your f/stop to 5.6 or higher and aim the focus point at the person in the middle of the stack.

Re: Need help with 5D mark iii correct AF selection for portraits

JoeDavid — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:04:48 GMT

Use the following link off of Canon Europe to access the 1D X AF guide PDF. The cases are the same as the 5D III:

http://cpn.canon-europe.com/files/education/technical/eos_1d_x_explained/AF_guide_EOS-1DX_eng.pdf

If the toddlers are being allowed to "roam free" while you are trying to shoot them, I'd suggest you read over Case 5 and Case 6. The document is talking about sports but you'll see the parallel with photographing kids. I keep this PDF downloaded onto my iPad. I looked for the link on the Canon USA website but couldn't find it anywhere so I had to go to the Canon UK site to find the link for you...

Re: Need help with 5D mark iii correct AF selection for portraits

7D5D — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:15:27 GMT

Here's the link to the PDF on the USA site just in case you can't pull it from the Europe site

http://learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2012/1dx_guidebook.shtml