> I looked at the pics -- great action, and on
> top of that, they seem quite
> focussed.
Thank God for manual focus!
> What did you exactly mean by
> "it failed just about everytime"?
Hmmm... good question. Well, for one, subjects were moving too fast for me
to focus on them on AF mode. The thing would hunt like mad, even as I
tracked the subject and stayed (pretty much) the same distance away [e.g.,
when the subject was moving from my left-to-right or vice versa, and not
away or towards me]. As a result, I missed plenty of shots since the
shutter wouldn't snap unless there was AF confirmation [does that sound
about right?]... and even when it would... why would I want it to?
In general though, when using my ZX-5n instead, AF in dimly lit places is
all but impossible. The thing will hunt like a caveman. I'm convinced
(from heresy, nonetheless) that AF in such conditions has been
significantly improved with the more recent cameras, but I guess I still
don't know about action, etc. I don't know a whole lot about predictive
focus (then again, is there much to know?)... but have read that both of
my cameras should be equiped with this feature... On Saturday, however,
the only thing that I was able to predict was that the camera would not
acheive AF lock by itself unless the dog was at a complete stand-still.
As for the shots... I'm glad you enjoyed them. I quickly learned to
anticipate the action and focus on a particular spot (or at least close to
it). It helped tremendously that, as far as focus rings go, the 300mm lens
I was using is hands down the most well-dampened lens that I've personally
used [not a long list]. MF was so smoooooooooooth I tell ya, I finally
just said WHO NEEDS AF ANYWAY?! ... but it still would've been nice.
OKAY OKAY... so maybe it wasn't "atrocious" as I mentioned... but I sure
was dissatisfied. How's that? So... back to my original question...
- jerome
