Auto Focus Mode For Football

Luke345678

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Hello there everyone,

I was wondering if I should use One- shot AF or AI servo for shooting football games on my Canon T3i.

I know to never use AI focus as it is an ineffective attempt to have the camera try and figure out if your subject is moving or stationary but I heard AI Servo usually requires your focus the subject be kept in the middle which might not be good for a full frame of action.

What do you guys think? Should I continue to use One- shot AF or should I switch over and use AI focus during the games?
I apologize for the scrubby questions I've been asking!

Thanks,

-Luke
 
AI servo every time mate, just get some practice on moving subjects before hand. With one shot you will be almost gaurenteed to miss focus on the action shots every time. Try using a single focal point or expanded if they are really small in the frame.
 
Use AI-Servo (continuous focus).

You need to be aware that AI-Servo is a shutter priority mode and will make an image even if focus has not been achieved.

Single point is usually by default a focus priority mode and the shutter will not release when pressed if focus has not been achieved.

Which camera model you use will also factor into which of the AF area options it has.
You may want to set up your camera for back button focus so a half press of the shutter release no longer initiates AF

Using continuous focus effectively takes a fair amount of practice.
 
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Just for fun.. try it the way we used to to it... back before AF was invented! (Manual Focus)! Might give you a better appreciation for AF (although most stock screens suck for MF now)!
 
Perhaps one of the 'big' lessons of shooting sports is depth of field. Most often, the aperture must be wide open or very close to that to maintain a fast-enough shutter speed to stop action. The result for f2.8 and larger apertures, mostly, is the DOF gets quite shallow. As a result, the focus must be 'dead on' to get a good picture. The trick is to get the focus 'dead on' for a moving subject...especially someone running, etc. The only way is to use AI servo so that whatever the AF locked-in on will stay in focus from time-of-lock-on to shutter open time...typically 1/2 second or less.

You will likely need to 'follow the action' with the camera before and after taking the picture..eg...panning. Think of a golf-swing or batting a ball...follow through is as important as start of the swing.

Don't worry about shots tossed due to missed focus. The keeper rate will be lower than you expect/desire. But when it comes out right, it comes out right. Be happy you're not shooting film at $1.00 per frame...like the bad old days...
 
I've tried this action sports thing exactly twice now. I too shoot a T3i. AI Servo and set your focus point for the center point only. I didn't do that first game and had way more out of focus shots, or the camera ended up focusing on something I wasn't trying to shoot.

As mentioned, AI Servo is a shutter priority mode, so the camera will kick the shutter even if the lens is still trying to focus. I did get some shots in this mode that weren't in focus because I use multi shot and shoot strings of 3-6 shots at a go (or until the buffer fills up). I didn't know why at first, but after reading above, I understand now why.

Get larger capacity cards and fire away. Out of 200ish shots at a game I get maybe 20-25 that I consider keepers. More if I take sideline candid shots, obviously. A 16GB card holds way more than I shoot in an entire game...so far.

Depth of field..yeah, I am using a 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM, except for the first quarter (before the sun completely sets) it stays on f/2.8. It's the only way to get fast enough shutter speeds. If I do my part with camera, the lens seems to do well on the focus. The DoF seems to be adequate overall and I do like the blurring of the background/foreground it provides.

If they could make this lens at f/1.8 or f/2 it would be perfect, but probably insanely expensive too.
 
AI-Servo focus is the best to use.
 

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