I upgraded from my Nikon D40 to the Canon 40D to make sports photography easier. I finally had a chance to shoot outdoor sports with the new 40D / 70-200 f/4. I shot at f/4 with ss between 1/1000 and 1/4000. Outdoor lighting was light to moderate clouds.
Exposure - The camera was right on each time. Only a couple blown highlights which is fine when it is the shoulder of a white jersey on a backlit player. I expected to have to dial in -1/3 exp comp but this camera is right on. My Nikon D40 (very sweet) requires -1/3 to prevent blown highlights.
AF - Very impressive. 133 shots with none out of focus due to camera error. I had it set to center AF only, servo mode. When something started to develop in the lens, I'm mash the shutter button and let 'er rip. The result was one pic after another of correctly focused soccer action. I did have one that was OOF but it was when the players were L/R if center. The background was sharply focused telling me the camera worked just fine. My Nikon D40 is much (much) slower to focus. What I did with the mid-range Canon would not have been possible with the entry-level Nikon.
I'll try using mulitpoint focus one of these days, but so far, the single central focus mode is working just great.
- Keith -
