EOS 7D Mark II MultiPoint AF and hi-speed sports photography

[jazzywagdaddy]

I'm shooting with a 7D MKII and a 70-300 L IS USM lens and must have a setting wrong.

What I want is the camera to auto-select the right focus point, instead of just the center. For example, in the photo below, I wanted the athlete in the foreground in the blue shirt to be in focus, not the "fixed" point dead center of the lens. 

Any suggestions on what settings I need to tweak would be appreciated.

[jazzywagdaddy]

I think I may have figured it out, but I'd appreciate a sanity check. I need to set the AF Areas Selection mode before shooting.  

[deebatman316]

Auto AF Point selection is NOT appropriate for this situation. The camera's AF system can get "distracted" by other things in the background. Instead of what you want to focus on. You can manually select what AF Points and zones that you want to use. To prevent the camera from focusing on the wrong thing. 

[wq9nsc]

For sports, you don't want to use any large area mode.  I have been shooting a variety of sports for years and depending upon the sport I use primarily single point or sometimes single point plus four point expansion.

With sports you typically have a lot of things going on in the frame including multiple players and you need to put the focus point where YOU want it. 

There is a lot going on in this capture from a post-season playoff game but the focus point needs to be on the ball carrier for this capture.  No zone AF is going to do that nor will using the eye/head/helmet detect that the AF system in the 1DX III can perform because there are many eyes, heads, and helmets 🙂

Rodger

[Waddizzle]

You, not the camera, missed focus in the sample you posted.

What Shooting Mode are you using on the Shooting Dial?

What AF Mode are you using, AF Servo or One Shot?  Never use AI Focus.

What AF point(s) have you selected?  Have you defined an Initial AF point for tracking?

[jazzywagdaddy]

Waddizzle I appreciate what you are saying however the action is sometimes too fast.

I am in TV shooting mode, AI Servo, and at first I've been using single-point spot AF, but yesterday I switched to large zone AF and received better results.

[kvbarkley]

The multi zone will work fine as long as everything is *behind* the subject. But once something is in *front* of the subject, you are back to the same problem.

[ebiggs1]

jazzywagdaddy,

IMHO, your settings are wrong.  I would urge you to read and use Rodger's suggestions. Personally I would use Av mode not Tv. One shot with a single center focus point and not Ai-servo with multi-points.

[amfoto1]

I shoot a lot of sports with a pair of 7D Mark II and an assortment of lenses.

My "policy" with sports is to always use as few AF points as possible... usually single point (not "spot"), occasionally the 4 or 8 point expansion, and rarely the small zone. When I'm using single point it's on me to make sure the camera is focusing right where I want it to focus. If I miss, it misses. 

When shooting with single point, fast action when there's no time to change AF point, sometimes it's necessary to zoom out a little to allow some room to crop later. I walk a thin line with this... wanting to fill my viewfinder with the subject as much as possible for the best image quality... but at the same time often needing to crop just a little to get the composition I want.

Any time you use more than one point you are leaving it up to the camera to figure out where it's supposed to focus. Often it will choose correctly.... But sometimes it won't!

The two expansion modes are a little different. They start with the center point, only expand to the adjacent points if the camera senses the subject has moved away from the center point and onto one of those adjacent points. I'll usually use the 4-point mode when I have a pretty good idea where the subject will be going, but they are moving fast enough that I may struggle to keep up with a single point. I'll use 8-point when I am less certain where the fast moving subject will be going. Different sports call for different setups.

In small zone the camera can choose any of the available AF points to use, both when starting AF and during continuous focusing.

I mostly only use single point "spot" when out shooting wildlife for fun. It uses a smaller than usual AF point, which can be helpful trying to photograph a bird or animal through tree branches or tall grass.

I can't recall the last time I used the large zone mode and don't think I've ever used "all points".

I use back button focusing... Learned the benefits of it around 20 years ago with film cameras and have used it with every camera since. If I ever got a camera that didn't have means of doing BBF, my thumb wouldn't know what to do! 😎😁

BBF allows me to use AI Servo almost exclusively. The only time I might use One Shot is when shooting a landscape or a posed portrait or maybe a macro shot (though I usually do those with manual focus).

I've tweaked a few of the autofocus related settings that are available on the 7DII, but won't go into most of those here. However, I will mention that I've set my 7DIIs up so that the joystick can always be used to move AF points around and so that clicking the joystick instantly returns the AF to the center. This makes it possible for me to make AF point changes while keeping the camera to my eye and my eye on the subject(s).

The 7DII's control layout is great. It allows fast, direct access to many things. The AF controls, in particular, are right where they should be on the camera (and on it's matching battery grip).

It has nothing to do with the questions about focusing... But I don't see any problem with using Tv if that's your preference. Some sports shooters like to lock in their shutter speed. Personally I do use Av far more often, but I keep an eye on my shutter speeds and adjust the ISO if needed to get fast enough shutter speed for whatever action I'm shooting. I want to control the aperture and depth of field. 

More often recently I've been using M with Auto ISO. That allows me to lock in both aperture and shutter speed. The 7D Mark II has well-implemented Auto ISO (the original 7D didn't). The only thing I dislike is that with M + Auto ISO it's a bit fiddly to use Exposure Compensation. It has to be done with the menu or Q screen (usually the latter). There's no direct dial to use for E.C. when the camera's exposure mode is M + Auto ISO. 

***********

Alan Myers
San Jose, Calif., USA
"Walk softly and carry a big lens."
GEAR: 5DII, 7DII (x2), 7D(x2), EOS M5, some other cameras, various lenses & accessories
FLICKR

[stevet1]

jazzywagdaddy,

If you want the focus to be on the person in the blue shirt, but that person is not in the center of your frame, you might do a focus and recompose.

As others have suggested, use a single point, foc7s on that person and then shift your camera.

If you are using Servo mode and back button focus, you can lock your focus on your subject and release the focus button. Shift your camera and take your picture.

The zone or area focus modes tend to focus on what's closest to the camera.

Steve Thomas

Spoiler