The amazing AF of the Canon 5D MIII at surfing

I continue to be impressed by the amazingly fast and accurate AF of the Canon 5D MIII at surfing, even with an ancient Mark II 1.4x TC on the equally old 500 f4 IS.

The full frame sensor provides a wide canvas around the subject, and this allows framing and compositional flexibility in post, while still leaving enough pixels for big prints after cropping. The larger field of view likewise makes initial subject acquisition much easier.

 

 



Shooting Info - San Juan, La Union, February 22, 2014, 5D MIII + 500 F4 L IS + 1.4X TC II, 700 mm, f/7.1, ISO 320, 1/1600 sec, 475B/516 support, manual exposure in available light, near full frame.  

 

Shooting Info - San Juan, La Union, February 22, 2014, 5D MIII + 500 F4 L IS + 1.4X TC II, 700 mm, f/7.1, ISO 320, 1/1600 sec, 475B/516 support, manual exposure in available light, near full frame.  

 



Shooting Info - San Juan, La Union, February 22, 2014, 5D MIII + 500 F4 L IS + 1.4X TC II, 700 mm, f/7.1, ISO 320, 1/1600 sec, 475B/516 support, manual exposure in available light, major crop.  

 



Shooting Info - San Juan, La Union, February 22, 2014, 5D MIII + 500 F4 L IS + 1.4X TC II, 700 mm, f/7.1, ISO 320, 1/1600 sec, 475B/516 support, manual exposure in available light, major crop.  

 



Shooting Info - San Juan, La Union, February 22, 2014, 5D MIII + 500 F4 L IS + 1.4X TC II, 700 mm, f/7.1, ISO 640, 1/2500 sec, 475B/516 support, manual exposure in available light, near full frame.  
 







Shooting Info - San Juan, La Union, February 22, 2014, 5D MIII + 500 F4 L IS + 1.4X TC II, 700 mm, f/7.1, ISO 320, 1/1600 sec, 475B/516 support, manual exposure in available light, near full frame.

 

 

San Juan Beach on January 18 and 19, 2014

The waves were rough and virtually unrideable, but a few brave surfers and the captivating San Juan Beach scene in sweet light provided relief to my itchy shutter finger.

 

 

Shooting info - San Juan beach, La Union, January 18, 2014, 1D MIV + 500 f4 IS + 1.4x TC II, 700 mm, ISO 1250, 1/1600 sec, f/7.1, manual exposure in available light, 475B/516 support, near full frame.

 

Shooting info - San Juan beach, La Union, January 18, 2014, 1D MIV + 500 f4 IS + 1.4x TC II, 700 mm, ISO 640, 1/125 sec, f/7.1, manual exposure in available light, 475B/516 support, uncropped full frame.

 

Shooting info - San Juan beach, La Union, January 18, 2014, 1D MIV + 500 f4 IS + 1.4x TC II, 700 mm, ISO 400, 1/1600 sec, f/7.1, manual exposure in available light, 475B/516 support, near full frame.

 

Shooting info - San Juan beach, La Union, January 18, 2014, 1D MIV + 500 f4 IS + 1.4x TC II, 700 mm, ISO 320, 1/160 sec, f/7.1, manual exposure in available light, 475B/516 support, uncropped full frame.

Shooting info - San Juan beach, La Union, January 19, 2014, 1D MIV + 500 f4 IS + 1.4x TC II, 700 mm, ISO 320, 1/1250 sec, f/9, manual exposure in available light, 475B/516 support, near full frame

Shooting info - San Juan beach, La Union, January 19, 2014, 1D MIV + 500 f4 IS + 1.4x TC II, 700 mm, ISO 2500, 1/1600 sec, f/6.3, manual exposure in available light, 475B/516 support, near full frame



 

More surfing shots with the 5D MIII

Light was golden this Sunday afternoon (October 20th), so I drove over to nearby San Juan beach to play anew with the 5D MIII's AF at surfers.

 

 

Shooting Info - San Juan, La Union, October 20, 2013, 5D MIII + 500 F4 L IS + 1.4X TC II, 700 mm, f/7.1, ISO 640, 1/1600 sec, 475B/516 support, manual exposure.

 

Shooting Info - San Juan, La Union, October 20, 2013, 5D MIII + 500 F4 L IS + 1.4X TC II, 700 mm, f/7.1, ISO 640, 1/2000 sec, 475B/516 support, manual exposure

 

Shooting Info - San Juan, La Union, October 20, 2013, 5D MIII + 500 F4 L IS + 1.4X TC II, 700 mm, f/6.3, ISO 2500, 1/1600 sec, 475B/516 support, manual exposure.

 

Shooting Info - San Juan, La Union, October 20, 2013, 5D MIII + 500 F4 L IS + 1.4X TC II, 700 mm, f/6.3, ISO 1250, 1/2000 sec, 475B/516 support, manual exposure.

 

Shooting Info - San Juan, La Union, October 20, 2013, 5D MIII + 500 F4 L IS + 1.4X TC II, 700 mm, f/7.1, ISO 1250, 1/1600 sec, 475B/516 support, manual exposure.



Shooting Info - San Juan, La Union, October 20, 2013, 5D MIII + 500 F4 L IS + 1.4X TC II, 700 mm, f/7.1, ISO 640, 1/2000 sec, 475B/516 support, manual exposure.



 

Trying the 5D Mark III at Surfing

After over a month of hibernation in my camera bag (due to my busy schedule), my new camera finally flexed its AF muscle at action - surfing at nearby San Juan beach.

The skies were overcast, and this muted the colors, but I quickly found out that the much acclaimed AF performance of this full frame body deserves its reputation.

Sometimes, I do miss the faster fps and narrower FOV of my 1D4 and 7D, but the 5D3's 6 fps is certainly adequate to catch the peak moments. The numerous AF points allowed framing flexibility via off-center points in AI servo.

 

Shooting Info - San Juan, La Union, August 25, 2013, 5DM3 + 500 F4 l is + 1.4X TC II, 700 mm, f/6.3, ISO 640, 1/1600 sec, 475B/516 support, manual exposure, near full frame.

 

Shooting Info - San Juan, La Union, August 25, 2013, 5DM3 + 500 F4 l is + 1.4X TC II, 700 mm, f/6.3, ISO 640, 1/1600 sec, 475B/516 support, manual exposure, near full frame.

 

Shooting Info - San Juan, La Union, August 25, 2013, 5DM3 + 500 F4 l is + 1.4X TC II, 700 mm, f/7.1, ISO 640, 1/1600 sec, 475B/516 support, manual exposure, major crop.

Shooting Info - San Juan, La Union, August 25, 2013, 5DM3 + 500 F4 l is + 1.4X TC II, 700 mm, f/6.3, ISO 640, 1/1600 sec, 475B/516 support, manual exposure, major crop.

Shooting Info - San Juan, La Union, August 25, 2013, 5DM3 + 500 F4 l is + 1.4X TC II, 700 mm, f/7.1, ISO 1250, 1/1600 sec, 475B/516 support, manual exposure, major crop.

 

More slow shutter surfing shots

Light was golden at sunset this April 11th, and my long lens just happened to be in the car as I passed near the San Juan surfing area. What's a better way to beat the summer heat than shooting surfers at sundown, while enjoying the breeze?

 

Again, I experimented with slow shutter shots, trying to inject a sense of motion into the still images of wave-riders.

 

 

Shooting info - San Juan, La Union, Philippines, April 11, 2013, Canon 1D MIV + 500 f4 IS + 1.4x TC II, 700 mm, f/9, ISO 100, 1/15 sec, 475B/516 support, uncropped full frame resized to 1280x853.

Shooting info - San Juan, La Union, Philippines, April 11, 2013, Canon 1D MIV + 500 f4 IS + 1.4x TC II, 700 mm, f/8, ISO 50, 1/20 sec, 475B/516 support, near full frame resized to 1280x853.

Shooting info - San Juan, La Union, Philippines, April 11, 2013, Canon 1D MIV + 500 f4 IS + 1.4x TC II, 700 mm, f/8, ISO 100, 1/10 sec, 475B/516 support, near full frame resized to 1280x853.

Shooting info - San Juan, La Union, Philippines, April 11, 2013, Canon 1D MIV + 500 f4 IS + 1.4x TC II, 700 mm, f/8, ISO 100, 1/10 sec, 475B/516 support, near full frame resized to 1280x853.

Shooting info - San Juan, La Union, Philippines, April 11, 2013, Canon 1D MIV + 500 f4 IS + 1.4x TC II, 700 mm, f/7.1,  ISO 200, 1/5 sec, 475B/516 support, near full frame resized to 1280x720.