Auto AF or center point?

Hi,

What AF selection do most use for sports like lacrosse or soccer? I've been using automatic selection, but considering switching back to center point to avoid missed shots like this one.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/whiskeycreek/5​566063815/

Neither of those two options.... I normally use one of AF points on top, there where I want player's head to be. That's in general, but there are times when you want something else of course, so you pick appropriate one, but in general it's always on head.

Thank you very much; I didn't think outside the obvious points. I'll try that this weekend.

Thanks!

John

You can also pick a point that's on the jersey numbers - generally that's in the same plane as the player's face.

Whatever you do, don't let the camera choose your focus point for you!

Auto is always going to focus on the closest object with good contrast. Bad idea.

primoz wrote in post #12106769
Neither of those two options.... I normally use one of AF points on top, there where I want player's head to be. That's in general, but there are times when you want something else of course, so you pick appropriate one, but in general it's always on head.

But on cameras that do not same the same type of focus point as the center point this can be a disadvantage.

Yes.. with a 1D or maybe even 7D it's good but not with the xxD or rebel series cameras.

@Primoz - why did I not think of that? thanks for sharing.
@Cozmocha - you lost me there, sorry. can you explain?

Read the AF section for each camera

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/E7D​/E7DA.HTM
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/E1D​MK4/E1DMK4A.HTM
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/E50​D/E50DA.HTM

They Describe the difference between the center point and the outher points. The center has a higher sensitivity.

Yeah, Auto AF point is not what you want, for obvious reason.

primoz wrote in post #12106769
Neither of those two options.... I normally use one of AF points on top, there where I want player's head to be. That's in general, but there are times when you want something else of course, so you pick appropriate one, but in general it's always on head.

Why the heck didn't I think of that??? DOH!

primoz,

What are your thoughts on using AF Expansion for field sports like lacrosse?

Personally I don't like it. I use it a lot for skiing, but never for sports like football (soccer for you guys), handball, basketball etc. I have never been shooting lacrosse, but in my mind it would fit with previously mentioned sports. Why I don't like it? Because with single af point selected, you can control where your focus is. With expansion you are never sure to which of players af will jump. With skiing you have one single skier going down, and speed is a whole lot faster then with basketball for example, so expansion helps when af point is not straight on his head. With basketball you have two or more players in frame, and when they are tight together, it might focus to athlete you don't want to focus on. It happened to me already, so for such sports, I always turn it off.

I find keeping a single af point on a player's head rather difficult when following field sports action. I am with svarley and pick an af point which hits a nice contrasty spot like the front/back of a jersey or belt line. If I switch gears and look for sportrait type shots, then I'll focus on the eyes/head.

Lately, I've been working on really tight action shots (baseball: hitters and pitchers mostly) and finding using all af points allows me to more easily compose the shot than with a single af point. With the player filling the frame, there's generally no worries about focus jumping onto something else. But with a single af point, I've run into issues with focus slipping through an armpit crack and latching onto the background and difficulties maintaining decent focus while keeping composition (important body part in frame) in mind.

RonnieA wrote in post #12198529
I find keeping a single af point on a player's head rather difficult when following field sports action. I am with svarley and pick an af point which hits a nice contrasty spot like the front/back of a jersey or belt line. If I switch gears and look for sportrait type shots, then I'll focus on the eyes/head.

I never said sports photography is easy Problem with your solution is, that with lens wide open (especially when using 300, 400 or 500mm lens) you will end up with perfectly sharp stomach and out of focus face And that's not something you normally want

primoz wrote in post #12198266
Personally I don't like it. I use it a lot for skiing, but never for sports like football (soccer for you guys), handball, basketball etc. I have never been shooting lacrosse, but in my mind it would fit with previously mentioned sports. Why I don't like it? Because with single af point selected, you can control where your focus is. With expansion you are never sure to which of players af will jump. With skiing you have one single skier going down, and speed is a whole lot faster then with basketball for example, so expansion helps when af point is not straight on his head. With basketball you have two or more players in frame, and when they are tight together, it might focus to athlete you don't want to focus on. It happened to me already, so for such sports, I always turn it off.

Yeah, I tried it for one game and decided that it isn't what I'm looking for. I was surprised though, I thought it would expand a lot closer to the selected focus point than it does. I got shots similar to what the OP posted, where it latched onto things at the edges of the frame. I do like using the point directly above the center though, thanks for the tip.

Example: When a baseball pitcher is stretched out, just before releasing the ball, the depth of field can be 6 feet or more with the player's face usually about midway. It is important to use a single focus point especially at wide open apertures, which I'm sure most of us use.

you can even focus on the ground where their feet are.. it all depends on the moment.. quick thinking comes with experience.