Shooting sports with a 50/1.8......Manual Focus?

[Jamesino]

My 70-200/4 isn't fast enough for high school basketball shooting, but my adapted nikkor AF 50mm f/1.8 prime is. But it is manual focus only. Is it possible to take sports shots with a manual focus lens?

How did sports photographers in the pre-AF era do it?

[mpeters]

You've answered the first question yourself.

You can try prefocusing and otherwise learning to follow the action.

Or you could spend $65 and buy a used 50/1.8II

[musicmaster]

the 70-200/4 should work fine. I used it all the time before I got my 2.8 version. Be prepared for noise though. Shoot at ISO3200, or push your xxxD to 3200 in RAW

[TopGear1Ds]

the 70-200/4 should work fine. I used it all the time before I got my 2.8 version. Be prepared for noise though. Shoot at ISO3200, or push your xxxD to 3200 in RAW
I've never been in a HS gym where f/4 would be acceptable.. I don't think your experience is the norm.

If I'm lucky, I'll be able to shoot f/2.8 1/400s ISO3200, but if it's even dimmer than that (which happens more than I'd like) I give up the 70-200 and shoot my 85 f/1.8 somewhere in the ISO2000-3200 range.

On average, HS gyms are caves!

[AdamC]

I've never been in a HS gym where f/4 would be acceptable.. I

I can't see anywhere where the OP said it was indoors. I guess it must have been implied, for F/4 to be too slow. My 2c worth: manual focus would be impossible, or at the very least extremely restrictive (refocusing on a particular spot,) and I've never seen any sports where 50mm would be even remotely long enough.

[TopGear1Ds]

I can't see anywhere where the OP said it was indoors.
It's HS basketball... It's indoors.
I've never seen any sports where 50mm would be even remotely long enough.
50mm is fine for basketball if you're cleared to sit on the baseline, especially on a crop body. I actually find my 85mm to be just a little too tight (on my 30D) if I have to be directly under the basket, and wouldn't mind also having a 50mm.

I really think the 85mm on the 1D (1.3 crop) is right in the sweet spot of focal lengths for basketball.

[Brikwall]

It is possible to take sports shots in manual focus only. It was done for years prior to the development of AF technology. The secret is to pre-focus on an area and wait for the action to come to that spot. The major drawback comes with indoor sports, where low lighting levels require a fast aperture and resulting shallow depth of field. In those cases, it may be extremely difficult to get the players in focus unless they are exactly within the pre-focus area.

Manual focus is still used today by some sports shooters. I'm sure Primosz will tell you that he will pre-focus on a gate or section of the course when shooting downhill skiing rather than trying to track the skiers themselves. There are probably dozens of other situations where this applies, too.

[primoz]

I'm sure Primosz will tell you that he will pre-focus on a gate or section of the course when shooting downhill skiing rather than trying to track the skiers themselves.
To be honest... I don't :) At least if there's really no other option. Sure it can be done, but I still prefer auto focus. It works great on 1d, so I don't have much of need for manual focus. Downhill or SG skiing races are a bit different, since you normally stand under jump, and you don't even see skier, so pre-focusing is only option. But for everything else I prefer AF.
But nevertheless... shooting something like skiing, cycling, swimming or even volleyball is one thing, shooting basketball for example is completely different for me. With firstly mentioned sports, you can actually predict what will happen, where athlete will be etc. With basketball you can't really predict where player will run or pass the ball, so only option is to follow player and focus in between. It works, but it's pain in the a** to do it this way. So unless OP is extremely skillful, I would suggest spending those few $ to get 50/1.8. Even here, where photo equipment is extremely expensive compared to USA, 50/1.8 is around 100eur and that's what $120-130.

[Joe Cyr]

I first started shoot sports with a Pentax K-1000 and a manual focus 50 mm. So yes it is possible. It's tedious, it's mind-numbing, and it will absolutely 100% make you a better photographer in the long run. Starting out, prefocus on one of the squares on the post where players lineup for rebounds on free throws. You must then wait, wait and wait for something to happen in that zone. Once you get comfortable with shooting from that spot, you can start branching out into following the flow of games. Like I said, it won't be easy, but it would well be worth the time spent in the long run.