Problems shooting indoor soccer/basketball

My 5 year old has started indoor soccer and basketball classes and I've been practicing my limited sports photography skills at the same time. Unfortunately, I'm not getting the results I want and I believe my problems are mostly due to the poor lighting conditions. I think it's just too dark to get a high enough shutter speed, but I'm wondering if the gear I'm using is also contributing to the problem.

On my most recent attempt at indoor soccer, I used my 5D classic at ISO3200 with my 135L at f/2. I shot in manual, AI servo, center AF point, AF point expansion enabled, without flash, and had trouble getting a proper exposure at 1/640 or faster shutter speed.

Before everyone tells me I'm crazy to use a 5D for sports, let me explain that I started out using my 40D with an 85mm f/1.8 shot at f/2 and ISO 1600 and the results were actually worse. I got lots of noise and was lucky to get a shutter speed of 1/500, so had some noticeable motion blur as well.

I prefer the look of the 5D images at ISO3200 versus the 40D images at ISO1600. However, I am concerned that the 5D AI Servo AF is not up to the task. I have considered replacing the 40D with a 7D which is supposedly much better at higher ISO. Does this make sense?

I have a 580EX flash, but I haven't tried using it since I think I'd end up with dark backgrounds or ghosting if I did. Would using flash help? I will probably give it a try this weekend.

I've also thought about under-exposing a little to get faster shutter speeds and then adjusting the exposure in PP. I'll experiment with this too.

Here are some examples of shots that didn't turn out as well as I hoped:

#1 EOS 5D 135mm f/2 1/640 ISO3200:

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The 5D shots you are unhappy with are simply out of focus. In the second one the grass shows the plane of focus is near his back foot and so the head is out of focus (closer to the camera). All you can do is enable the helper points and concentrate very hard on keeping the active center AF point on the subject at all times.

The first shot is a little tougher because you were panning and so the plane of focus is difficult to spot (as the grass is all blurred from panning). I still think the plane of focus is beyond the subject.

I doubt a flash will be good because you will have to get under the synch speed and then light the whole scene with the flash. This will lead to very dark backgrounds because a single 580EX simply cannot light such a huge space.

Flash lit sports arenas calls for multiple high power light sources for a good look.

JeffreyG wrote in post #12318257
The 5D shots you are unhappy with are simply out of focus. In the second one the grass shows the plane of focus is near his back foot and so the head is out of focus (closer to the camera).

Thanks, that's what I was thinking too which is why I wonder if the 5D AI Servo is not up to the task and whether switching to a 7D might make a big difference.

JeffreyG wrote in post #12318257
All you can do is enable the helper points and concentrate very hard on keeping the active center AF point on the subject at all times.

I'll give that a try. I was attempting to use the outer AF points at times, but have switched to using the center AF point with the AF assist points enabled. I'm sure my technique needs some work and hopefully with practice I will get better results.

IMO the outer points on the 5D are close to useless unless the lighting is good and the subject is stationary.

The center AF point on the 5D is very good at tracking provided you keep it on the subject consistently. The helper points give you a bit of margin. I shot sports for about a year with a 5D and I got a lot of good shots. It's less flexible than the higher end AF systems, but if you can live with the subject dead center in every shot and are good about tracking that way it will do its job fairly well.