The 5D IV has a very advanced and technical focus system.
Make sure you download and read this:
http://learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2017/eos_1dx_markii_af_guidebook.shtml
Note that this says "1D X Mark II" but it turns out the two cameras have nearly identical AF systems ... nearly everything in this guide applies to the 5D Mark IV as well.
On your camera, make sure you enable "AI Servo" AF mode. I prefer to put it in the mode that uses ALL available AF points because that's the mode that tracks the subject as it moves and can track it anywhere. If you limit the use of AF points, then the camera can only track across the points you allow it to use.
You will also probably want to switch to high-speed burst mode.
On your 70-200mm lens... turn the Stabilizer ON but set the Stabilizer to Mode 2. More on why later.
Evaluate the cases (Case 1 through Case 6) and you may need to do some testing to decide which case is best for your situation. I shoot track cycling and find that case 2 seems to work the best (track cycling doesn't have erratic motion or fast accel/decel speeds, changes in direction, etc... but things will momentarily get in the way ... so I tend to prefer to use Case 2 for my type of shooting. Your type of shooting may require something different for best results.
In the AF tab of your camera, tab 1 sets the AF case selection.
AF Tab 2 sets first & second image priority. What's that mean? The camera can favor obtaining focus BEFORE it shoots... or it can favor GETTING THE SHOT when you hit the shutter release... even if it hadnt't finished focus. For most cameras, the default in AI Servo mode is to take the shot WHEN you press the shutter all the way down becuase you can hold the shutter half-way (or use back-button focus) to keep the camera focused on your subject (so you've pre-focused) and then when you press the shutter it is already focused.
But you can tune this on a 5D IV and tell it you'd rather have focus priority over release priority. At the velodrome, riders are looping so I'm not as worried about capturing the "decisive moment" and more worried about good sharp focus. I set 1st image priority to favor focus. Second image priority is a bit of a misnomer... it actually means "every frame in your burst apart from the first frame". That one has a 5 point scale... on the extreme left is favoring release time... the extreme right is favoring focus... the middle setting splits the balance. I noticed that with my first few outings that my first image in a burst would be sharp... but successive frames in the burst weren't as sharp. So I tuned my 2nd image priority one notch toward favoring facus (note that there's a performance penalty because camera wants to evaluate focus more carefully as you do this.)
On AF tab 4 you'll find things like "Auto AF pt sel:" and I set mine to "EOS iTR AF". There's also a choice with "EOS iTR AF (Face priority)". EOS iTR is the intelligent tracking & recongtion. But in your sport, can you even see the driver's faces? If not, you should probably disable face-detection so the camera doesn't hunt for a face in the shot.
I set "selectable AF point" to all (you can tell it to only use cross-type points ... or a 15 or 9 point grid).
You'll also find choices on how the camera picks the initial AF point when using AI Servo mode.
Also note... your camera has three CUSTOM mode positions on the mode dial. Suppose you have favorite settings for shooting a race (action shots) but you have a completely different set of favorites for shooting non-action shots at the track (cars & drivers before / after the race, etc.)
You can set up everything the way you want (e.g. for action shots) and "register" that setup to a custom position (e.g. such as the "C1" position on the mode dial. Then set up everything the way you want again (e.g. maybe this time for non-action shots), and "register" that to another custom position (e.g. such as the "C2" position on the mode dial).
Now you can flip between C1 & C2 on the mode dial and you don't have to go digging through menus ard remember the whole pile of custom tweaks that you made to optimize the camera behavior.
This is what I mean when I say the 5D IV is a "technical" camera. It has the ability to be customized to your needs, but that adds some technical complexity.
But if you read that AF Setting Guidebook that I linked, you'll become more aware of what the camera can do for you. And then register your custom settings so you can rapidly flip between shooting modes as needed.
I mentioned switching the lens Stabilizer to mode 2. Mode 1 is the general purpose mode. In mode 1 the lens will try to stabilize things in all directions. The problem with mode 1 is that you have fast moving cars and you're going to need to pan the camera to follow the car as it zooms by. In mode 1... the lens will FIGHT YOU. In mode 2... the lens knows it's going to be used to catch panning action shots... this means it WILL stabilize any up/down vertical movement ... but it will NOT fight you on the horizontal panning action.
BTW, I tend to use Av mode even for action photography BECAUSE I'm shooting at an indoor velodrome. I want the camera to use a wide aperture (typically f/2.8 ... rarely I might drop to f/4). And then I want it to use the fastest shutter speed it can manage. I'm actually ok with slower shutter speeds and frankly I sometimes prefer that.
Here's what I mean...
This is shot at 1/125th sec.
This one is taken at 1/640th...
Notice the very different amount of blur in the wheels... the 2nd shot doesn't convey a strong sense of speed... whereas the first shot (with the blur) does. I'm using the slower shutter and carefully panning to "imply motion" into a still shot.
This is a more technical type of shot because to pull this off means the camera is panning at the same speed as the subject. If it's out of sync... the subject wont look sharp. I find I get a keeper rate of maybe 1 in 10 of these that I really like (which is why I suggest bursting a blast of frames in the hope that one will be crisp.) This is something I don't recommend you start with... use a higher shutter speed to make sure you have some shots "in the bag" (you need SOME usable shots at every event). When you've got that covered... you can get a bit more artistic and try to pull off a few that convey more energy.
When I learned this technique, I started at a higher shutter speed and slowly eased my way down to a slower shutter speed. It gets easier with practice and you learn to be a bit more smooth about your tracking.
An alternate technique is to put the camera in Manual mode... but set the ISO to 'auto'. You can then pick both the shutter and aperture that you want and the camera will vary the ISO as needed. I am not super keen on this because while the 5D IV is amazing... I do start to notice the noise and if I can keep the ISO low, I'll get cleaner shots.
There are techniques for cleaning up noise and enhancing sharpness that involve create a mask to detect edges of contrast. You generally want to sharpen near edges of contrast... but there's no point in sharping a photo globally (even the flat non-contrasty areas) because that just makes the nosie more noticeable. You can invert the mask and de-noise the flat non-contrasty areas (where noise is easier to spot) and leave the edges of contrast (where noise is harder to spot and those edges need to remain sharp) alone.
@TCampbellwrote:The 5D IV has a very advanced and technical focus system.
Make sure you download and read this:
http://learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2017/eos_1dx_markii_af_guidebook.shtml
Note that this says "1D X Mark II" but it turns out the two cameras have nearly identical AF systems ... nearly everything in this guide applies to the 5D Mark IV as well.
On your camera, make sure you enable "AI Servo" AF mode. I prefer to put it in the mode that uses ALL available AF points because that's the mode that tracks the subject as it moves and can track it anywhere. If you limit the use of AF points, then the camera can only track across the points you allow it to use.
You will also probably want to switch to high-speed burst mode.
On your 70-200mm lens... turn the Stabilizer ON but set the Stabilizer to Mode 2. More on why later.
Evaluate the cases (Case 1 through Case 6) and you may need to do some testing to decide which case is best for your situation. I shoot track cycling and find that case 2 seems to work the best (track cycling doesn't have erratic motion or fast accel/decel speeds, changes in direction, etc... but things will momentarily get in the way ... so I tend to prefer to use Case 2 for my type of shooting. Your type of shooting may require something different for best results.
In the AF tab of your camera, tab 1 sets the AF case selection.
AF Tab 2 sets first & second image priority. What's that mean? The camera can favor obtaining focus BEFORE it shoots... or it can favor GETTING THE SHOT when you hit the shutter release... even if it hadnt't finished focus. For most cameras, the default in AI Servo mode is to take the shot WHEN you press the shutter all the way down becuase you can hold the shutter half-way (or use back-button focus) to keep the camera focused on your subject (so you've pre-focused) and then when you press the shutter it is already focused.
But you can tune this on a 5D IV and tell it you'd rather have focus priority over release priority. At the velodrome, riders are looping so I'm not as worried about capturing the "decisive moment" and more worried about good sharp focus. I set 1st image priority to favor focus. Second image priority is a bit of a misnomer... it actually means "every frame in your burst apart from the first frame". That one has a 5 point scale... on the extreme left is favoring release time... the extreme right is favoring focus... the middle setting splits the balance. I noticed that with my first few outings that my first image in a burst would be sharp... but successive frames in the burst weren't as sharp. So I tuned my 2nd image priority one notch toward favoring facus (note that there's a performance penalty because camera wants to evaluate focus more carefully as you do this.)
On AF tab 4 you'll find things like "Auto AF pt sel:" and I set mine to "EOS iTR AF". There's also a choice with "EOS iTR AF (Face priority)". EOS iTR is the intelligent tracking & recongtion. But in your sport, can you even see the driver's faces? If not, you should probably disable face-detection so the camera doesn't hunt for a face in the shot.
I set "selectable AF point" to all (you can tell it to only use cross-type points ... or a 15 or 9 point grid).
You'll also find choices on how the camera picks the initial AF point when using AI Servo mode.
Also note... your camera has three CUSTOM mode positions on the mode dial. Suppose you have favorite settings for shooting a race (action shots) but you have a completely different set of favorites for shooting non-action shots at the track (cars & drivers before / after the race, etc.)
You can set up everything the way you want (e.g. for action shots) and "register" that setup to a custom position (e.g. such as the "C1" position on the mode dial. Then set up everything the way you want again (e.g. maybe this time for non-action shots), and "register" that to another custom position (e.g. such as the "C2" position on the mode dial).
Now you can flip between C1 & C2 on the mode dial and you don't have to go digging through menus ard remember the whole pile of custom tweaks that you made to optimize the camera behavior.
This is what I mean when I say the 5D IV is a "technical" camera. It has the ability to be customized to your needs, but that adds some technical complexity.
But if you read that AF Setting Guidebook that I linked, you'll become more aware of what the camera can do for you. And then register your custom settings so you can rapidly flip between shooting modes as needed.
I mentioned switching the lens Stabilizer to mode 2. Mode 1 is the general purpose mode. In mode 1 the lens will try to stabilize things in all directions. The problem with mode 1 is that you have fast moving cars and you're going to need to pan the camera to follow the car as it zooms by. In mode 1... the lens will FIGHT YOU. In mode 2... the lens knows it's going to be used to catch panning action shots... this means it WILL stabilize any up/down vertical movement ... but it will NOT fight you on the horizontal panning action.
BTW, I tend to use Av mode even for action photography BECAUSE I'm shooting at an indoor velodrome. I want the camera to use a wide aperture (typically f/2.8 ... rarely I might drop to f/4). And then I want it to use the fastest shutter speed it can manage. I'm actually ok with slower shutter speeds and frankly I sometimes prefer that.
Here's what I mean...
This is shot at 1/125th sec.
This one is taken at 1/640th...
Notice the very different amount of blur in the wheels... the 2nd shot doesn't convey a strong sense of speed... whereas the first shot (with the blur) does. I'm using the slower shutter and carefully panning to "imply motion" into a still shot.
This is a more technical type of shot because to pull this off means the camera is panning at the same speed as the subject. If it's out of sync... the subject wont look sharp. I find I get a keeper rate of maybe 1 in 10 of these that I really like (which is why I suggest bursting a blast of frames in the hope that one will be crisp.) This is something I don't recommend you start with... use a higher shutter speed to make sure you have some shots "in the bag" (you need SOME usable shots at every event). When you've got that covered... you can get a bit more artistic and try to pull off a few that convey more energy.
When I learned this technique, I started at a higher shutter speed and slowly eased my way down to a slower shutter speed. It gets easier with practice and you learn to be a bit more smooth about your tracking.
An alternate technique is to put the camera in Manual mode... but set the ISO to 'auto'. You can then pick both the shutter and aperture that you want and the camera will vary the ISO as needed. I am not super keen on this because while the 5D IV is amazing... I do start to notice the noise and if I can keep the ISO low, I'll get cleaner shots.
There are techniques for cleaning up noise and enhancing sharpness that involve create a mask to detect edges of contrast. You generally want to sharpen near edges of contrast... but there's no point in sharping a photo globally (even the flat non-contrasty areas) because that just makes the nosie more noticeable. You can invert the mask and de-noise the flat non-contrasty areas (where noise is easier to spot) and leave the edges of contrast (where noise is harder to spot and those edges need to remain sharp) alone.
Thank You for the link...and all of the info. I have saved it all so I can read it when my I am a bit more alert....
Thanks again....
