Tim Dolan (Longwatcher)
Member
So I was out shooting a swimsuit model yesterday (for fun - not profit) and had something happen that I have never seen happen before with my 1DsMkII. I am presuming my fat fingers had something to do with the problem, but haven't had this problem before. Closest thing I could find in manual was maybe related to AF point selection, but not quite a match. Had camera since Nov 2004, so I would think I would have had it show up before now if it was just me, but it could be just I was off normal yesterday.
Please take into account I usually shoot in the studio usually off a tripod hooked up to studio lights, but I do some outdoor stuff every once in awhile, although usually airplanes and flowers.
I have been trying to get just a swimsuit model to pose for me for about 6 months and a good outdoors location shoot for almost a year with lots of Murphy strikes. So even though overcast and rain threatened I was going to take some pictures...
{trivia note: This will seem strange to some, but I have no problem getting n___ (unclothed) fetish models, but getting just a good swimsuit model is like pulling teeth}
The Problem:
I was using an off-center focus point (farthest out), but every once in awhile it would jump to another focus point at least in the viewfinder. Usually the center point (which makes me think I was hitting a button), but not always. Sometimes it would sit at the point for awhile, but sometimes it would be a quick ghost image before returning to the selected point. It seemed to focus at the desired point versus the shown point at least from what I could see through view finder. It may have been a case of just staying on the good focus point though. I had to do a lot of focus and shift because the AF points don't go out far enough.
The problem did almost always (or maybe always) occur in Vertical (portrait) orientation. I sometime shot vert with horz grip if a quick shot, but switched to vert grip when shooting a sequence - problem occurred in both grip positions.
It never jumped away from center focus point if I had selected that one.
A secondary symptom (probably unrelated, but just in case) is a lot of the exposures were off and I usually don't have that high of a percentage off in Av mode. Most were over exposed, but a small number were under exposed. I was paying attention to exposure compensation as I have accidently shifted it in the past, but did not see any shift this time except when doing deliberately near end of shoot to cpensate for backlight sunset.
I think it was my fingers, maybe, but if it was I can not figure out how to avoid in the future. Looked through manual and did not see where to turn off specific buttons. I need the focus point select and the shutter in both vertical and horizontal modes. And the fact it only seemed to happen in Vert mode has me a touch worried.
Any suggestions as to what I was doing wrong and more importantly how to prevent from happening in future? I will of course be trying to figure it out on my own, but directions to look would help.
Trivia:
- I was outdoors in mostly overcast skies.
- Camera in Av mode, but sometimes Manual (hard to use in constantly changing lighting conditions, but I tried a couple of times any way)
- Lenses used 85/1.2, 28-70/2.8L and 70-200/2.8L
- Problem not observed as much with 70-200, more often with 85 and only slightly less with 28-70. I suspect more use of horizontal orientation with 70-200 and more vertical with 85 and 28-70 as reason.
- Started with 550EX flash mounted, but the idiot who owns the camera forgot to bring the spare batteries sitting on the shelf to be grabbed going out the door. Took flash off after batteries failed. 4 packs of freshly charged batteries and then I went and left them at home.
-- On the good side I got a few good shots (at least from initial review late last night) and the model (and I) had fun, which is most important. The camera issue is puzzleing though.
Please take into account I usually shoot in the studio usually off a tripod hooked up to studio lights, but I do some outdoor stuff every once in awhile, although usually airplanes and flowers.
I have been trying to get just a swimsuit model to pose for me for about 6 months and a good outdoors location shoot for almost a year with lots of Murphy strikes. So even though overcast and rain threatened I was going to take some pictures...
{trivia note: This will seem strange to some, but I have no problem getting n___ (unclothed) fetish models, but getting just a good swimsuit model is like pulling teeth}
The Problem:
I was using an off-center focus point (farthest out), but every once in awhile it would jump to another focus point at least in the viewfinder. Usually the center point (which makes me think I was hitting a button), but not always. Sometimes it would sit at the point for awhile, but sometimes it would be a quick ghost image before returning to the selected point. It seemed to focus at the desired point versus the shown point at least from what I could see through view finder. It may have been a case of just staying on the good focus point though. I had to do a lot of focus and shift because the AF points don't go out far enough.
The problem did almost always (or maybe always) occur in Vertical (portrait) orientation. I sometime shot vert with horz grip if a quick shot, but switched to vert grip when shooting a sequence - problem occurred in both grip positions.
It never jumped away from center focus point if I had selected that one.
A secondary symptom (probably unrelated, but just in case) is a lot of the exposures were off and I usually don't have that high of a percentage off in Av mode. Most were over exposed, but a small number were under exposed. I was paying attention to exposure compensation as I have accidently shifted it in the past, but did not see any shift this time except when doing deliberately near end of shoot to cpensate for backlight sunset.
I think it was my fingers, maybe, but if it was I can not figure out how to avoid in the future. Looked through manual and did not see where to turn off specific buttons. I need the focus point select and the shutter in both vertical and horizontal modes. And the fact it only seemed to happen in Vert mode has me a touch worried.
Any suggestions as to what I was doing wrong and more importantly how to prevent from happening in future? I will of course be trying to figure it out on my own, but directions to look would help.
Trivia:
- I was outdoors in mostly overcast skies.
- Camera in Av mode, but sometimes Manual (hard to use in constantly changing lighting conditions, but I tried a couple of times any way)
- Lenses used 85/1.2, 28-70/2.8L and 70-200/2.8L
- Problem not observed as much with 70-200, more often with 85 and only slightly less with 28-70. I suspect more use of horizontal orientation with 70-200 and more vertical with 85 and 28-70 as reason.
- Started with 550EX flash mounted, but the idiot who owns the camera forgot to bring the spare batteries sitting on the shelf to be grabbed going out the door. Took flash off after batteries failed. 4 packs of freshly charged batteries and then I went and left them at home.
-- On the good side I got a few good shots (at least from initial review late last night) and the model (and I) had fun, which is most important. The camera issue is puzzleing though.
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