Shooting basketball with 10D

[dartlrt]

Hi there,

 

I've been shooting some college basketball, but am having some

problem getting the camera to fire at the prime moment I want. Last

night I was shooting with a 50 1.4 lens under the basket. My ISO was

800, with around an f/2 to 1.8. I was also shooting in AI focus. I

would be focusing on the player driving for the basket, but as soon

as I move the camera to follow him up to the basket the camera won't

fire for about a second. Like it was at of focus and searching.

Does anyone know of some different setting I could use or a different

technique. Thanks!

 

Philip Johnson

[ben_choi1]

you can try manual focus. Just focus on the area where the action will be (under the ring) and then shoot when you want. That way the camera won't try and focus before releasing the shutter.

[www.philwinterphotography.]

You might try AI SERVO mode rather than AI Focus. My understanding of AI Focus mode is that the camera must achieve focus first, just like one-shot mode, THEN, if the subject moves, it switches to AI Servo. My guess is, that in AI Focus, you were not getting focus "lock on" in the first place.

 

With AI Servo, the camera does not have to achieve focus for the shutter to fire. I've had good luck using AI Servo photographing fast sports. The only problem is that if another player gets in front of your subject, the focus is thrown off. Hope this helps.

 

Phil

[maureen_m]

Have you seen the recent thread: <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0074r3">Lens for basketball games?</a>. It looks like some decent advice from those who have shot basketball (no pun intended!).

[vassil_mihov]

I'll suggest manual focus. Pre-focus where you expect the action to happen. With as little light an wide aperture, you'll have to be pretty exact, though. Assuming that you are using probably high shutter speed to freeze the layup (or rebound or block), and even higher for a dunk, I am not sure if you can cheat by ussing narrower aperture. Also, how close were you to the action?

 

I'll be shooting (pictures of) basketball on Jan 31, will provide some feedback from my experience.

[vassil_mihov]

P.S. After you pre-focus, use burst mode to play the odds in your favor and maximize your chances of at least one good exposure.

[yakim_peled1]

1. Use AI Servo.

 

2. Use only the central AF point. As it is the only one with a cross sensor, it is the most sensitive and will give you minimum focus time.

 

Happy shooting ,

Yakim.

[dartlrt]

Thanks for all your good advise. I will try both the AI Servo and manual focus tonight. I would feel better about manual focus if I had a spilt image screen like I have on my pentax, but the 10D doesn't offer that option. Thanks again.

 

Philip Johnson