really need help (70-200 f4) fed up!

Shot a soccer game tonight (which was my first sports event) Just for fun. Seems I can get a single shot with this lens in focus. EVER. Im hand holding it, but with a shutter if 1/800 figured it would be fine. Im really about to pull the trigger for 2.8 II just because of the IS. I cant keep a lens that I cant hand hold and not get any shots in focus. Is this because of the no IS? What in the heck do I keep doing wrong. 90% of my shots with 70-200 are out of focus.

The images below don't do them justice for how bad they really look. The 100% crop is very grainy which you may not be able to see so much. All my shots are grainy with this lens.

200mm
f/5
1/800
ISO 400
AF (spot AF) on face of #23

Have you tried servo mode?

don't know much about the 7d but the graininess is probably not a lens problem. have you tried stopping it down a little more? the girl in the crop is not in the center of the full image, the other girl's hand is (your a/f probably locked on the hand). i would think that 1/800 is more than enough to stop action. if you stop down to f/8 you may have to slow the shutter down a little and raise the iso, this won't help the grainy crops. but, a little nr should clean that up a bit (at the cost of fine detail). a pro needs to verify everything i just said but i think it's all correct.

Think of it this way, the girl's face you focused on is what 5% of the whole frame? 100% crop of that is never gonna be tad sharp compared to a tight portrait which fills up say 70% of the frame.

Stop down a bit more might help. But yes I think you are expecting too much.

Your lens is fine and is working as designed imo.

Stir Fry A Lot wrote in post #14802287
Have you tried servo mode?

AI focus. But even still images on One Shot are bad too.

kin2son wrote in post #14802357
Think of it this way, the girl's face you focused on is what 5% of the whole frame? 100% crop of that is never gonna be tad sharp compared to a tight portrait which fills up say 70% of the frame.

Stop down a bit more might help. But yes I think you are expecting too much.

Your lens is fine and is working as designed imo.

would IS have made this image better?

Have you microadjusted the lens with your 7D? It is really hard to tell with the size of the image I am looking at, but it does seem like the player in front of number 23 has a slightly sharper focus. Have you noticed if all of your "soft" shots are front focussing?

DanFrank wrote in post #14802383
would IS have made this image better?

I'd think not, because IS is only really useful at slow shutter speeds. At high shutter speeds - as what is needed to stop action in sports - the IS is pretty much useless, because the SS stops the action anyway and compensates for user shake. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what I've always been taught.

DanFrank wrote in post #14802383
would IS have made this image better?

I'd say no in this particular example. You used 1/800 which is more than doubled of the minimum required (based on 1/200*1.6).

Stop down a bit more or even faster ss might help, but no IS will make no to minimum diff.

gojirasf wrote in post #14802399
Have you microadjusted the lens with your 7D? It is really hard to tell with the size of the image I am looking at, but it does seem like the player in front of number 23 has a slightly sharper focus. Have you noticed if all of your "soft" shots are front focussing?

i was wondering about that too but it seems like the a/f may have locked on the center of the image (the hand that is in front of the subject of the crop). if it's doing it on stills though, it seems like front focusing would be likely.

I have my 24-105 ma. But not the 70-200.

For runners, you need a high shutter speed and more depth of field, and this means F 8 or F 11. I would want at least F8, and if you need to go to ISO 800, then go for it. IS won't help with the need for smaller F stops when people are running toward you.

which AF mode did you use ?
try the al servo mode for the moving subject

Although I've never tried it, everything I've read has said that AI Focus is the best way to shoot if you want out of focus photos. It gives the camera's miniscule brain too much control. I use back button with AI Servo for just about everything. I was surprised that nobody else mentioned it yet.

Were you using the center-point for focus? AI Servo.. not AI Focus. Was the focus-limiter set to the longer range?