Re: the Canon Noctilux...

The EOS 1D family gives you a huge choice in AF sensors with the 45 arranged in a centered elliptical pattern. It's fast enough to allow takeoff shots like this: 
http://tinyurl.com/yze2dk

Nikon's older AF in the N90 worked fast enough for this:
http://tinyurl.com/yc6x2f
Downhiller Miles Rockwell was cranking toward me at the time, at maybe 20MPH or a little more. Granted, it's not perfectly composed, but AF was quick enough to render him sharply with a 200mm at f/2.8.
It comes down to what you're familiar with, and what lets you get the shot you want. I've gotten used to the EOS 1D mark II's sensor placements, and I usually go close enough with the 20D that its more limited placements don't bother me too much. I do prefer the 1D with the compositional flexibility it gives me - that's why the 20D is my backup camera.
Not taking the shot is usually a compositional decision. If I don't get the placement I want because I know I'm not going to be there in time, I don't shoot it. I'll shoot anyway if I like where things are, and most of the time, the camera's AF comes through. I've usually pre-selected an AF sensor where I pre-visualized the subject to be. It requires a little more premeditation, that's all.
Sometimes I get something better than I visualized. This was supposed to be a vertical portrait: 
http://tinyurl.com/4fjk3
AF probably influences my composition a bit, but I don't know that I'd do better with manual focus. The 400mm f/6.8 Telyt is a challenge to focus for flight shots on the 20D, even with a split / microprism screen. It's at least partly my eyesight making it challenging. 



At 08:26 PM 12/19/2006, you wrote:

On Dec 19, 2006, at 8:16 PM, Mark Bohrer wrote:
If the eye's moving too fast to track by sensor or my own panning motion, I look for something in the same focus plane or don't take the shot. With patience, I can get images of people when they're relatively stationary at events and celebrations, and wildlife in the field.
this is precisely why I shun AF. I don't want to wait until they're relatively stationary, with a shallow DOF there isn't something else in the precise plane of focus and I do want to take the shot (and not always with the camera designer's compositional rules). 

Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com


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