Sports Photography

[Double-D]

I am shooting with a Canon XTi and 70-200mm f2.8 lens and I have the constant problem of the players are blurry. Sometimes I get a good shot, and sometimes they players are blurry. What is the trick to getting the players in focus every time?

[Jim Bryant]

1) Shoot with ISO 400
2) Use a high shutter speed of at least 500th second or above
3) IF you are using the Rebel on sports mode, take it off and use a higher shutter speed to stop the action.
The Rebels are a great beginner camera, but in order to capture the type of sports you want to be able too, you need to get the EOS 1D's or MKII, or MKIII series camera bodies that shoot 6 to eight frames a second.

After viewing your picture, your focus is not sharp on the players, the background is sharp, but the players are out of focus. I'm not sure what type of Al Servo AF settings your camera has, but it needs to be set so that it will follow focus with the action. I know the EOS 1D's, MKII's and MKIII's have two AF modes: One-shot AF and Al Servo AF.
The one-Shot AF is prefect for non moving subjects, where as the Al Servo AF is for moving subjects and sports action photography.

[Raigoki]

use shutter priority
also, panning technique can help too.
and follow Jim Bryant's advice.

[Jim Fox]

+1 on Jim Bryant's advice! Depending on the time of day and if it's sunny or overcast, I have gone down to ISO 100 too.

I prefer to shoot in Aperture Priority, that way I can keep it at 2.8 for best background separation. Shutter Priority would make your aperture bounce all over the place.

Shoot soccer all the time with my 30D and 70-200/2.8 with great results, along with AI Servo and the center focus point used.

[chook]

I shoot lacrosse and soccer with the XTI and 100-400MM L.

Ditto what the others said. Use apeture priority with, AI Servo AF and center point focus. Even then the you will still get some out of focus. The 1Ds and new 7D coming out have better AF capabilities.

AZhook's photosets on Flickr

[Double-D]

Wow - thanks for the replies. I was set on full manual at 2000 shutter speed and f4.0 using AI focus with partial metering and center point spot focus, ISO200.

I have AI Servo available which I tried, but I used this with auto focus point selection, with no better luck. Should I try AI Servo with center point focus. Guess that is what chook said.

I want a new better camera, but $'s are short right now.

I am thinking it is a matter of getting the focus spot right on to get the subject in focus - that has been harder than it sounds.

[Jim Bryant]

Yes...........since you are focusing on the action use the A1 Servo with center point sport focus.

Originally Posted by Double-D

Wow - thanks for the replies. I was set on full manual at 2000 shutter speed and f4.0 using AI focus with partial metering and center point spot focus, ISO200.

I have AI Servo available which I tried, but I used this with auto focus point selection, with no better luck. Should I try AI Servo with center point focus. Guess that is what chook said.

I want a new better camera, but $'s are short right now.

I am thinking it is a matter of getting the focus spot right on to get the subject in focus - that has been harder than it sounds.

[spencer28n]

IMHO the AI Servo doesn't work well on the XTi, I'm guessing it's inherent to most Rebels being that they werent meant so much for fast action sports. All my sport shots were focused before the action, then I waited for the moment. Obviously, in games likes soccer it doesn't work that way so the best way is to shoot alot and hopefully the AI Servo will give you some decent shots.


If it's still not working...
Depending what time of day and amount of light, you could shoot ISO 400 with a fast shutter speed and use a small enough aperture where you could use single shot but he'd still be within focus. Cheat and use PS to blur unwanted space.

Definitely try Jim's advice first though.

[Jools_jti]

This is an issue referred to 'back focus' sometime it's a problem with the lens (there a test cards on the web to download and test this) but mostly this is an issue with the difficulties of focussing on moving objects. It's a very common problem and shooting with a 1D does not solve it.

AIServo is best used when the action is moving towareds or away from you, if the action is slower or moving parralel, you don't need it. But if you do use it, first get the focus on the player you want then keeping the shutter button half depressed, track your subject, so long as they stay in the focal area the camera should track them and adjust the focus accordingly.

One trick if your subject is not moving towards or away too fast is to get your focus distance set, then switch to manual on the lens while you shoot, you can either track with manual from there or switch the af back on to reset.

I shoot a fair amount of cycle racing, a cyclist squatted for speed makes for a hard target, I get it wrong heaps of times, practice won't make for perfect, but it will help.

[emtab]

Another thing that might help you with focusing issues is to change your button set-up. On canon camera's you can change the buttons around so that the AE lock button on the back of the camera becomes the autofocus button while the shutter button becomes the AE lock button. I LOVE this feature.
I find that it far superior to having the shutter button activate AF for two reasons:
1. I don't have to switch the lens to manual to avoid activating the AF when I'm prefocusing. This allows a quicker set up, and I always have AF available if I need to refocus quickly. Plus, I don't have to fiddle with the switch while trying to compose a shot.
2. I find that for servo mode, it is more comfortable and easier to maintain the thumb press than the shutter press.

Give it a try, on XTi's it's custom function 4.
regards,
emtab