New 1DX User Issues..Need Help (1 Viewer)

Hi all! Was hoping for some desperately needed help. I recently upgraded from the 7D to the 1DX. I'm pairing the 1DX up with my 400mm f/4 DO lens for handheld shots...same as what I used for the 7D with great success. After a few thousand shots I’m noticing that most of my flight shots and shots in general are rather soft and blurry. Here’s a typical example:

http://jgalicki.smugmug.com/Bombay-and-Prime-Hook-DE/i-TXQtsLp

I always shoot in Aperture Priority Mode normally at f/5.6….in some cases I had great light so I kept the ISO to 100 and also moved it to Auto as well to get a feel for how the ISOs are automatically generated per different conditions. With my 7D I never went above ISO 800 due to the noise generated, so getting a feel for what I can do with 1DX which will be much better I hope. After reviewing the information for most of my photos I thought found my problem….almost all shots (including flight and song birds) were generated at slow shutter speeds such as 1/250, 1/500 or 1/640. With my 7D at similar light and ISO settings, I was able to get 1/1000 and way above as generated through Aperture Priority mode for flight shots….this 1DX is obviously working very different. In order to compensate and stay in Aperture Priority mode, I've now bumped up the ISO to 800+ and set the minimum shutter speed to be 1/250 (highest possible setting) but still getting slow shutter and softness.

All that said, what would the forum recommend I do in order to get better/crisp shots of birds and birds in flight for the 1DX with Aperture Priority? I'd like to get at least 1/1600 for flight shots and certainly higher speeds for perched and preening songbirds. I realize I can directly control in TV or Manual, but being stuck to either mode isn't conducive for me with general bird photography in the field.

Thx in advance!

Josh

Hi i don't own a 1dx i do however own and use 1 series cameras,how have you got the servo tracking set-up?

Steve

I use my 1DX in Manual mode and enable Auto ISO. This allows me to set the shutter speed and aperture that I want and the Auto ISO takes care of the exposure. If you have the latest firmware you can adjust exposure compensation in Manual mode - very handy for birds and aircraft.

Given that the 1DX is happy at ISO levels up to 8000 (many are happy with higher) then this setup makes the camera extremely simple to use for most types of photography, though I did confuse mine doing pinhole photography this afternoon - had to go back to AV and manual iso.

Steve...yes, I have servo tracking on.

John...not sure if I have the latest firmware...I just purchased so thinking I do. Not sure what you mean around adjusting exposure compensation in Manual mode. I can adjust exposure based on manual Aperture and Shutter settings and work through trial and error. The issue for me is if I have a bird fly by or something pop up not that I'm not expecting...it's hard to then adjust shutter on the spot..I know what minimum shutter speeds I need most of the time, but don't know what specific speed is necessarily required instantaneously. Let me know if I'm missing something.

Yes i imagined that you have servo tracking enabled,my point is what speed have you set it too etc?

Steve.

Oh sorry....my auto focus is set up as follows:

Tracking Sensitivity.... -1
Accel/Decel Tracking.....0
AF pt auto switching......0

Let me know if you need any more information on my settings and thx again!

Josh

One thing to bear in mind-f5.6 on the 7D is the equivalent of f8 on the 1DX as the 1DX is a full frame sensor so dof is shallower for any given aperture.



The crop factor applies to f stops in the same way as it does to focal length.



Took me a while to get used to when I started using the 5D3.

johnf3f said:

If you have the latest firmware you can adjust exposure compensation in Manual mode - very handy for birds and aircraft.

.

Click to expand...

That's good that it now allows Ev comp when it Manual and auto ISO John, I wish they would allow this on the 5D3. It is not available on any other Canon Camera but I wonder if it will be a feature for new Cameras.

I think it version 2.03 - Sorry had FAR too many beers tonight!
The firmware update has been available since January, download it it is a definite improvement.
Off to bed now - far too wobbly to give good advice!

Dannybgoode...that's very interesting and didn't realize that. So do you shoot close to or at f/8 for bird photography with your 5D? I'll have to review my photos closely...I don't want a DOF that is too shallow and won't allow some birds to be completely in focus.

I'm still playing with settings to be honest to see what works and a lot depends on the available light but yes f8 on an FF camera is the equiv. f5.6 on an APS-C camera.



It is the same reason why you get such depth of field on say a camera phone where it has a wide aperture. Some have say an f2 aperture but it is very difficult to generate any bokeh and to isolate the foreground subject unless you are very close to it.



Phone camera sensors are very small so the resultant crop factor for both focal length and equiv. aperture is considerable.



f1.9 on my old Canon S90 for example was the equiv. of f10 on my 5D3!



Noise is also a factor. There is an excellent article on dpreview.com about equivalence - well worth reading.

JGalicki said:

Dannybgoode...that's very interesting and didn't realize that. So do you shoot close to or at f/8 for bird photography with your 5D? I'll have to review my photos closely...I don't want a DOF that is too shallow and won't allow some birds to be completely in focus.

Click to expand...

When I use my 400/5.6 + 1.4x tc on the 5D3 I always try stop down a bit as it helps with sharpness as well as DOF.

JGalicki said:

Dannybgoode...that's very interesting and didn't realize that. So do you shoot close to or at f/8 for bird photography with your 5D? I'll have to review my photos closely...I don't want a DOF that is too shallow and won't allow some birds to be completely in focus.

Click to expand...

This quote from Cambridge in Colour explains it quite well:-
As sensor size increases, the depth of field will decrease for a given aperture (when filling the frame with a subject of the same size and distance). This is because larger sensors require one to get closer to their subject, or to use a longer focal length in order to fill the frame with that subject. This means that one has to use progressively smaller aperture sizes in order to maintain the same depth of field on larger sensors.

By their calculations if you used a 1.6 crop with 400mm at f5.6 to get the same perspective and DOF on a full frame you would need 640mm and f9

Here's a few examples of filling the frame and using f3.2 vs f9 .Uncropped and straight from the camera images.
The depth of field at 3.2 is so shallow that unless the subject is side on, as it is in the last one, it doesn't work for me.However, sometimes, if you have the right subject and the right amount of time to play with settings it can work a treat.
1DX plus a 300mm f2.8 lens.

I'm no expert by any means but I nearly always start at f8 and see what ISO and shutter speed I can use.Unless the light is exceptional, which it isn't very often in the UK, I am happy to use ISO 800-1600. For birds in flight I would aim for at least 1/1000 sec probably much higher. I always use manual settings, I find the 1DX auto ISO is the best I have come across but I still prefer to set my own if the light is constant.If I use aperture priority I can't control shutter speed as effectively as choosing manual. I could use shutter speed priority of course but then the camera is still making decisions for me that might not be the ones I want.
Which focus point setting I use depends on size and subject speed and background.
Expanded centre point or even single might be fine for a Heron but no way can I nail a Swallow unless I use either all or a block of 9.

Dave Williams said:

Here's a few examples of filling the frame and using f3.2 vs f9 .Uncropped and straight from the camera images.
The depth of field at 3.2 is so shallow that unless the subject is side on, as it is in the last one, it doesn't work for me.However, sometimes, if you have the right subject and the right amount of time to play with settings it can work a treat.
1DX plus a 300mm f2.8 lens.

Click to expand...

Nice examples of DOF there Dave :t:

Dave/Roy/Dannybgoode...thanks allot for this additional help as this is probably a game changer that I wasn't aware of...I'm going through my photos and I've noticed that plenty of shots have the bird's body in focus but the head/eye are soft and not sharp. The shall DOF and my focus point probably have allot to do with this. I've been shooting with the 400mm DO at either f/4 or f/5.6...in a good deal of cases with a 1.4 converter at f/5.6 for some additional reach. I'll start stopping down to see what better results I can get. By the way, what's the set formula to calculate DOF equivalency between a crop and full frame sensor? I'd be curious to also compare full frame 400mm at f/4 and 560mm with teleconverter at f/5.6.

Dave..went out shooting yesterday and got some better results than before. I kept the camera in Av with ISO on auto (set range from 100 to 6400). Also went into the custom function settings and was able to set my minimum shutter speed at 1000 and the max at 4000. This allowed for higher shutter speeds which then drove the ISO accordingly based on my aperture which was either f/4 or f/5.6. I also set the minimum to 500 but some flight shots were then being generated at less than 1000 and not fast enough. The min and max settings for shutter are very broad and you can't be specific (i.e. 1600 and up for flight).

I agree with you that using manual gives the most control and will ultimately yields better results. My main reasoning for using Av is less response time needed when an opportunity presents itself. If I'm hiking and I flush a bird by accident or a songbird perches near me I need to be ready to shoot quickly. Based on my experience, the Av mode works best in these cases but I could be wrong as I've been learning this all on my own. If you have any advice around what ISO and shutter for the 1DX to use in varying or general types of circumstances for birds I'd be happy to try them out. I'm normally shooting birds in flight, foraging waders and shorebirds, and perched songbirds.

Thx again!!!

JGalicki said:

By the way, what's the set formula to calculate DOF equivalency between a crop and full frame sensor? I'd be curious to also compare full frame 400mm at f/4 and 560mm with teleconverter at f/5.6.

Thx again!!!

Click to expand...

Not sure of the formula but HERE is a handy calculator, Scroll down the page to find the DOF section.

johnf3f said:

I think it version 2.03 - Sorry had FAR too many beers tonight!
The firmware update has been available since January, download it it is a definite improvement.
Off to bed now - far too wobbly to give good advice!

Click to expand...

Hi John
Hope you suffered no ill effects this morning !
Thanks for the tip about EV in manual. You have to adjust it using the info button and the Q buttons using the rear LCD screen, you can't do it using the EV button.
The instruction manual suggests you can't use EV in manual at all, but that was printed in February 2013. My camera came with the latest firmware so I assumed the instructions were up to date too.
You can only change EV when set to Auto Iso but that's the one time you would want to. Brilliant !
Unfortunately the 5D doesn't have this feature programmed to work although I'm sure Canon could issue firmware to fix it if they wanted to.
I don't understand the next bit though, taken from the announcement of the firmware fix it says this about Auto exposure compensation in manual
With Firmware Update Version 2.0.3 the camera can automatically adjust the exposure compensation to match an aperture change. This is useful when changing focal length on a variable aperture lens and when adding an extender. By offering the option to adjust shutter speed or ISO to compensate for the change in aperture, the EOS-1D X DSLR camera helps ensure the photographer a new level of control without taking the camera from their eye.
The page link is here
http://usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/standard_display/eos_1dx_afae_improve
Can anyone explain what they are talking about and how you do it !
Thanks
Dave

Do you have a 3rd party book on the 1DX - it is a beast of a camera and can be customised to within an inch of its life and its AF system is very complex (the 5D3 uses the same AF unit) and needs to be studied to understand and get the most out of it.

I have 2 custom settings so far on my 5D3 - one for landscapes and one for birds. The nice thing about the Canon custom settings is that it stores pretty much all the specialist settings. For example for landscape I uncouple focus from the shutter button and assign it to one of the rear buttons instead. Means I can focus and recompose a whole load easier. I also have single spot AF and single frame shooting and aperture priority.

But, for my bird settings I have focus coupled to the shutter button and have high speed shooting enabled and zone AF with tracking and manual mode.

I have a load of other settings as well but the above gives an example. Means I can set the dial to C1 and know the camera is pretty much good to go for landscapes and then if I spot a bird a quick switch to C2 gives me my base bird settings.

C3 will probably get some kind of street / portrait settings yet to be decided. I mirror the custom settings in my 7D as well so I can use either body with minimum of thought when switching between.

A good 3rd party book with go in to detail in to how to do all of this.

I also found this site to provide a really good explanation of the various tracking modes. It is written for the 5D3 but as far as I am aware the settings for the 1DX should be the same:

http://garyluhm.net/canon-5d-mark-iii-autofocus-ai-servo-birds-flight/

No Dave I am fine thanks - just had a very good evening out at the pub - I am not used to it these days!
My exposure compensation is armed by pressing the SET button and then rotating the front dial (by the shutter release). As soon as you let go of the SET button the exposure compensation is locked. If you go to page 5 "Custom Controls" then you can set up the buttons as you like.
I find my setup to be second nature now and very quick to adjust when necessary.