Mexican Dancer

[rpcrowe]

numbers 1-3 shot at 1/15 second and number 4 shot at 1/200 second
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One thing that caused me problems is the location of the focus points on the 6D Mark 2. Canon went the "el cheapo route" and instead of producing an auto focus system for the 6d2 from the ground up, they adapted the 80D focusing system. Sure, the 80D has an excellent auto focus system but, when you simply drop that system designed for a crop camera into a full frame camera, the array of focus points hugs the center of the frame. I missed the focus on image #1. Shooting in the vertical position, I was using the top center point of the focus array. However, that would not allow me to place the focus point on her face to get a good composition. The highest I could place the top focus point was on her blouse

Canon's answer to that problem is always: focus and recompose. However, that way is great for portraits or for non-moving subjects when one-shot-auto focus is used. However when shooting a moving subject, I like to use servo- AF and you cannot focus and recompose using Servo-AF

When shooting this dancer, I obviously had the camera in the vertical (portrait) position. I chose the highest point at the center of the array. This would allow me to focus no higher than the dancers chest. That was pretty annoying

If the sun had not been so bright that it totally blew out my LCD in live-view, I could have used the dual pixel AF which will lock on to any area on to any area in the frame. Not restricting the focusing to the array of focus points. If I had my Hoodman Loupe with me, I could have placed it on the camera with the elastic bands that came with the hood. However, that would pretty well negate using touch screen for focus.

I think I will need to experiment with the face recognition capability of the camera in live view. That way, I could use the camera with the Hoodman Loupe as an eye-level viewfinder and would not need to touch the screen to initiate focus

I purchased a loupe for my wife's Canon Point and Shoot camera. That loupe cost me about $7.00 USD and uses a magnetic frame that is attached to the P&S using double stick tape. Works fine but, I don't want to tape anything to my 6D Mark 2

[Shadowman]

Nice efforts, fourth image is the best overall in terms of blur/sharpness ratio and composition. I have similar issue with my camera where focus points cannot be used for all areas of lens/frame unless I'm shooting in live view, with a zoom lens I'll just shoot with shorter focal length or like you focus somewhere lower and if possible use different aperture for overall sharpness.

[rpcrowe]

I have just experimented with the face detection auto focus on my Canon 6D Mark 2. It seems to work pretty well and the dual pixel autofocus allows focus anywhere on the screen. Once the camera picks up the focus, it follows the face of of the subject even when the subject or the camera moves. I don't have to use the touch screen to initiate focus, just half press the shutter button. I will be experimenting with back button focus and face detect live view, combining that with my Hoodman Loupe, secured to the camera with the Hoodman elastic loop (that is a loop for the loupe).

That just seems too good to be true

I have to read up on how it works when there are multiple faces in the image...

I wish that it worked for dogs. With dogs, I would have to touch the dogs face on the touch screen in order to initiate the focus. It won't automatically detect and lock on to a dog's face like it will with human faces...

BTW: with the 6D2 touch screen, I have a choice of touching the screen just to initiate focus or to touch the screen focusing and tripping the shutter in one action. That second way is terrific for shooting a series of images for focus stacking...

I just did a series of 16 shots using the 6D2 on face detection live view with my wife walking towards me at a fairly decent pace. The lens was the 70-200mm f/4L IS at f/4 with a focal length of 180mm. The distance was a full length shot when she started walking to a head and shoulders for the last shot. The focus on her face was right on for each of the 16 shots. I triggered each shot individually but, I will make some tests using burst mode...

Her face was located at the top portion of the frame at the end of the 16 shots. This was out of the field covered by the central array of AF sensors. I initiated focus for the first shot by half pressing the shutter button and the camera carried each of the shots in perfect focus.

What a great combination this will be when I have the Hoodman secured to the LCD using the Hoodman Loupe-Loop

Well here's the funny episode while shooting the dancers....

I got there early as expected and staked out my seat on the first row center bench...



That way I was able to use the dancer's painted background to shield me image from the exceptionally bright sun behind the stage. Even from this position, I had a limited possibilities for framing. If I had framed or cropped this to include more area to image left, it would have included the bright background which was several stops brighter than the dancer and would have been blown out...

Anyway, I settled in and got a couple of shots taken and then the darned bench collapsed Luckily no one was hurt but, I needed to find another shooting location. There were no seats available in the center so I had to grab a seat towards the right of the stage. Unfortunately, the background from that shooting position was a large tree or bush that was harshly mottled with shadows.

I stayed there until the end of the performance, planning to move to the center when this group of spectators left. However at the end of the performance, the announcer stated that it would be an hour before the next group of dancers. I was annoyed and thought the "HECK WITH THAT" and left to go home...

When I shot the performance last year, it was overcast and there were no bright spots in the background. Well, there's always the Day of the Dead in October...

Addendum: Grant Atkinson has done some really excellent videos on both the 7D2 and the 6D2. His solution to the focus/recompose problem of the 6D2 with Ai Servo goes like this:

"We focus using the shutter button. We configure the AF-On button on the back of the camera to work as an AF-Off button. When we are in Ai Servo, we can focus with the shutter, but should we need to lock the AF point (as occasionally happens when we are in Ai Servo and we cannot place a focus point over the subject) when we need to recompose, we can accomplish this simply by pressing the AF-On button. Focus will be temporarily halted so long as we keep the AF-On button depressed."

That is sort of a reverse to "back button focus"

A Canon Representative who presented several seminars on Canon DSLR cameras dis not know this system of using the 6D2,,,,

BTW: IMO, the autofocus system of the 7D2 beats the living tar out of the 6D2 autofocus capabilities with the only exception being the dual pixel focusing in live view...