My best friend's father flew for the Angels...I've flown in Jet #7 (media flight), and grown up next door to Elmendorf AFB in Alaska (30 years), a base that every other year is visited by either the Angels or the ThunderBirds...and this year, the Canadian SnowBirds. I can tell you that the Angels absolutely ARE a difficult target if you're shooting anything less than bright blue sky and ZERO background...we are surrounded by mountains with a strikingly similar contrast as the blue jets! Greens, blues, and yellows in the background absolutely DO test the AF system of ANY body! Not to mention, if you've been shooting jets and air shows since you were 8 years old🙄 Wouldn't that make you an "Experienced" air show photographer??? Perhaps that's why you find it so "Not that difficult?" Honestly partner, being around both the Air and Army bases my whole life as well...I've seen many, many more crappy air shots than good ones. And in Alaska...we aren't blessed with a whole lot of bright blue days...Typical summer day in Alaska, as well as the two days I shot the Angels this summer...are gray skies, low clouds, and not as "Contrasty" as you'd like to think!
I spent eight years of my childhood in the UK- trust me, Alaska doesn't have a monopoly on cloudy skies, but they're not that challenging an AF target- I shot on manual focus for my entire childhood because guess what? There were no AF cameras- it's just not that difficult- not that shots of any aerobatic team against anything other than a blue sky look good. My ~1992 Nikon 8008s could AF the Angels all day long, and I hadn't shot an airshow in ~7 years when I used that camera. My Fuji S2 Pro with a non-HSM Sigma 50-500 missed a total of three shots in Oregon (that's f/6.3 at the long end wide open!) Seriously- I'm not talking about just blue sky shots with the center AF point in action- I give my planes room to fly into the frame, and with any f/4 lens or better it's difficult to miss with any AF module. So tell me, how many of your in-focus low-contrast shots were with a focus point other than the center one?
I simply mentioned my FIRST shoot when I got a new lens. I wasn't highlighting the end all AF system test...just anecdotal evidence that there isn't the issue that is so tiresome to read about by non-users. And again, read above...I wasn't under the most optimum of conditions WHILE testing the new lens! Gray skies, mountainous backgrounds, etc.
But there is an issue- if there weren't folks who own the gear wouldn't be complaining about it. Seriously- go shoot in a dim church that won't let you use flash- the AF problem is there and it's real. Now, I don't own a 5DII- so you'll have to live with the "hearsay-" but once you get off the center AF point in low contrast situations it misses a lot- it's been a known issue since the original 5D, and Canon chose not to address it.
Really? Which forum? I'm curious...because I'm really, really intrigued by all these "Best" wedding photographers that have switched or strongly considered switching. I shoot video of weddings...pay my mortgage certain months of the year doing just that. I shoot along side many photographers, several that are absolutely phenomenal! 3 of which are Canon 5d2 shooters (always carrying two bodies), one is a Nikon junkie. I've NEVER, I repeat, NEVER heard ANY of these guys complain of focus issues to the extent they would EVER consider dumping their gear to switch. I'm honestly blown away by how OVER-Blown this subject is! It's pitiful...ANYONE that has shot in low light with decent glass (the 5d2) knows this is an over embellished FACT! I can't have the only 3 5d2 bodies in this world that don't have issues!!! The first one I bought was only a month after release...the second two came 6 months apart...they all have different born on dates.
It's called TheProfessionalPhotogrpahyForum.com.
Now, after digging some more, I'm pretty-sure I know what the 5DII wedding AF problem is. The last time I shot in a church, the place was probably around -1 EV- fortunately, I had my studio strobes and they had built-in video lights, but I can definitely see where wedding photographers have problems with "no flash" priests. Fortunately, I was shooting the choir and the priest was happy to turn on the video lights and pose.
Here's the rub- the D700, D3 series and 1D series are all rated to AF down to -1EV. The 5DII is only rated down to -.5EV. Add in the fact that all the other bodies have more than one central cross-type AF sensor and shoot for long enough that you actually compose each shot and there's the issue.
I can see where the additional .5EV of the D700 could make for the anecdotes of trying one for a day and having no problems. All the Nikon FF bodies and the 1D series AF down to -1.0 EV, the 5DII is only spec'd to -0.5EV, so you get 25% less light and are still in spec if you're not shooting a 5D. Add in faster AF on pretty-much all the competitors and go away from that single center cross-type AF sensor on the 5DII and it's a sure recipe for missed shots.
But hey- you've got a 5DII, so how about showing us some shots from the outside AF points around -0.5EV and -1EV with a moving target coming towards you? Take 100 shots and count the hits- then we can put this all to rest. I'm sure it gets worse as you get further down in light too- at -1.5EV you're .5EV out on the other bodies but 1EV out on the 5D. Come off that center AF point and it's worse for you because it's the only cross-type sensor the 5Ds have. There might be some portrait/landscape orientation issues too given the non-cross AF sensors.
"Unlike shooting airshows, reliable AF is important during portions of most wedding ceremonies, so poor venues which produce unreliable AF are important to that segment of the photography world."
I don't know a SINGLE air photographer that would agree with you. That reliable AF is an unnecessary ingredient to shoot an air show. On the flip side, I WOULD agree that reliable AF performance is definitely important in dark venues.
My point is that shooting an airshow, you don't have to get a specific shot list- you can miss lots of shots and you can shoot as many frames as you like without interrupting the show and still come away with a successful shoot. The same isn't true of most weddings- miss one roll with the Angels or Thunderbirds and there'll be another one soon- miss the bride coming down the aisle with dad and it's a different ballgame, shoot 100 shots of the bride coming down the aisle and interfere with the ceremony...
This is BS...If you're talking about the 5d2. There is NO camera in the world that is going to give you ZERO misses if you can't hit with the 5d2. Period.
Awesome-
show me consistent AF hits from a 5D in -1EV of light outside the center AF sensor. My D3x has 15 cross sensors and is spec'd down to -1EV- I'm betting I can get a 100% hit rate in those conditions with a person walking towards me at bride speed on any of those 14 non-central sensors- Canon doesn't spec the 5DII to those conditions, so I'm betting you won't get similar results while many other "cameras in the world" are still in-spec and have more than one cross sensor (such as the 1DIII, D700, D3s, 1DIV.) I'm also betting at -2EV the difference in hit rates would be astoundingly different, and not in the 5DII's favor.
Paul
