Is Mark 4 focus system inferior FOR STREET PHOTOGRAPHY to the Mark 3?

[Streker26]

I have upgraded to the Mark 4 from the Mark 3. I do street photography of people. It seems that the Mark 4 works in a very, very different fashion then the Mark 3 when it comes to autofocus. I have tried every single focus setting or combination of settings but I continue to have problems. I am using exclusively a 50mm 1.4 USM lens as I did on the Mark 3 by the way. So it seems like the Mark 4 takes longer to focus. It sometimes hunts. The shutter button as well is not as responsive. But the biggest problem that is driving me up the wall is very often the camera will focus on the background to the exclusion of foreground subjects. And I don't just mean small figures in the foreground but even when I have a person filling one third of the frame in the center of the field! It is weird because this is not always the case but it is often the case. It is especially bad when I shoot fast. If I am slow and deliberate it is less often a problem. But the thing is that this was NEVER an issue with the Mark 3 for me. So I would love to know what settings people recommend as best to quickly catch in focus a a foreground figure in priority over background subjects. And also if others have had similar issues with this camera in relation to it's predecessor. Thanks

[Waddizzle]

---

@Waddizzle wrote:

---

@jrhoffman75 wrote:

. 

---

One Shot mode simply focuses at the selected AF point, and gives you the fastest focus lock.  AI Servo asks the camera to not only focus, but to also begin analyzing the scene, and tracking subject movement.  Now you have to worry about focus tracking settings..

---

I completely forgot to explain the focus tracking settings, which the video does not explain.

The default behavior for AI Servo is NOT to wait for the camera to have a focus before activating the shutter.  But, this behavior is adjustable, but the adjustment only seems to be available when you are in Continuous drive mode.  

This adjustment to AI Servo behavior is called Image Priority.  You can adjust it for Shutter Priority, which does not wait for a focus lock, but allows for the fastest frame rates.  Or, you can adjust it for Focus Priority, which requires the camera to acquire a focus lock before it activates the shutter, but this setting can slow down the frame rate in continuous drive mode.  Or, you can adjust it to a setting somewhere in between the two extremes.  I adjust my cameras for 100% Focus Priority.

If you are using Single Shot drive mode, then you almost certainly want to use One Shot AF mode, because the camera will not refocus between shots in Continuous drive mode.  If you are using AI Servo AF mode, then you almost certainly want to be using Continuous drive mode, because the camera does not have to wait for a focus lock in One Shot mode.

[Streker26]

For the record aftter trying out different things for some time now I am using AI FOCUS and CASE ONE with expand auto focus area (crossbar - third from left) checked. Expand AF area Surround was a disaster and Auto selection AF did not seem to help the problem much. The settings I just listed seem to be better then all the other combinations BUT I still get an unaceptable number of missed shots that I did not miss with the Mark 3. I have not tried one shot and will experiment but orthodox opinion is that this would not work as well as AI Servo. I will try a bit later to post some of the pictures to illustrate my problem better. Thanks

[Streker26]

Yes.. but I am mostly using AI FOCUS and that is supposed to shift between options theoretically being the ideal setting. I am encouraged now to try ONE SHOT however. Hope this will solve the issue. I will say again that I used AI FOCUS on the Mark 3 with no issues. It was simply faster. But with the Mark 3 I was often frustrated because as everyone knows the focus is so central weighted that I rarely could get away with side frameing a subject in the street while quickly walking by. I expected that handicap also with the Mark 4. What I did not expect and still do not understand is how I can line up a standing figure in the middle of the frame and the camera chooses one out of two or three times to focus on the wall behind this figure. 

[Streker26]

YES! this is also an issue I did not have with Mark 3. I have noticed the need to "wake up" the shutter first to get a better hit ratio. Still, it happens even when the shutter is wide awake. 

[Streker26]

Interesting... can you walk me through that process please? 

[Streker26]

I have only ever used a 50mm prime since I was a little boy. I like the "normal" look of the field of vision. Still I am unhappy with Canons 50mm 1.4. It would be nice if they updated this lens finally. There is the new cheapo 1.8 they came out with and some say it is faster but it is priced so low one has to doubt the quality of the optics. The L series 50 is too big and heavy for my purposes so I am stuck. I actually went out a bought another new 1.4 I was so frustrated with this Mark 4 focus problem and I thought my old 50 might be defective. But it is something else going on...

[jrhoffman75]

---

@Streker26 wrote:

Interesting... can you walk me through that process please? 

---

Hi Streker26. hard to tell what post you are responding to. Suggest you use QUOTE option on upper right when posting.

[Streker26]

---

@jrhoffman75 wrote:

I get around the “problem” of moving the AF point by using a Custom Shooting mode, with automatic update disabled.  Instead of the camera maintaining the last AF point, it resets to my center AF point whenever the metering system goes idle.  

In fact, everything gets reset back to the custom mode’s default settings when the metering goes idle.  Yes, there is a button to press that resets the AF point for you, but that just adds one more “camera thing” to think about and remember to do, instead of just capturing the next shot.

@Streker26

---

Hi Streker26. hard to tell what post you are responding to. Suggest you use QUOTE option on upper right when posting.

Yes sorry.  ... I will do so now.... I was interested in this process this contributor mentioned because I forgot that it "remembers" the last focus point and I just assumed the default setting was to reset.

By the way I almost never use this or any forum but started to out of despair from this Mark 4 focus problem 

---

[Waddizzle]

---

@Streker26 wrote:

Interesting... can you walk me through that process please? 

---

This comes from the extended instruction manual for the 5D4.

You could register an AF point.

Or, you could configure a custom control button to revert to the center point.

Hope this helps.

[jrhoffman75]

This applies to 1D X Mark II, but should be helpful for 5D Mark IV as well.

http://www.learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2017/eos_1dx_markii_af_guidebook.shtml