Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM

Not a bad lens for basketball either.

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I think my lens need a calibration or micro-adjustment, i really feel my shots are not sharp even if i use one point and single shot, using high shutter speed and still it is not tack sharp, f3.2, i try to find where is the sharpest area in the shot and i can't find it, not sharp overall, so will the calibration or micro-adjustment will make an improvement?

your pictures are maybe with a small backfocus, but basically they are sharp. On your really small samples when can't get your real focus point. I don't know if IS was turned off too ?

With 1DMKIII @1600iso, you should just shoot in RAW and use noiseware to clean the picture, then sharpen a bit after having cleaned the noise. You won't get a real chance to have an ultra sharp picture in jpg mode at such Iso level (dynamic is more or less @ 9ev) and shooting white cloths in the night can be a real challenge to keep all details.

1/800 can also be still a bit slow for football players if you want to freeze feet or hands (1/1250 is a minimum speed).

newworld666 wrote in post #13583057
your pictures are maybe with a small backfocus, but basically they are sharp. On your really small samples when can't get your real focus point. I don't know if IS was turned off too ?

With 1DMKIII @1600iso, you should just shoot in RAW and use noiseware to clean the picture, then sharpen a bit after having cleaned the noise. You won't get a real chance to have an ultra sharp picture in jpg mode at such Iso level (dynamic is more or less @ 9ev) and shooting white cloths in the night can be a real challenge to keep all details.

1/800 can also be still a bit slow for football players if you want to freeze feet or hands (1/1250 is a minimum speed).

I see, well i want to discuss few points then to see what solutions can be achieved.

First of all, i ALWAYS shoot in RAW.

Second, those above shots or even previous shots are all cropped, hope this is not making this problem or it could be the reason.

What do you mean by IS turned on or off? I always keep it on, also i know many will point it as an issue, i don't use a monopod, always handheld, but this problem is with 70-200 lens as well, and honestly speaking, the problem of sharpness/AF issue is with 1D MarkIIn as well, both lenses, 300 and 70-200, i was impressed a little bit when i tested my friend's lens 70-200 II, was better and tad sharper, not huge buy noticeably it is sharper on 1D3, and way way much sharper with 1D2n over my old mk1.

I would like to do micro-adjustment but i forgot where i can follow instructions to do that, also it will not help in my 1D2n because it doesn't have this feature, it may help for 1D3 somehow, would like to give it a try.

Maybe you are right about pp, i will try later to use NR [noiseware or similar] and sharpen later, in those samples above i was just using Canon DPP software for everything, no PS or anything else, maybe i should try those software for comparison if it will help.

About shutter speed, will, i have also some shots at 1/1000-1/2000, not that much big difference, it depends on the player speed or action more even higher speed will make it more frozen, but i saw many shots at 1/500-1/800 tack sharp or way sharper than my 1/1500 shots, some stadiums here are not so great, but others i can perform 1/2000 at ISO2000-3200, i can use that for 1D3, but not 1D2n, i don't like 1D2n high ISO 1600 and above.

Today is a game, would like to leave my 70-200 and use another lens [prime] alongside with my 300, what i should use, EF85 1.8 or 135L? both lenses will perform sharper at f2.8 than my 70-200 on both those two FLs at f2.8.

IS shouldn't have an impact on sharpness, but for any sports (I turned it off, at less I don't get any apparent latency)

Menu for MA adjustment is easy to find C.FNIII - 7 ... assuming AF point is centred on the white player, probably -2 or -3 should arrange the focus.

Maybe you should lower the speed (1/640) or shot @f2.8 to get some more dynamic (it's better to do it by adjusting exposure +1/3 ev ) you will still be able to recover the white part of the shirt without getting burned part).
I think 300L2.8 IS is already ultra sharp @f2.8, just DOF can be too thin if players are too near you..

When I shoot with 2 bodies (1DMKIII and 5DMKII) I always need to compensate night shooting 1DMKIII body by 1/3EV (while 5DMKII is perfect).

newworld666 wrote in post #13583263
IS shouldn't have an impact on sharpness, but for any sports (I turned it off, at less I don't get any apparent latency)

Menu for MA adjustment is easy to find C.FNIII - 7 ... assuming AF point is centred on the white player, probably -2 or -3 should arrange the focus.

Maybe you should lower the speed (1/640) or shot @f2.8 to get some more dynamic (it's better to do it by adjusting exposure +1/3 ev ) you will still be able to recover the white part of the shirt without getting burned part).
I think 300L2.8 IS is already ultra sharp @f2.8, just DOF can be too thin if players are too near you..

When I shoot with 2 bodies (1DMKIII and 5DMKII) I always need to compensate night shooting 1DMKIII body by 1/3EV (while 5DMKII is perfect).

The game will start in the evening, before the sunset about 40 minutes and the second half after which will be under the lights.

Why lowering the speed? too bad that one of the teams will be wearing white, hope this will be fine today.

i was meaning to find how to do micro-adjustment step by step, i know where it is in the menu, but from the shot above you said i have front focus, how do you know if the lens is back or front focus just looking at samples? and can you tell how much amount i need to adjust? I don't know if i will have time to micro-adjust as i need to rest/sleep or nap now for a bit to get ready for the match, not sure i can do MA on time, and also my 70-200 on 1Dn will not do the job properly for me, so i may try with either 85mm or 135L for sharper results i hope.

Tareq wrote in post #13583358
The game will start in the evening, before the sunset about 40 minutes and the second half after which will be under the lights.

Why lowering the speed? too bad that one of the teams will be wearing white, hope this will be fine today.

i was meaning to find how to do micro-adjustment step by step, i know where it is in the menu, but from the shot above you said i have front focus, how do you know if the lens is back or front focus just looking at samples? and can you tell how much amount i need to adjust? I don't know if i will have time to micro-adjust as i need to rest/sleep or nap now for a bit to get ready for the match, not sure i can do MA on time, and also my 70-200 on 1Dn will not do the job properly for me, so i may try with either 85mm or 135L for sharper results i hope.

In such situation in real life shooting (without a target) , I just look at the ground how the sharpness of the grass is distributed front and back of the player (with 1DMKIII it's like a challenge, as screen is not as sharp as for 5DMKII). In your samples, players and ball are really just in front border of the "in focus sharp grass", so basically I would adjust by -2 to -3 to correct it.
It's not as scientific as such methods http://www.northlight-images.co.uk …s3_af_micoadjus​tment.html .
But it can be helpful to do it as you haven't done the job at "home".

To get more dynamic you need either to lower speed or open more your lens. Basically, you will get less dynamic (and sharpness feeling) if your picture is under exposed ... noise is increasing too if it's under exposed like your samples.

Usually I like pictures with white cloths as it can make more impressive pictures if you manage to get all details of the cloths.
You should control with the histogram if you are not over exposed (unfortunately, 1DMKIII screen is not bright and reliable enough for controlling exposures without histograms). It's not that complicated to do it while shooting, just a question of training.
Try to put the histogram on the right as much as you can, without going out (means burned parts). A I said my own experience is more than +1/3ev correction for night sports with white shirts, otherwise 1DMKIII makes pictures too dark and noisy.

newworld666 wrote in post #13583407
In such situation in real life shooting (without a target) , I just look at the ground how the sharpness of the grass is distributed front and back of the player (with 1DMKIII it's like a challenge, as screen is not as sharp as for 5DMKII). In your samples, players and ball are really just in front border of the "in focus sharp grass", so basically I would adjust by -2 to -3 to correct it.
It's not as scientific as such methods http://www.northlight-images.co.uk …s3_af_micoadjus​tment.html .
But it can be helpful to do it as you haven't done the job at "home".

To get more dynamic you need either to lower speed or open more your lens. Basically, you will get less dynamic (and sharpness feeling) if your picture is under exposed ... noise is increasing too if it's under exposed like your samples.

Usually I like pictures with white cloths as it can make more impressive pictures if you manage to get all details of the cloths.
You should control with the histogram if you are not over exposed (unfortunately, 1DMKIII screen is not bright and reliable enough for controlling exposures without histograms). It's not that complicated to do it while shooting, just a question of training.
Try to put the histogram on the right as much as you can, without going out (means burned parts). A I said my own experience is more than +1/3ev correction for night sports with white shirts, otherwise 1DMKIII makes pictures too dark and noisy.

I see, good catch and note.

I didn't go to the match today because i was so tired, so i think i will have tim to adjust my lens today, i may go for tomorrow game but not sure, in all cases i will read more and will try to do something before.

I got your point, ok, i will try to keep my exposure about normal or slightly over exposure, in fact if the teams don't wear white shirts/shorts then i can go a bit underexposed and increase later, i got nice results with that, i don't care much about the noise, i prefer sharper noisy shots over clean not so sharp shots, and when i checked the small LCD of my camera i think i set it about +1/2-2/3 above 0 for exposure comp.

I missed today match which is on a stadium with very good lights, there i can shoot at ISO 800-1000 with 1/1000 f2.8 no problem, but i want to know, why in some games i can get the colors very nice and sometimes the colors are off, i mean the green of the shots are green nice and other time i feel it is green or yellow cast overall.

Thanks for the link

7D, 300+1.4X 50% crop

Is that Dasher in Ruby?

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #13594442
Is that Dasher in Ruby?

It's Tim Decker at the California Capital Airshow. We ask all pilots to buzz us at some time in their routine. Patriots solo holds the record for actually making some of us duck or run!

Ah, I thought it was Reno...

keith breazeal wrote in post #13593227
7D, 300+1.4X 50% crop

Super!