Canon R7 R7 AF Tracking

[Mel H]

I am trying out my R7 with the small birds in my garden. I have the af set to case4 with max sensitivity . I have servo on animal tracking and eye detection. In the attached sequence you can see the tracking does not keep up with the bird . The blue focus square was on the birds eye when I pressed the first shot, you can see the camera tries but does not react quick enough and then loses focus all-together . ( The first shot is actually the second photo in the sequence, I couldn’t work out how to change the order in post )

• Canon EOS R7
• EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM
• 195.0 mm
• ƒ/4
• 1/5000 sec
• ISO 2500

• Canon EOS R7
• EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM
• 195.0 mm
• ƒ/3.5
• 1/5000 sec
• ISO 2500

• Canon EOS R7
• EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM
• 195.0 mm
• ƒ/4
• 1/5000 sec
• ISO 2500

• Canon EOS R7
• EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM
• 195.0 mm
• ƒ/4
• 1/5000 sec
• ISO 2500

Is it a setting issue ? Or is it just that the small birds move so quick it is a very tall order for the camera to track ?

 

[Jake Shoots Birds]

It's not just small, it's small and fast. I've not gotten the R5 or R7 to follow smaller birds for more than a frame or two in flight. More times than not they're not just moving but moving towards you faster than focus can adjust. I've not found something that gets it every time. You're going to want tracking sensitivity to be set all the way left (-2) and accel/decel tracking all the way right (+2) to have any chance of catching it.

 

[Mel H]

Thank you will try that

 

[Mel H]

It's not just small, it's small and fast. I've not gotten the R5 or R7 to follow smaller birds for more than a frame or two in flight. More times than not they're not just moving but moving towards you faster than focus can adjust. I've not found something that gets it every time. You're going to want tracking sensitivity to be set all the way left (-2) and accel/decel tracking all the way right (+2) to have any chance of catching it.

I tried your recommended setting and it was a little better, the bird is also a bit bigger. I’m trying to work out why reducing the tracking sensitivity makes it better ? i am going to look for something a bit bigger for the next test.

 

[Jake Shoots Birds]

I tried your recommended setting and it was a little better, the bird is also a bit bigger. I’m trying to work out why reducing the tracking sensitivity makes it better ? i am going to look for something a bit bigger for the next test.

And here you assume that the way you and I think, and the way in which Canon engineers think, is somehow the same. LOL I've been sent to the manual more with my Canons than I ever had to go when I shot Nikon, so when you and I think that if we want "tracking sensitivity" to stay on a subject it would require upping the value. But when you read the manual you realize that "tracking sensitivity" as more akin to "subject switching" - the higher the value the more likely the focus system is to change to anything new entering the viewfinder. I think it took me 4 or 5 months before I figured that out.

 

[Philnick]

I have an expression, "Learn how to not-think like a computer."

Remember the definition of a computer as "a fast idiot.'

An old joke about this from the early days of electronic computers:

The company held a major conference to show off its natural language translation program.

They would have the computer translate a phrase from English into Russian and back.

They fed it, "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."

It translated that into Russian and then translated the result back into English.

It came back as "The wine is ready but the meat is raw."