High School B-Ball

[JohnEBongo]

Well, after shooting many of the little guys games I finally got to shoot some high school aged kids. These are 9th/10th graders. Shot with 20D and 85f1.8. Although I am pretty happy with these, my overall keeper rate is pretty low. My main problem seems to be with focus issues. I get alot of OOF shots, particularly in a burst of 3-4 shots. Usually the subject is moving towards me. Would using * for focus help that?? Any other tips are appreciated. Thanks. John

1) iso 800 f1.8 1/400
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/126965393-L.jpg

2) iso 800 f1.8 1/400
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/126966001-L.jpg

3) iso 800 F1.8 1/640
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/126338980-L.jpg

4) iso 800 f1.8 1/500
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/126340222-L.jpg

5) iso 800 f1.8 1/400
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/126961849-L.jpg

[Redfish]

Great shots with this group. Basketball is very hard, but you appear to have a gym where the light is actually pretty good. With the OOF shots - you may try a bigger f/stop to open up your DOF. Yes shutter speed will come down but you have a little to spare. Also you could bump the iso as the exposures are very good and the grainyness would not be too bad.

A1 Servo helps with the focus and make sure you are using spot metering - seems to help me on this. You should experiment with a single point focus and or chosing all available and let the camera chose.

Please keep posting - these are good shots

Steve

[superdiver]

Great shots...I have a pretty low keeper rate and as you shoot older kids it goes down even further due to the very fast action...

I also use AI Servo and find that burst mode doesnt focus quickly enough for it..not sure how to fix that, maybe when I upgrade to the 1MK2N it will work better...

But what I have found to increase the focus and keeper rate is to shoot one shot at a time. DONT hold the shutter half way down, re focus and expose everyshot...

I shoot in AV mode, most here will tell you that M is better and to NOT change the settings once you find the settings youwant. I find that the lighting changes so much on the floor that I want the settings to change with the lighting...

Also, something I was told and plan to start playing with this weekend is to overexpose cuz the XT natually UNDER exposes by 1- 1 1/3 stops?....LOL

[policy]

Nice shots.

[carsanbballs]

"I find that the lighting changes so much on the floor"
This is true even in places with so called good light.
Sometimes you can sit on the baseline and see darker areas.

[liza]

To alleviate the problem of OOF shots, try stopping the lens down to f/2.2. The 85mm lens has a VERY narrow DOF at f/1.8.