Anyone (successfully) shooting fast-paced (sometimes indoor) sports with a 450D/XSi?

I've been shooting some swim, volleyball, and gymnastics stuff lately with my XSi, a 70-200 2.8L, and an 85 1.8. With this setup, I'm really banging against the wall of limitations on my XSi in terms of AF tracking, ISO, and fps. I'm still getting a lot of good sequential shots, even with the abysmal fps and ISO, (which I'd like to take that to mean that my skill is up to par enough that I don't need the 8 fps spray and pray method) but I'm really feeling limited by my body now more than ever. The next step for me would be a 7d to alleviate some of these three limitations, but I'm curious as to who is still shooting with an XSi for these types of fast-paced (sometimes indoor) sports and how successful they are in doing so with the given limitations.

Indoor action with a Canon XTi, a predecessor to the XSi. It's an older camera that never presented any obstacles toward capturing indoor action.

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DC Fan wrote in post #11769903
However, if you want a DSLR body considered to be more capable for action sports, you'll need to spend the US $4,700 for a Canon 1D Mark IV.

The 7D is a quite capable camera, and can be had NEW for less than half of what a used 1D sells for.

DC Fan wrote in post #11769903
Indoor action with a Canon XTi, a predecessor to the XSi. It's an older camera that never presented any obstacles toward capturing indoor action.

This XTi had the firmware hack, discussed on this forum, that allowed increasing the ISO from 1600 to 3200. Regardless, the XTi never felt like it was limiting indoor action shots, even with a relatively slow Canon 70-300mm IS lens. An XSi would be even more capable, especially with a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens.

The XTi's frame rate, roughly the same as the XSi's, never felt "abysmal." It always was useful for action sports. The newer XSi would perform just as well, if not better.

However, if you want a DSLR body considered to be more capable for action sports, you'll need to spend the US $4,700 for a Canon 1D Mark IV.

Thanks for the shots and it's good to hear your success with the XTi (I had that previous to my XSi as well). It's not a matter of whether I could increase the ISO to 3200 by a hack or not, as 1600 already causes some pretty bad image degradation to my eyes. I'm a little surprised to hear that you've never considered 1600 a limitation to your indoor action shots, though, seeing motion blur in the first and third photos. Perhaps we're misaligned on what we consider a limitation, and motion blur is a limitation for me. Often at indoor events at 1600 I have trouble getting 1/500 shots, even with an 85mm 1.8, so even the 70-200 2.8 is out of the equation at times. You must attend really well-lit arenas for your shoots. Referring to the fps rate, maybe abysmal isn't the right word as it could certainly be worse, but at 1600 ISO even with in-camera NR disabled the fps starts slowing considerably (compared to when I'm shooting at 800 ISO and below).

I'm not interested in moving up to a 1D MkIV as I only do this as a hobby, not a source of income. The 7d is next in my line of sight, but I'd rather not get into what I should upgrade to next in this thread.

I used a XTi for about 1 month before moving to a 40D. I wasn't happy with it's performance in gyms either.
I'd go to a 7D if you want to reduce your motion blur without breaking the bank.

i have been using mine for years shooting motorsports and yes i have been successfully doing it.

Fligi7 wrote in post #11769755
I've been shooting some swim, volleyball, and gymnastics stuff lately with my XSi, a 70-200 2.8L, and an 85 1.8. With this setup, I'm really banging against the wall of limitations on my XSi in terms of AF tracking, ISO, and fps. I'm still getting a lot of good sequential shots, even with the abysmal fps and ISO, (which I'd like to take that to mean that my skill is up to par enough that I don't need the 8 fps spray and pray method) but I'm really feeling limited by my body now more than ever. The next step for me would be a 7d to alleviate some of these three limitations, but I'm curious as to who is still shooting with an XSi for these types of fast-paced (sometimes indoor) sports and how successful they are in doing so with the given limitations.

I don't blame you - I felt the exact same way. I hated to even use ISO 1600 for low-light indoors events with my XSi - I did not like the large amount of noise. I really noticed a difference when I upgraded to a 7D. I'd say go for it!

Being that this thread is coming up on 2 years old now, I've since moved on to shooting with a 7D and a 50D as a backup. The upgrade to it was a no-brainer for me and shooting both indoor and outdoor sports has become exponentially more enjoyable since the days of the XSi. It was a great starter camera, though.