Canon 1d x ii - AI SERVO AF settings? (1 Viewer)

Calling 1d x ii users...

What AI SERVO AF setting do you use for birds in flight? I've just bought an x mk ii and my eyes are bleeding trying to set up the AF function suitably.

Many thanks in advance!

James

JCL said:

Calling 1d x ii users...

What AI SERVO AF setting do you use for birds in flight? I've just bought an x mk ii and my eyes are bleeding trying to set up the AF function suitably.

Many thanks in advance!

James

Click to expand...

AF menu 1st page
Depends what focus points you intend using of course. If you only use centre point ( and I usually do) it doesn't make a jot of difference which of the 6 ready made menus you use. Your best bet is to experiment and find what suits.Case 2 and 3 are probably the ones I use most when using multiple points, probably for small birds like swallows.
AF menu 2nd page
In terms of focus or image priority I am set for focus priority for the first, focus priority +2 for and second shot .

What camera did you have last, at a guess a 1D4 ? The menus on the 1DX are mainly simplified versions of the 1D4 and it's predecessors but with it easier to see in a file format. You can tweek some features to a greater degree than the previous model but that again is down to experimentation although wether the differences are that significant I'm not really sure.

It's a cracking camera though, enjoy!

Thanks Dave. Very useful. And you guessed right on my previous (now backup) camera. I've just downloaded Glenn Bartley's useful guide to his settings. Also useful. Delighted to have upgraded.

AF manual available now for download, see Canon rumours.

MJN said:

AF manual available now for download, see Canon rumours.

Click to expand...

Thanks very much. For others' benefit it is here: http://downloads.canon.com/nw/camer...k-ii/docs/canon-eos-1d-x-mark-ii-af-guide.pdf

One of the things to consider is that much depends on which lens (and TC) combination you use as the number of available AF points differs. I was just doing a little bit of research for an upcoming trip and deciding which lens body combinations I would use and to do so referred to the camera manual. I came up with some interesting facts which lead me to think that the manuals( which I downloaded from Canon' website) are inaccurate.
For example a 70-200f2.8 Mk2 mounted on a 7D2 would produce 45 cross-type and another 20 standard AF points.
The more recent 1DX2 would have 21 cross-type and 40 standard AF points. That was a surprise to me given the performance of the 1DX2.
I then looked at the performance of the 100-400 Mk2 with a 1.4TC added. According to the 7D2 manual you would have one centre point cross-type and 4 surrounding standard points. Look through the lens at the illuminated points and indeed that is all you can get however, according to the 1DX2 manual you should get 1 centre cross-type and 8 standard others.In actual fact you can push the AF point around all 61 available ones so the manual is inaccurate. The illuminated points don't differ between cross-type and standard so it's not easy to tell if the manuals information is applicable in all cases where all points are available but the number of cross-type is limited.
Canon are certainly under selling the performance of the 100-400Mk2 on a 1DX2.

First impressions of Canon 1d X II

I've done a blog on my first impressions of this (amazing) camera.

http://www.jameslowen.com/blog-10-feb-2017-canon-1d-x-ii.html

I'd agree with most of your review on the 1DXII,but what I would say is that correctly exposed images with the 1DMKIV are perfectly usable at iso levels of 2000.Yes a bit a bit of noise reduction helps in post processing.

Cheers.

Steve.

JCL said:

Thanks very much. For others' benefit it is here: http://downloads.canon.com/nw/camer...k-ii/docs/canon-eos-1d-x-mark-ii-af-guide.pdf

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Out of interest I tried your link and was denied access. Perhaps I need to buy a body and enter the relevant serial number? Can't remember having this problem when downloading Canon's guides a few years ago, and which led to my buying a 1D MkIV.

Malcolm Stewart said:

Out of interest I tried your link and was denied access. Perhaps I need to buy a body and enter the relevant serial number? Can't remember having this problem when downloading Canon's guides a few years ago, and which led to my buying a 1D MkIV.

Click to expand...

I just tried it again: for me, at least, it works fine. It's a US link, and I am certainly not registered with Canon US, so doubt it has anything to do with 'purchase needed'. Worth trying again?