3D tracking is OK for times when there is no chance the sensor will get confused. Birds in flight in a clear blue sky comes to mind. Dogs in action won't come out well well with 3D tracking in any sort of numbers that could be considered reliable.

Even at f5.6 or f8, you don't have a full dog's worth of Depth of Field at the distances you seem to be shooting so you have to get your focus point on the area you want critically sharp (the eyes in most cases). This means not always using the center focus point.

1. 1/250 is too slow for this and it looks as though the focus is on the dog's abdomen.

For photo #1, you should be using one of the focus points up at the area of the frame where the dogs eyes are. Using the center focus point puts your focus on the fur right about in the center of the dog's abdomen and if you look, that area is pretty sharp.

2. Looks like the focus point is well behind the subject. The light pole back there is pretty sharp. I'm guessing your focus point was probably positioned right above the dog's head at the time of shutter release. You can check this in several different programs that will show the focus point on an overlay of the photo.

3. I think you just missed. Looks like the focus in on the nose rather than the eyes to me, and at f 5.6 you don't have enough depth of field to focus on the nose and still get the eyes in focus. Depending on your focal length here, 1/100 is to slow in terms of camera shake.


4. Looks pretty good, but with 1/200, I'm thinking you got a lucky click during a pause in the action, even if only for an instant as the dog switched from shaking one way to shaking another.