Cherihorn Loc: Toledo

Canon 5D Mark III

Third+ time through the owners manual and field guide and still so much to learn (even though I've used Canons my whole (long) adult life.)

I am obsessed with warblers but there are times owls or eagles start swooping nearby. I see in the manual that Autofocus menu option case 5 is recommended for BIF.

I was wondering if any of you use this option. Or something else.
Or perhaps I should just set up a custom option (more reading the manual :)

Not that it may matter but I am shooting with a 70-200 mm Canon 1:2.8 L IS II with a Canon EF 2X III extender (until someone gifts me with something better! Mother's Day is coming and I have enough hanging baskets ;)

bluezzzzz Loc: Stamping Ground, KY

Well, Cherihorn, until Steve Perry comes away from the dark side and writes a book about the Canon autofocus system I guess we are on our own.

I've been round and round with this and several years ago found this guy who had set up his 5D in a way that made sense to me, so I did the same:

https://www.grantatkinson.com/blog/making-the-most-of-canons-new-autofocus-5dmk3-and-1dx

Since 5X5X3=75 possible ways to set the three autofocus parameters it's not surprising that Canon tried to simplify things into 6 "Cases."

We had a very good bird photographer come and give a presentation and talk to our local camera club and she was asked in the Q&A about which case she used. She was confused, too, and admitted that she just left her 5D on Case 1 all the time.

So, hope you can get something out of that link. Me, I've been all over the place, and seem to end up back on Case 1. Wish I was sophisticated enough to appreciate the nuances available. lol!


Marshall

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

I use the same lens combination on my Canon 1Dx2 but I don’t think I have used Case 5. It is interesting that I have read that they did away with 2 Cases on the 1Dx3. You might check out some Arthur Morris birding videos on YouTube as he shot Canon for a long time. Also this may be addressed some in reviews such as those on The Digital Picture.com. Hope you find some good information...

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I'm a Case 3 guy. When I purchased an EOS 5DIII in 2013, some online research convinced me that Case 3 was the best choice for my subject interests and general shooting. I don't remember the source of that advice nor the specifics of the reasons. I have tracking sensitivity moved 1 click to the right above the 0-default and AF pt auto switching set to 0 as custom tuning.

jimvanells Loc: Augusta, GA

Arthur Morris has a youtube video on what he used on his Canon 5D4. He goes through the entire settings menu and this maybe helpful. He now shoots with the Nikon D850 but the video is still around. Put Arthur Morris in the serch box and you will see his videos.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

He also has a video or two in using Extenders which are interesting...

MikeT9

Not sure why anybody shooting BIF would opt for Case 3. This is set up to instantly lock on to anything that enters the AF point. On my 1DXII I always use Case 2 as this is designed to lock on to a subject and not easily be distracted by, for example other birds. It’s been a while since I has a 5Diii and so I can’t remember whether you can tweak the settings within the particular case you are using. I adjust the three individual settings within Case 2 to give me the best chance of retaining focus, something I can do on my 5Div as well.
I do a bit of Whippet racing photography and will use Case 3 so that I can quickly change the focus point from one dog to another during the race but if I want to stick with a particular dog I will use Case 2. Hope this helps.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Also related to your Case setting is your configuration of 1st and 2nd image priority, such as this step by step discussion and recommendation / demonstration of Case 3:

https://www.p4pictures.com/2017/11/eos-7d-af-settings-birds-in-flight/

The Canon PDF attachment doesn't have recommendations, but does provide more explanation than the EOS manual, applicable to all advanced EOS models based on the 6 AF cases released initially with the EOS 1DX.

Attached file:
(Download)