Which autofocus should I use?

<p>I have a Canon 50D and I was wandering which auto focus I should use for indoor basketball? ONE SHOT, AL FOCUS, or AL SERVO. I was also wandering which metering mode I should use? Any suggestions are much appreciated.</p>

<p>go with servo. take a few shots figure out what a good exposure is and set for manual exposure. The light intensity isn't going to change much so that becomes a constant. Try to get shttr spd of 320 or 400, adjust ISO up to get decent exposure and widest aperture as you can. I shoot at 2.8 usually on my 70-200. <br>

Do you have a constant aperture lens or variable(aperture changes as you zoom in/out). If variable, set exposure to manual -set shtr spd to 1/320, ISO to 1600, and aperture to widest possible on your lens...maybe 3.5. If images are dark when shooting zoomed out, raise your ISO.</p>

 

<p>Thanks !</p>

<p>Ditto Steve Hopkins answer, adding that:<br>

I get better (more consistent) results selecting the AF point to Centre AF (i.e. NOT Automatic).<br>

I frame an hard contrast edge, of the main subject, in the centre of the frame for the Centre AF Point to focus upon. (I usually shoot a bit wide and tidy up the minor crop details later, if necessary)<br>

I don't shoot much BBall, but indoor Soccer and some Gymnastics are similar.<br>

Also I note that AI Focus is not really that smart (IMO), maybe better on a 50D I have not used that camera – the reason for my comment is that sometimes in the moment when the players are actually still, often the AI Focus seems to “look for movement” and stuffs up accordingly, in my experience.<br>

(BTW “AI” Servo and “AI” Focus. “AI” is an acronym for <strong><em>A</em></strong>rtificial <strong><em>I</em></strong>ndigence, as I understand.)</p>

<p>WW</p>