Canon EOS 70D Sample Pictures

This quarter horse is doing what most horses prefer to be doing with all of their time. Grazing.
 
An almost-set sun gave me a warm light and the wide angle focal length combined with a near-ground-level perspective delivered a unique image of this horse. Grazing horses typically swing their heads back and forth constantly as they mow off the grass. Being in the right place to capture the head in a desirable position was the biggest challenge in capturing this photograph.

The Canon EOS 70D delivered very impressive AI Servo performance in my 800+ image session with the cantering and galloping quarter horse. Even in the light rain.
 
The four hooves in the air illustrate the speed this horse is moving at. And the human subjects rarely give any argument when asked to ride for me.
 
For this photo, I was using AI Servo mode (of course) with the center AF point selected. I did my best to keep that AF point pinned on the horse's right shoulder and the rider's right stirrup to cause the plane of sharp focus to land near the rider's face.

The Canon EOS 70D arrived at the top of Canon's sports-capable APS-C DSLR camera list in terms of performance. Here a young club soccer player is being tracked by the 70D's AI Servo AF as she heads to the goal. Tracking fast action at near-frame-filling distances with a narrow depth of field aperture poses a serious challenge to camera autofocus system. The 70D is up to this task.
 
My favorite sports images include the ball (if there is one), the player's face and a good background. All of these are not always possible, but I was fortunate to get both here. Her standing teamates and the sitting opposition team nearly frame the player in this image. The amazing lens blurs the background so that the player and her ball pop in the image.
 
And yes, after carrying the ball nearly the entire length of the field, she made a short cross to a teamate in front of the goal for a score. This of course was icing on the successful image capture cake.

What is never the same twice and always beautiful? The waves in a swimming pool of course.
 
To shoot nearly straight down, I held the camera out in front of me and used the 70D's Vari-Angle LCD to see what I was shooting. Dual Pixel CMOS AF took care of focusing, though the refracted light hitting the bottom of the pool is not sharp anyway.

The 70D's 7 fps frame rate is very good at capturing a precise moment, but sometimes the right timing on the shutter release (along with a short shutter lag) rules the day. In this case, I was tracking the action and pressed the shutter release at just the right time.
 
Please – just let me keep thinking that I'm highly skilled – not just lucky. :)
 
With the 70D in horizontal orientation, I had a left-side focus point selected. This kept the player being followed facing into the frame and allowed the opponent to be also-included for an increased sense of drama.

It was a great sunset that deserved a better location to capture it from. But without that location nearby, I was not about to let a great sky get away. A 10mm angle-of-view-filling sunset does not happen every day.
 
What I did have was a high vantage point. While I took a variety of shots, the angle of this one seemed to complement the available clouds. Clouds alone can make a great image, so always keep that shot in your pocket ready for use.

And jumping horses did seem to be a challenge to the 70D's AF system. The 70D's AF is customizable available via the custom functions menu. If I spent enough time dialing this camera in for this AF challenge, I expect that my results would have been better. The out-of-the-box settings delivered somewhat below expectation in this particular situation. Obviously not all results were out of focus.

The center focus point on DSLR cameras is generally the most precise (at least with f/2.8 or wider max aperture lenses). To use the center AF point in vertically oriented sports photography often means placing that focus point on the player's waist. And this tactic is usually a good one. Unless the player bends forward (towards the camera) significantly as this position places the plane of sharp focus well behind the player's eyes – which usually have to be sharp. In this case, center AF point on the waist worked fine.

Have you challenged you camera's AF system with fast going-away action? You will likely find the camera factory-tuned to better handle approaching action. The 70D actually handled departing action quite well.