a little newbie help please

[borto1990]

I just picked up a 20D to get some better shots of the kids playing sports. It was an ebay purchase, didn't get a manual with it. It came with a 17-85 IS lens. A buddy is letting me borrow his 75-300 IS (canon) until I can afford something of my own. I am shooting freshman football so it's at 4 30 in the afternoon, so light shouldn't be an issue. The guy told me to put the camera to "TV" on the dial and set it to 400. My shots are just not coming out crisp at all. Maybe it's cause I am a newbie, maybe it's the lens, I see it doesn't get that high of marks on here. I posted this under the lens section of this site but figured this might be a better place. someone there suggested instead of 400 to go to 1000. Also to have it set an "servo" mode. Except I don't know what servo mode is yet. So any quick tips on how to set it up better would be great.. Thanks!

[IODebbie]

Post a picture with your EXIF data and let us see what you're getting.

Shutter speed of 1/400 is too low for daytime football. You should be looking to get about 1/1000.

Your ISO should be at 400 as long as it's daylight. Set the camera on AV and then set your f/stop at the lowest number you can (maybe 4.0 on that lens). AI Servo is fine - some people shoot with one shot and a center focus point, but AI Servo is better if you don't know what you're doing.

Those are just general parameters. Posting a picture would defintately help.

[wayovrpar]

Get online and google the user manual....read it, learn it, live it.....

[Jamie Holladay]

Manual. (http://www.canon.ca/product_reg.asp?lng=en&pid=299&pname=EOS+20D&pr=0&shlink=http%3A%2F%2Fcanoncanada%2Ecusthelp%2Ecom%2 Fcgi%2Dbin%2Fcanoncanada%2Ecfg%2Fphp%2Fenduser%2Fs td%5Falp%2Ephp%3Fp%5Fli%3D%26p%5Fpage%3D1%26p%5Fpr ods%3D13%2C271%26p%5Fpv%3D2%2E271%26p%5Fcv%3D1%2E3 19%26p%5Fcats%3D319%26p%5Fsearch%5Ftext%3D%26p%5Fn ew%5Fsearch%3D1%26p%5Fsearch%5Ftype%3Danswers%2Ese arch%5Ffnl%26p%5Fsort%5Fby%3Ddflt)

[borto1990]

Thanks, can someone however please explain how to turn on this "AI Servo"? Is it in the menus?

[egordon99]

It's in the manual.

[IODebbie]

It's on the top controls - above the LED readout.