Ai servo or Ai focus for swim meet

[TonyUSA]

Hello,
Been using Ai servo such as butterfly stroke. Never try Ai focus. Which would be better for this type of photo?

What I did on Ai servo is that press and hold back-buttom AF and follow the swimmer and then press shutter when ready to shoot, mostly I shoot with continuous mode.

From my understanding that Ai focus, I can just press back-button AF once and let go then just keep follow the swimmer and the sensor will keep tracking that swimmer automatically then I can just keep shooting.

Thank you,

 

[zombiesniper]

From my understanding that Ai focus, I can just press back-button AF once and let go then just keep follow the swimmer and the sensor will keep tracking that swimmer automatically then I can just keep shooting.

Not quite. You still need to keep the focus button (front or back) depressed for it to work. AI Focus starts focusing like One Shot until it detects movement then it acts like AI Servo.....at least thats what Canon says. All it ever did for me was drop the keeper rate WAY down.

In short. Use AI Servo.

 

[weepete]

Servo.

 

[Derrel]

Do not buy into the idea that back-button focus is what a person necessarily wants for ACTION photography in a sport like swimming. So,so many people will tell you, excitedly, about "back button focusing!", as if they just found out about it. In many cases, these folks actually HAVE "just found out about it". BBF is in fact, not a panacea. And in a sport like swimming, where there are no fixed positions except the start and the end of the pool and the finish, BBF does not make anywhere near the sense that it makes in, say baseball or softball, where there are loads of plays,all game long, that happen at pre-determined, fixed spots, according to rules that are well-understood by players, coaches, and photographers.

Back button focusing is NOT what I would ever use for swimming. Put the focusing on the trigger, and keep it there, and use Servo with a Canon, Continuous with a Nikon.

 

[TonyUSA]

Thank you everyone for educated me. Will continue using Ai servo then.

 

[TonyUSA]

Do not buy into the idea that back-button focus is what a person necessarily wants for ACTION photography in a sport like swimming. So,so many people will tell you, excitedly, about "back button focusing!", as if they just found out about it. In many cases, these folks actually HAVE "just found out about it". BBF is in fact, not a panacea. And in a sport like swimming, where there are no fixed positions except the start and the end of the pool and the finish, BBF does not make anywhere near the sense that it makes in, say baseball or softball, where there are loads of plays,all game long, that happen at pre-determined, fixed spots, according to rules that are well-understood by players, coaches, and photographers.

Back button focusing is NOT what I would ever use for swimming. Put the focusing on the trigger, and keep it there, and use Servo with a Canon, Continuous with a Nikon.

Thank you. Wow! Been using BBF for a year now and really get used to it. I will move it back to shutter button then and will try it out next meet.