Best Z9 AF Settings for Photographing the Marine Corps Sunset Parade at the Iwo Jima Memorial

[GLS]

Hi, All,

In a couple of weeks, I will be photographing the Marine Corps Sunset Parade at the Iwo Jima Memorial. Does anyone have suggestions on what would be the best Z9 autofocus settings for such an event? I'm told that my Z 70-200mm lens should be sufficient even without my 1.4 T/C, but in addition to the Z9, I may rent the Z 100-400mm. Thanks to one and all for any tips.

 

[DRwyoming]

Hi, All,

In a couple of weeks, I will be photographing the Marine Corps Sunset Parade at the Iwo Jima Memorial. Does anyone have suggestions on what would be the best Z9 autofocus settings for such an event? I'm told that my Z 70-200mm lens should be sufficient even without my 1.4 T/C, but in addition to the Z9, I may rent the Z 100-400mm. Thanks to one and all for any tips.

It really depends on what kind of images you hope to capture which might span a wide range during the event.

For instance if you're shooting a wide scene with a sizable crowd of people I'd personally avoid a wide AF area mode with subject detection like 3D or Auto or even Wide-Large as I'd prefer to decide the center of focus in those situations and not have the camera grab the closest or a well defined set of eyes as its center of focus. But if you're isolating individual subjects like individual people then automated focus modes and subject/eye detection can be very handy.

Similarly if it's more of a group in the landscape sort of shot I might stop down for additional depth of field and shoot a wider angle lens but again if you're isolating individual people or vehicles I might shoot wide open or closer to it to help throw the backgrounds out of focus and make the main subject pop.

So what sort of shots are you hoping to capture or a little bit of everything. If you have a couple of weeks then maybe you shoot around the house and around town during any free time and try to visualize the sorts of shots you hope to capture during the event and figure out settings before the big day.

 

[DRM]

My go to AF settings for shooting pics of people moving about is AF-C of course. Enable people subject detection. Then put a wide small box on the individual, either chest or face, and half press the shutter release button to acquire focus. Once focus locks on I hand off to 3D with the AF-ON button and reframe the photo as desired. If the 3D box drops off or moves to a different person that cut in front of my subject, I just start over with the wide small box on the subject and then hand off to 3D for reframing purposes. It goes fast.

The nice thing about wide small is that the box size seems small enough to single out a desired individual within a crowd, but is large enough that when you place it somewhere in that chest to face area subject detection recognizes it’s a person and then grabs the eyes, allowing you to then handoff to 3D. I’ve shot the same venue multiple times using different AF modes and wide small handed off to 3D was the best for me.

If I didn’t like the hand off method, then I’d just use 3D on the AF-ON button with people subject detection enabled. That works, too. But I think grabbing focus first in wide small works better on people than using 3D alone.

I also have the movie record button programmed to cycle through AF modes, so if I needed single point for some reason, it would be quick enough to get to.

 

[GLS]

DRwyoming and DRM, thank you both so much for these very very helpful responses! I greatly appreciate drawing on your respective experiences.

 

[John Woodworth]

If I absolutely, positively need to get the shot(s), I will visit the venue beforehand at the same time of day as the assigned event. That way I can assess lighting, take test images and assess possible positions and lenses.

Find out as much as you can about the ceremony. Perhaps there are videos of previous ones.

Do you have privileged access? Talk to the manager of the event.

 

[MatthewK]

Way back in the early 2000’s, I was stationed at Marine Barracks 8th & I, and so have marched in a good number of Sunset Parades

Seating around the parade deck is excellent, but the crowd can get large, so try to get there early enough to get seats next to the rope at the edge (you’ll be sitting on the grass, bring a blanket or folding chair).

As for AF settings… there’ll be a lot of faces, so you probably will disable Face/Eye detect or create a small custom box to limit its detection area. But, single point AF should be sufficient since most of the time the Marines will be stationary unless marching on/off, during pass&review, or during the Silent Drill Platoon’s drill sequence.

For lenses, a 24-70 and 70-200 are perfect.

Have fun, it’s a wonderful experience!