sigma 70-200 2.8 MACRO for soccer?

so im not the most knowledgeable person on lenses much less photography equipment BUT is it possible to shoot sports like soccer with a 70-200 2.8 MACRO? i tried to do that today with a borrowed SIGMA 70-200 macro and missed so many shots

is it user error or is that just the wrong lens for the job?

average setting was ISO 200 f2.8 1/2500 in sunlight with single center point AF servo

Missed shots how? The first thing I see is that you shot at f2.8. No reason for that at all. Lens will be sharper stopped down, plus you'll have much greater dof.

i stopped down to 3.5 to try and increase DOF to maximize more in focus shots but still didnt get any. i mean i dont want to shoot soccer at like f8. i wanted to get the players isolated from the background and freeze the action. i was shooting sports.


also the CA wide open was insane!

also on a side note i have shot soccer on my camera with a canon 70-200 2.8 USM and the only shots i missed was action never missed focus at 2.8

Try using a monopod so it's stable because the autofocus needs it.
Also try to not use a filter, on mine the autofocus get much less predictable if is use a filter.

no filter was used and i dont own a monopod and this lens was borrowed and didnt even have the tripod collar on it or the hood that comes with it... dude handed it to me on his t2i and was like take photos for me. i opted to use it on my 7D. also he admitted he doesnt know much about photography and didnt know what macro was when i mentioned it to him once i noticed it.

It would be easier to help if you posted some of the pics you didnt like.

A lot of tele zoom lenses have "MACRO" written on them and it's sort of meaningless. They might better be called "close focusing", not truly "macro". It's just marketing hype to sell the lens to people who don't really know what macro is. I'm not aware of any "true" macro lenses that are 70-200. Nearly all "true" macro lenses are primes (not zooms) such as 60mm, 100mm, 150mm, 180mm.

So the lens should have been able to shoot soccer just fine. A big part of the problem is probably with the "user". It takes a lot of practice to shoot sports. You have to learn to anticipate the action and time your shots (alternative is to set your camera to shoot 8 fps and end up with thousands of images, then sit at your computer editing out the bad shots, which will be a high percentage).

Yes, I agree, stopping down to f4 or f5.6 would have helped reduce/minimize focus error.

Also, I'd use Center AF Point only and AI Servo, as you did. But I also use Back Button Focus for sports shooting.

Also, look at the lens. Is it an HSM model? That's Sigma's version of Canon's USM, and helps the lens focus a lot faster and more accurately. I am pretty sure there have been a bunch of different Siggy 70-200/2.8 versions, maybe some of them are not HSM? I really don't know. My Canon 70-200 has USM and is easily my most used lens for field sports and similar.

Mainly, it takes practice... and soccer is tricky because the direction of travel changes abruptly and a lot. You will have more missed focus shots with that type of action, no matter what lens and camera combo you use. Besides practice, there's also a matter of having "reasonable expectations".

it was HSM. my problem is i missed shots when the players were still as well. i am downloading the photos to my computer now and will post some samples soon. so far most of these shots when i zoom in with LR by pushing 1:1 the dead center of the photo is the player's stomach and at times the head and the shots are soft. some the background is in focus others nothing is in focus. maybe my servo doesnt work?

Try using the Zone autofocus mode with the center zone. You'll see the camera tracking.
The 70-200 Macro really needs to be steady for good autofocus though.

AI servo works though. This train is leaving at 80 km/h but i'm using a tripod

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/adurianj/585757​3473/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/adurianj/562698​6283/

i spoke with sever sports shooters and they told me to stay away from zone because it might focus on something i dont want within the zone since several of my shots have several people in it.

SOOC with crop and even tighter crop on center of frame where focus point was

SOOC

Also...if you focus in and then they move further or closer away from the camera...that could throw your shots off being that the DOF is so shallow. I would say to try and shoot at a smaller aperture.

chumlee wrote in post #13014935
Also...if you focus in and then they move further or closer away from the camera...that could throw your shots off being that the DOF is so shallow. I would say to try and shoot at a smaller aperture.

i shot server it should not be that off when they are moving horizontally


i have some shots while using servo today where a player ran towards me and for 8 frames every single one was out of focus

two more examples of missed shots. where center focus point is dead on the player both shots focus is dead center on the player's stomach... i dont understand why these shots were missed

It looks like the girl in the dark uniform is the one in focus , looks like you missed focus . First time shooting soccer or sports ?

I've always found that when I'm shooting sports focusing errors lie more with the camera body than the lens (at least with a setup like yours.) You're not going to get every shot in focus, period. Do you have zone AF on? That could explain some of your pictures.