The D50, AF-C and sports photography

Wanted to get some opinions on using the AF-C with my D50 Nikon. Although it

would apply with most sports, specifically baseball. When a player is attempting

to steal second base, second baseman on base......do you try to gain focus lock

on the runner or do you lock at the base and wait for runner?

Seems if you stay at base, when runner enter frame, will that throw the focus

lock off and give you an OOF shot.

Also, since I was weaned on shooting sports with an Olympus Point and Shoot, I

had to anticipate the action to get my shot, being able to click off one image

did not help. With AF-C and burst mode, I can take many shots. Does AF-C

continue to atempt focus lock thru out the burst mode, allowing maybe some OOFs

and some sharp images?

What lens are you using? Baseball needs at least a 300

 

Be sure the set the camera to shutter priority with a minimum of 1/500.

 

Depending on how big the player appears on your viewfinder, tracking may not work well since the sensor is also covering other things, i.e. the sensor is bigger than the player. As far as I can remember with the D50, when you set it to AF-C mode it takes the picture whenever you press the shutter.

 

I shot a basketball last Wednesday and out of 700 pictures 101 were acceptably focused out of that there were only 5 that I like. I am using a D80, which has a slightly better AF system. I noticed that if you track the subject's movement the AF system cannot catch up to the player's movement. So I am doing now is pre focus on a particular sport then press the shutter all in one continuous motion and hold it steady.

 

I would advice you to focus on the 2nd baseman instead and spray and pray as you probably will get a greater number of keepers this way.

 

-Jon

David,<br>

While a 300 helps, you can certaily cover the infield with a 70-200. </p>

 

As for your question, when covering a steal at second base, I find it best to turn your AF off. Focus on the base and get everything framed as you like it. Then fire away as the runner approaches. </p>

 

With this kind of play, where you know exactly where the action will take place, take autofocus out of the equation. I do the same thing when shooting around the goal in hockey. Even with the fastest AF engines (I shoot with a D2H) the AF engine can get "confused" at times and you'll lose the shot. No reason to do that in this kind of shooting situation. </p>

 

Good luck and post some examples for us.

Thanks Jon and Dan. Unfortunatly I am limited on lenses. Main lens is a Sigma 70-300 4-5.6 APO and a Nikon 28-200 4.5-5.6. So no real professional glass. Most images are done at night on High School ball field with much post processing. During the day they are fine. Since the fields are not well lit, I know this causes alot of my dilema.

"With AF-C and burst mode, I can take many shots. Does AF-C continue to atempt focus lock thru out the burst mode"<br><br>You should check the manual, but I think all the shots will have the same focus setting as the first one. If I could anticipate the location of the action, I prefer to pre focus and switch to manual, then burst away!