T1i Sport Mode - focus issues

[Slatts]

Hey folks, I'm a newb here. I purchased a T1i a couple of months ago with a desire to take some decent pics of my son's track meets. I have the 55-250 kit lens. My chip is a Sandisk Class 10, so it should be plenty fast. I put a Qunataray circular polarizer lens on it for sunny days like yesterday.

My issue is that when using AF and Sports mode, I had many frames which did not get good focus on the athletes (son included) as they ran towards me. I was shooting in continous mode.

As I reviewed the pics in DPP, I noticed that the AF sometimes picked up on another point (like a hurdle) to focus on rather than the athlete. Also I noted that in DPP, using the "View AF points", none of them showed green...all were red. This was true in all the images. Not sure if that's a function of the shooting mode or something else.

Advice needed. Thanks.

[clarence]

Did you select a specific focus point? That will reduce or eliminate the guessing that the AF has to do. Center point is the most responsive.

Do you use AI Servo?

Did you get better results without the CP? The 55-250 is a slow lens (f/5.6), so you'll get better AF performance without the CP, but if it was a sunny day, you shouldn't have any problems.

Ah, you were using Sports mode (i.e., the "Running Man" icon on the dial)?

[Mikeroscope]

I made a post about this recently with snowboarding, and got some good answers. Apparently objects moving towards you are the hardest thing for an AF system. I have a 50D and it struggles. I would suggest using a center focus point. Maybe try not to do sequences. You could always use a tripod and prefocus on a hurdle.

Also don't use sport mode. Just put it in manual and make sure your auto focus is set to AIServo. You can control your exposure a lot easier. I would rather use TV or AV before sport.