X-T2 best settings for conference shoot?

[HarrisDPI]

Hi there, I am shooting a conference this weekend and could use some advice regarding best settings for the X-T2, specifically regarding settings for auto focus.

 

The conference will be badly lit (of course!) and no flash is allowed so am going to be shooting wide open mainly using f1.2 or f1.4.

 

In single shot, single point focus this wouldn't be too much of a problem but in burst mode I tend to find the first image is perfectly focused and the next ones in the series are slightly off due to movement from the speaker (and I would like to make use of the 11 frames per second).

 

My feeling would be to set the camera to continuous, and have a relatively small square area of coverage, but am not sure what the best settings would be to use in the new auto focus settings setup menu?

 

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

Many thanks,

 

Jason.

[Tom H.]

c-af, medium square, set focus priority in the menu to "focus", not "release". Use the normal shutter, not electronic one.

 

Set the shutter speed at 1/100 or 1/125 and iso to ramp up in auto to 6400 at least. For conference shots, higher iso should not be that bad. Should your subject be static enough, you can consider dropping shutter speed one stop to gain a stop in iso.

 

Small square will make it difficult to focus quickly enough. As long as you have some distance from the subject, medium should be good enough.

 

5 fps burst should be good enough too. Rather shoot short bursts than one long one.

 

As for the autofocus modes, I think the one that says "ignore stuff appearing and stick to the subject", don't remember which one that was.

[deva]

I shoot a fair number of conferences, hearings, etc. I never use flash as I'm usually too far away so always whatever 'ambient' light there is. Can be a mix of various artificial light sources, some daylight coming in through windows etc.

 

First thing I do is 3 custom WB settings using a grey card or piece of white paper. I take the 3 readings in the 3 places most likely to be shooting. There could be a main stage, and some secondary panel locations and so on. Depends on the event. 

 

I shoot generally 3200 which is usually enough for 2.8 and an acceptable shutter speed. 

 

I always use single shoot, not burst mode. If someone is giving say a ten minute presentation that is plenty of time to get some quality images. Watching their movements, cadence etc, I time the desired shots and feel there are more excellent images this way than just holding the shutter. Plus it feels more fun and challenging for me.