Canon 1D MKIII vs. Nikon D3 Sports Autofocus Showdown Concerns

[Richard_Coyle]

Cliff
That makes more sense to use focus priority, since you have time to lead the action into your desired shot perspective. While some of the time the sports I'm shooting has the ingredients to use that method, most of it is random movement that is less predictable, and I need to make sure the shot is taken at the moment of opportunity.

Thanks for the feedback, and I'll revisit your method of the Focus Lock-Off in some situations to see if it gives me benefits there.

[Bruce_Stenman]

I am not surprised by Drew's results as they mirror my own with the D3 and the Mark III that preceded it. I used a test subject walking quickly toward the camera starting at a distance of 30 feet. I used S and C settings and every possible focus area setting. When I checked the images out on my monitor not one was in sharp focus and about 90% were OOF completely.

This was shot in a hotel with strong back lighting - similar to what I often encounter in a church. I had used the Mark III and the D2x in the same test environment and same hotel lobby with no problems in AF. The Mark III was at least twice as fast as the D2x to lock focus thanks to its greater number of cross type sensors and their greater sensitivity in low light (which may account for some of the problems with AF when shooting in bright sunlight).

I have learned to adjust my shooting style to the D3's AF system and can get a 95% in focus rate most of the time, especially when using the AF assist from the SB800 in low light situations. It would be nice to shoot something that presented a large target with angular surface edges like a motor car. I could get much more than 95% in-focus shoots with my D2x and the 200-400mm lens with no difficulty during daylight hours.

The Mark III in the mid to wide angle ranges outperforms my D3 in every kind of lighting but is dramatically faster and more accurate in very low light venues where I am shooting at ISO 3200, 1/60, and f2. I was actually extremely disappointed with the D3 AF overall. I have learned to live with it but would happily replace the D3's with a FF Mark IV should such a camera come into existence.


Unless the D3 is in continuous mode the camera's ability to focus is slowed greatly as it refocuses with every shot on a moving target instead of continuously tracking the subject and adjusting the focus continuously.

[Terry Zorich]

I've had my Canon 1D Mark III since last fall.
I bought my Nikon D3 in May.
I took my 1DM3 to Canon to have the sub-mirror fix done immediately after purchasing the D3, and my intent has always been to keep my Canon gear.

After using the Nikon for a couple months, I am happy with the image quality. I am getting used to the controls and the menu system and all the physical switches and such.

What I am very disappointed in is the Nikon's autofocus performance, particularly in low light. It is simply unable to achieve focus in many situations when the Canon works well...in a dimly-lit reception hall or in a nightclub, for example.

I have never had any serious thoughts about using the D3 for action photography. (Why would I want to do that when I own a 1DM3 which is better for that purpose?) But even in non-action applications, I find I'm disappointed in the Nikon's inability to focus in certain situations.

[Robert Lunak]

what the...??

quote from drew:

"Is he comparing Canon against Nikon? No. Because, if he did he would find that the current Canon AF system still outperforms the best Nikon has to offer."

never ever! how can that be stated like that? how unfair can a test be if a tool that is proposed to do many jobs and has to be adjusted in a certain way to perform best in this jobs can be compared to another tool thats maybe better in its inital state but can´t hold up the performance even after many firmware upgrades? nope, thats not fair!

i can´t understand how anybody can write something like this not mentioning that the test is NOT done on the level of best adjustments and state something like that?

i will try a canon 1d mkIII as soon as i get my hands on it with a 70-200 2.8 is against my fully adjusted D3 with my 70-200 to get my point of view! if i am wrong and the canon af is supirior, well, my fault, i will take that :-)

i am quite disapointed coz somehow i slowly take that personally!

i would love to see a test where the D3 is adjusted to its best sports adjustments....

robb

[Martin_Doudoroff]

Well, if nothing else, hopefully this whole sturm und drang has inspired Nikon and Canon engineers to beaver away on significantly advancing autofocus for future models. As a curious but utterly disinterested onlooker, I've had trouble taking the amateur "studies" of the autofocus performance of these cameras seriously: they just don't seem rigorous enough to draw the conclusions they fling about. The one thing they make clear is that in practice, it's easy to produce lots of out-of-focus shots across a series of similar images, meaning there's significant room for improvement across the board.

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