Best AF Profile when on a moving boat?

[rjsphd]

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I will be taking an excursion through some icebergs on a quick-moving small boat (a zodiac).  

All of the SL2 AF profiles seem to describe the motion of the subject, not of the photographer.  I'll be shooting with the 24-90 zoom and would rather use auto-focus than manual, but fear that the lens will "hunt" and not focus properly while the boat is moving.

Any idea which is the best profile or custom profile setting to use in such a situation?

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge.

[hofo100]

...while photographing icebergs from a zodiac is still on my bucket-list, I would recommend the following settings - guess that when moving fast(er) the zodiacs will keep some distance to the subject (icebergs). This means, that distance in combination with an aperture of f8 or f11 should give you some good depth-of-field, meaning that sticking to AF-S should provide appropriate results even if there is minimal timelag between focussing and releasing the shutter (of course you should not half-press shutter and lock focus for seconds while the boat is moving ;)). I guess it is more important to avoid motion blur from the moving boat, so depending on the speed I would choose Auto-ISO with minimum shutter speeds of 1/125s or faster. Enjoy the trip!

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[rjsphd]

Thanks for the advice, but that is not the issue I am asking about.  The SL2 has various built-in auto-focus profiles; e.g., pets, children.  They can be customized in 3 dimensions.  I am wondering which settings for those profiles and their components is best in my situation.

[MarkP]

So I took my SL and SL2 to Antarctica early last year with two Zodiac excursions per day. The 24-90 was my most used lens on the SL2.

The cameras performed flawlessly despite rain, snow spray, and cold.  Use the lens hood as it is very effective at protecting the lens from spray (but use a clear filter and carry a readily accessible lens cloth - you will need it). The batteries also did very well despite the cold, occasionally needing to go to a second battery on a long Zodiac trip with lots of shooting. The camera was easy to manage even with thick gloves.

Remember to put the cameras into waterproof/airtight bags before coming in from the cold to prevent condensation. I only forgot to do so once with one of the cameras - despite the 'waterproofing' I did get condensation in the lens and behind the viewfinder glass which took many hours to clear during which time the camera was unusable.  

Regarding focusing: 
I agree setting to AF-S. Rarely used manual.
Never used the AF profiles - I guess I could have tried out 'team sports' because of unexpected change in direction (whether you or subject is probably irrelevant but you could experiment with it)
I didn't bother, but if the sea is quite rough you may want to use continuous shooting mode, or just us a slightly wider focal length so you can crop or realign the horizon. 
More importantly, set the focus area to 'field' metering (the small rectangle), I used 'multifield' less often.  I also had some unexplained out of focus photos on 'spot' focus mode which I thought may have been due the camera or lens. This was later checked by Leica service here who found no problems but advised me that sometimes the high pixel full frame sensors miss focus on spot, even when shooting from a stable platform (also a problem with Canon and Nikon) and advised against its use for more general photography.

Haver a great trip.
Mark

Edited June 18, 2021 by MarkP

[rjsphd]

Thanks, Mark.  Much appreciated!  The cold weather advice is great, too, though I am headed to a lagoon in Iceland, where the ambient temperature is comparatively mild. I did the same trip 5 years ago with a M240 and a 35mm lens set to hyperfocus.  It was a piece of cake. This is the first time I have really taken the SL2 for travel.

Edited June 18, 2021 by rjsphd