EOS 7D Mark II Continuous AF?

[UnityStick]

I have the 7D II and shoot wildlife photos. Any reason that I shouldn't have the AF on Continuous? Thanks and love this site!

[Waddizzle]

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@UnityStickwrote:

I have the 7D II and shoot wildlife photos. Any reason that I shouldn't have the AF on Continuous? Thanks and love this site!

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I am not sure what you mean by “AF on Continuous.”  You seem to be conflating two concepts, or settings.

Aside from exposure settings, there are basically two settings that alter how the camera behaves at the most basic level.  One is the AF mode autofocusing system, and the is Drive Mode for the shutter system.

Let’s start with Drive Mode.   You can set the camera for a single shot, or for continuous shooting for as long as you fully press the shutter release button.  In addition, most camera bodies allow you to adjust the speed of continuous shooting.  Many also have a “quiet mode”, which decreases the amount noise created by “mirror slap”.  There is more to it, but the rest is not immediately relevant.

The AF mode has two basic settings, One Shot and AI Servo.  These are two very different focusing settings, for which most users apply very different AF point selections.  Most users will use just a single AF point, usuallythe center AF point, for One Shot mode.  This is useful for stationary subjects, or relatively so.  Most users enable all AF points for AI Servo mode.  AI Servo is most useful for focus tracking on subjects whose distance to the camera is constantly changing, not just moving side to side.

Which setting is best to use depends upon a given shooting scenario.  For instance, I use AI Servo focusing, with all AF points active, and Continuous shooting drive mode when I am looking to capture birds in flight.  I use One Shot mode, with just the center AF point active, when I am trying to focus on a bird sitting on a branch, in the midst of other branches.

[UnityStick]

Thanks for your timely response and helpful suggestions. Here, specifically is the setting and options on the Canon 7D Mark II:

[Waddizzle]

Ah!  That menu screen is for adjusting the “Live View” shooting mode.  You can see the name of this menu screen the upper right part of the screen.  Generally, you do not want to use LV for photographing wildlife.

Live View uses a focusing system that is separate from the one used by the viewfinder.  The LV focusing system uses the actual image sensor for focusing, which results in a system that is much slower than the dedicated AF sensor used by the viewfinder.

The viewfinder has two focusing modes, One Shot and AI Servo.  One Shot mode causes the lens to lock focus at whichever AF point is active, and then go idle.  AI Servo causes the lens to lock focus on an active AF point, and then continue focusing one whatever subject is being found at the active AF point.

The setting that you are asking about serves a similar purpose for the Live View focusing system.  It switches between “one shot” focusing and continuous focusing, when the camera is used in Live View mode.  

Again, Live View mode is not intended to use for action photography, such as wildlife photography.  All of this information is contained in the camera’s Instruction Manual, which can be downloaded from Canon Support.  Your camera is quite complex, far more complicated than a cell phone.  You will get the most out of the camera if you read the instruction manual.

[ebiggs1]

Are you meaning AI-servo mode or LV ?  The two focusing modes are not the same.  The kind of shooting I do mostly, LV is useless so I don't use AF on continuous.  I do use AI-servo but even then it has its good and bad.  You need to know what works.

[Cazat29]

Hello. My first posting here. I was searching google for advice on continous autofocus for canon 7D and it brought me to this posting. Does the information posted in response to the question apply to the 7D ? Thank you in anticipation.

[ebiggs1]

The 7D has Ai-servo mode but if you don't understand how it works it can be disappointing.  I only saw it as helpful in a very few instances. One shot focus will not let the camera fire if focus can not be achieved. Ai-servo will let the camera shoot even though the lens can not focus.

[John_SD]

Take a look at Canon's description and explanation. It is very clear, in my view. I often use AI Servo for subjects in motion and have been successful with it. I don't understand why some folks struggle with it. 

https://support.usa.canon.com/kb/index?page=content&id=ART116337

[ebiggs1]

"I don't understand why some folks struggle with it."

Simple!  They don't understand how it works.  A lot of folks run before they learn to walk. Ai-servo has its place but it isn't every place.

[Cazat29]

Thank you both very much.