Today I want to share a trick with you that I’ve been using the increase my keeper count when taking photos of my quick moving son!
When you’re shooting moving subjects it’s sometimes useful to switch your camera to a different autofocus mode. On Canon cameras you can switch to the AI Servo focusing mode.
With the regular focusing mode (one shot) the camera will lock focus when you press the shutter release half way down, press the release all the way down and the camera takes the photo. This mode works really well when your subjects aren’t moving.
With AI Servo the camera continues focusing right up until the shutter release is pressed all the way down. This mode is really useful for shooting moving subjects (especially when the subject is moving toward or away from you).
In the video above I show you how you can quickly switch between the regular one shot focusing mode, and the AI servo focusing mode by reprogramming the depth of field preview button using Canon’s custom function menu.
I know this trick works for newer Canon cameras (6D, 70D, 5D mk III) – but I’m not sure about Nikon cameras. Let me know in the comments if you’ve tried doing this with a Nikon camera.