Youth Soccer - AF or MF?

[draw4u]

Well, I am new to photographhy and have been playing with my Canon 40d and the 28-135mm IS lens as well as the 70-300mm IS lens. Today, I will shoot my first soccer game of my daughter and I was just wondering if you shoot in AF or MF? I have learned, during practices, that I like to shoot in Tv with it set to 500-1000 and then adjust the ISO accordingly, but I am now wondering if I should shoot in AF instead of trying to manually focus on the players and action? I will certainly play with all of the settings today oto figure out what works best, but just wondered what you do?

[dmwierz]

Draw - Your post is a bit confusing. You talk about AF, MF and Tv in consecutive sentences, but they are entirely different things. If you mean, should you shoot Auto-Focus or Manual-Focus, I would suggest Auto. As far as exposure is concerned, I'd strongly recommend you choose Av instead of Tv, and set your lens to the largest aperture possible (smallest number) - this will ensure you get the best isolation shots of your daughter.

[draw4u]

Yes, I mean Auto Focus or Manual Focus. I switch to Tv and set it to the speed I need and ISO, but wondered if I should switch my lens to Auto Focus or if I would get better results by manual focusing. Really, AV? OK. I will try it today as well. I was told by someone that I should use Tv for shutter speed as a priority and then adjust ISO. So, you are saying, switch to Av, adjust to the smallest number possible and shoot there? i will certainly try it.

[dmwierz]

Yep, the problem with Tv is your aperture will vary all over the place, and you're liable to end up with depths of field that will make your images look like they were taken with a cell phone camera rather than a DSLR. The background blur that you see with images in magazines and newspapers results from the large aperture lenses, and you'll find you're probably going to want to blur out as much of the background as you can, especially with kids soccer sidelines and backgrounds being as crowded and busy as they usually are. If you have the time, take a listen to the first episode of the podcast in my signature for some tips.

See how everything except the players is out of focus in this shot? This is the kind of isolation you're looking for. Granted, your lens isn't a constant aperture f/2.8, but you can still get some pretty good results if you keep it as wide open as possible.

The 28-135 isn't the fasted focusing lens around and the focal length on the 70-300 is probably better suited for soccer. Will she be playing on a full-sized pitch?

http://www.pbase.com/dmwierz45/image/81106813.jpg
Focal Length 400 mm
Exposure Time 1/640 sec
Aperture f/2.8
ISO Equivalent 1600

Good luck, and post your results here for us to see!

[eigga]

Auto focus for sure... cant imagine using Manual for sports.

Also agree that Av is the place to start with sports. I can understand why so many people think Tv since the shutter speed is so important but you can control the shutter with ISO. As Dennis said... Av - Wide Open

I typically sit ( the lower the better) between the goal and the corner depending on the size of the field (pitch) Switching sides as needed depending on the strength of the teams and who I am covering. Also the wind really is a big factor especially for U10 and younger. They will tend to stay on the "downwind" side of the field due to lack of control.

[draw4u]

Well, I used the 70-300 this weekend and took about 1,200 shots and kept about 500 of them, but truly ended up with maybe 50 good ones with the others being ok. I have so much to learn and I hope to get better as the season progresses. My youngest is U10 and U11 so she plays on a fairly small pitch (8v8) and my oldest plays U14 so she is on a full size pitch (11v11). I shot all of the shots this weekend with the lens on Manaul Focus but will try Auto Focus this weekend. It was hard for me on Auto Focus becasue it seemed to focus on someone other than the player I was trying to shoot, therefore the player I was shooting would be a little blurred. I changed my focus points to be center focus only, is this what I should do? I had a good time and was happy with what I got out of these but I have a long ways to go. I did sit at the endline between the corner and goal, and I sat low to the ground which I believe helps! Next time though, I will leave the chair behind and move around the pitch more then I did so I can capture more faces.

[dmwierz]

Draw - AF is the only way to go (not really, but I don't know of anyone doing this full time who still manually focuses). Choose center point AF and learn to use the back button to focus.

Focusing on fast action is not easy, but it can be mastered with enough practice. MUCH easier than manual focus - seriously.

[draw4u]

learn to use the "back button"? what do you mean the "back button"?

[dmwierz]

The Search function is your friend:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=46965&highlight=button+focus+back

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=645349&highlight=back+button+focus

There have been a ton of posts on this Custom Function. The 40 D may even have the focus already relocated to the back * button - I dunno. Some of the newer bodies offer this feature without having to go through a C Fn, I believe.

[draw4u]

dmwierz - once again...........thank you!! We are headed to a tournament this weekend with 4 games so I will have lots of time to play with this and hopefully get some better shots!

[dinny66]

Definitely agree with Dennis, having been learning this for over a year now.
AF, AI Servo mode, centre spot only. Av wide open and use the ISO to control shutter speeds. Aim for 1/500 or faster if you can. As you'e shooting youngsters they don't go quite as fast s adults.
The rear AF thing takes some practice, so do it lots before you even go to the tourney, but it's definitely worth mastering.

Good luck and please post your results!