Missing focus when action running towards me

I tend to miss focus a lot when a young player or toddler is running towards me. During youth basketball season, I will stand under the basket and when a player is running towards me I end up missing focus a lot.

I use AI servo, one focus point, continuous focus, shot in manual, SS would be above 500 and f/2.8. My camera is a t3i and 85mm 1.8 and I back button focus.

Now that's it's soccer session I don't want to miss a million shots this time. How do I focus on something running at me? I'm holding the back button focus down. Is this impossible with my camera or am I'm doing something wrong or do I got to take a million shots of one run to get one in focus? Someone please help me.

Basketball is usually a little more difficult than soccer due to the low gym lighting. The best tip I could give you is to make sure that you're keeping your focus point on a high contrast area such as the jersey numbers or the waist area where the shorts and shirt meet (assuming they are of contrasting colors). I bet you'll find that your able to get much better focus outdoors in bright light.

I usually focus on the player's chest area. Are you focusing on the athletes head by any chance? You shouldn't have too much of an issue tracking the little ones, since they don't move too fast. I'm not with the T3 camera body and don't the AF settings available. How long have you been shooting sports?

Yeah I try to focus on the head but the chest is okay if my aperture not too wide?

OneDeep wrote in post #16909212
Yeah I try to focus on the head but the chest is okay if my aperture not too wide?

That's your issue. The head is constantly moving and the focus can easily slip off the head. Focus on the chest area and see how it goes.

An analogy.

Picture yourself as a defender trying to tackle a running back coming directly at you and you focus on his head or feet; you will get juked everytime. Now, in that same situation, bust instead you focus on main trunk of a person (chest, waist etc.), which doesn't move like the feet and head and your chances are greater at tackling him.

You may need to try a trick we bird photographers use, and "pump" the AF button. The t series does not have a custom function setting to increase AI servo sensitivity for action like this, so your options are to use your hands instead.

Using back button focus (does the t series allow that?) try pumping (pressing then releasing and pressing again) the AF button, so it keeps working at achieving a new focus.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #16909373
You may need to try a trick we bird photographers use, and "pump" the AF button. The t series does not have a custom function setting to increase AI servo sensitivity for action like this, so your options are to use your hands instead.

Using back button focus (does the t series allow that?) try pumping (pressing then releasing and pressing again) the AF button, so it keeps working at achieving a new focus.

I used to do this with my xsi and was able to catch basketball shots with the slow af of a nifty fifty.

NewCreation wrote in post #16909387
I used to do this with my xsi and was able to catch basketball shots with the slow af of a nifty fifty.

You dear Lady have far more patience with the Nifty than I ever had!

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #16909425
You dear Lady have far more patience with the Nifty than I ever had!

Necessity breeds patience. (no funds meant I dealt with it. lol)

I tired the EF 85 mm f/1.8 USM on a 7D in low light (outdoors, cloudy, under pretty thick canopy) to catch runners, but found that even this combination often gave out of focus images. Now I used f/1.8 or f/2, since I wanted something larger than could be provided by the EF 70-200 mm f/2.8L IS II USM, but it didn't work out very well.

Make sure you practice and try the suggestions above. You may not want to hear this and may not agree with me but your T3i is a slow performer in the focus department and the 85 f1.8 is also slow to focus. I am not saying you can't get lucky and nab an occasional in focus shot but your keeper rate is sure to be low with moving subjects.

ChunkyDA wrote in post #16960271
Make sure you practice and try the suggestions above. You may not want to hear this and may not agree with me but your T3i is a slow performer in the focus department and the 85 f1.8 is also slow to focus. I am not saying you can't get lucky and nab an occasional in focus shot but your keeper rate is sure to be low with moving subjects.

The 85mm 1.8 is one of canon's fastest lenses to focus, and is often recommended for indoor sports for that reason. The 85mm 1.2L, however, is slower to focus.

The T3i and 85 1.8 are perfectly capable of taking quality sports photographs- back button focus and tracking the subject are the keys here- there is no reason to upgrade here, and luck won't be necessary to get pictures in focus, just practice.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #16909373
You may need to try a trick we bird photographers use, and "pump" the AF button. The t series does not have a custom function setting to increase AI servo sensitivity for action like this, so your options are to use your hands instead.

Using back button focus (does the t series allow that?) try pumping (pressing then releasing and pressing again) the AF button, so it keeps working at achieving a new focus.

Thank you for taking the time to post about using a "pumping" this technique or forcing the camera to refocus. I shoot a lot of HS Track and Cross Country images (PWAC) and this ought to help with my keeper rate. I took my gear to the local track when my son was doing speed work and I was impressed with the results. Thanks again!