basketball AF question and Gopher Basketball photos

[jevidon]

got to check out this game last night. first time shooting basketball - I was a little disappointed with the AF speed of the 30D.... I was shooting with the 70-200 2.8 IS. Mostly shot at around ISO 800-1000 at f/2.8 getting shutter speeds between 1/400 and 1/1000s. The issue was never with freezing the action, but I tried sticking with AI Servo and gave up after missing a couple really good shots. Is there anything I can do differently or am I pushing the limits of the 30D's AF capability and need to consider a 1DMkII? Regardless, below are some shots that did turn out from the game. Any feedback on the photos would be appreciated, but I more interested in feedback on the question above. Thanks.

#1
http://exposure.evidon.net/photos/116614865-L.jpg (http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/2236082/1/116614865)


#2
http://exposure.evidon.net/photos/116615069-L.jpg (http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/2236082/1/116615069)

#3
http://exposure.evidon.net/photos/116615227-L.jpg (http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/2236082/1/116615227)

#4
http://exposure.evidon.net/photos/116615315-L.jpg (http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/2236082/1/116615315)

#5
http://exposure.evidon.net/photos/116615532-L.jpg (http://exposure.evidon.net/gallery/2236082/1/116615532)

[basroil]

make sure that IS is off while doing sports, that usually drains a bit of the AF (less so in 1dmkII thanks to the higher power battery, on a rebel/xt/xti, IS +af=missed shots indoors)

[jevidon]

never thought of that....makes sense that I wouldn't need IS when shooting at high shutter speeds. thanks basroil.

[webtech]

Set your auto focus to the center point only. That speeds it up quite a bit. It takes longer if its trying to go through 45 focus points.

[Mount Airy Ed]

make sure that IS is off while doing sports, that usually drains a bit of the AF (less so in 1dmkII thanks to the higher power battery, on a rebel/xt/xti, IS +af=missed shots indoors)

Can you please explain this in more detail?? Specifically "IS" and how it drains a bit of the AF.

Thanks.

[Kadman]

Do you have AF slaved to the shutter trigger? If so, I would set custom function 4 to the "3" setting. This will move the AF to the * button on the back. I did this after reading about it here and my keeper rate for basketball went up dramatically. I also agree with setting AF to only the center point.

[jevidon]

Can you please explain this in more detail?? Specifically "IS" and how it drains a bit of the AF.

Thanks.My understanding of this is as follows: the Image Stabilization (IS) renders itself useless when shooting at shutter speeds that are used for sports (1/400s and up). And the IS uses battery power that would otherwise be available to handle AF processing faster. So by switching IS off, the AF would have more resources available to run more efficiently. At least this is my understanding of it. Regardless, saving battery power is a good thing.