Could use some advice . I will be shooting tennis at the US Open next week (unless I am lost in Hurricane Irene on the way to NYC). I have updated all the firmware and would like to set some custom functions that work for tennis and people shots at the Open.
I generally like to use the Ae/Al button for AF and have the lens set for manual focus . This provides more of an AF assist to manual focusing . But two situations always come up in shooting tennis. 1. I need a quick way to set an exposure correction because the sky comes into play on the wide angle shots . 2. I would like to be able to shoot some situations with focus tracking ..like on my Nikon D3s. (nothing works like the D3S but I am looking for S2 images ).
Tennis is actually pretty easy because you can anticipate the peak action and learn to time the ball . But in shooting a series it would be nice to lock the focus on the player and follow them across the baseline.
I know some situations will be beyond the S2 s AF capabilities but a lot of the typical things are not .
Any ideas would be helpful and don t have to be tennis or sport specific.
Roger,
I would set up the custom functions with the settings that you want to use, exposure compensation, drive and AE/AF lock for your normal lens and wide. Ten set up one of the four buttons to access the custom functions when you change lenses. Save those to a card so that when you finish at the end of the day can be reset to the normal settings that you use. I typically set up one for custom functions, ISO, exposure compensation and playback. I use the AE/AF lock button to focus but with action, you may want to revert to continuous focus and the AE/AF to lock exposure and focus.Good luck and don’t get blown away!
-AlRoger,
In the current firmware, you can set the rear button to either AF-C or AF-S in MF mode. By default, a half-press and hold on the shutter release will act as an AE-L.
If you’re used to using the rear button for focus, you may not want to confuse things by setting it to the shutter release. Muscle memory is a powerful force especially when you’re under pressure and trying to shoot quickly.
I agree with Al. Save a few user profiles to a small SD card which you leave in the camera all the time. If the shooting scenario changes, just load the profile for the situation and go. Very quick and easy.
David Farkas
Red Dot Forum
Leica Store MiamiThanks for the ideas.
I am waiting to see if NYC is still functioning before I leave for the Open.
Roger, you should consider using manual mode. I have been trying out a third party lens which requires manual mode and, as a result, I have become very comfortable with manual mode. The S2 shutter speed and aperture controls are perfectly placed with a tactile feel that inspires confidence. Also, the controls are such that it is easy to make exposure adjustments without removing your eye from the viewfinder. In relatively stable lighting conditions I believe it is faster and easier to make minor exposure adjustments using manual mode than it is to fiddle with exposure compensation in auto exposure mode.
For shooting tennis, I think manual mode would work great unless you have partly cloudy skies where the exposure is changing rapidly due to changing cloudy / sunny conditions.
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