I am new to sports photography. I have read some great tips on several of the threads so far. I have a Nikon 300s and will be shooting a 70=200 2.8 For both gym and stadium work what auto focus settings work best C or S and what number of points of focus?

I only use a single focus point, the center one when shooting in the landscape orientation and the one directly above the center when shooting in portrait orientation.

Originally Posted by Randy Lawson I am new to sports photography. I have read some great tips on several of the threads so far. I have a Nikon 300s and will be shooting a 70=200 2.8 For both gym and stadium work what auto focus settings work best C or S and what number of points of focus?

Shooting sports? AF-C for sure. Either single or 9 point. 9-pt will often lock faster than single. Especially in poor lighting conditions..

Originally Posted by perroneford Either single or 9 point. 9-pt will often lock faster than single. Especially in poor lighting conditions..

9-pt will work, but also depends on your subject. Like soccer, it may snag the person next to the person you were really wanting due to a bit more contrast in that area. I like single point for human sports subjects and 9-pt at times for auto sports, especially smaller cars in larger groups as your framing might change from what you first intended due to the action.

The choice of single AF point vs. multiple AF points also depends on aperture. I usually shoot sports wide open (f/2.0-2.8 on my sports lenses) and thus have a very shallow depth of field (DOF). Using multiple points in these apertures almost always results in less-than-sharp shots. Even with a single point at the center, an athlete running towards me might have his belly botton in focus but not his face because he is leaning forward. Because of this, I constantly bump my single AF point around as I am shooting just to keep the AF point on the right part of the subject.

And for soccer--especially the goal keeper shots--that net in the background will always snag the focus. It's hard even with a single AF point sometimes!

Originally Posted by jww 9-pt will work, but also depends on your subject. Like soccer, it may snag the person next to the person you were really wanting due to a bit more contrast in that area. .

I recently started using a Nikon D7000. It has AF-A mode, not just AF-S and AF-C. In AF-A, it's supposed to detect whether the subject is stationary or moving. If the former, it shoots single-servo; if the latter, it shoots continuous servo. This seems good for my football shooting because sometimes my subjects will be stationary (e.g., shots while lined up at line of scrimmage) while other times I shoot the play unfolding. Regarding focus points, the D7000 manual recommends shooting football action in 21 point dynamic area AF (with either AF-A or AF-C) because the subjects will be moving "unpredictably."

I tried AF-A with 21 points last Friday and obtained good results, but I did notice some focusing on persons other than my intended subject, so your point is well-taken. What do you think of using AF-A and following the D7000 manual's advice above?

Originally Posted by attorneyjay I recently started using a Nikon D7000. It has AF-A mode, not just AF-S and AF-C. In AF-A, it's supposed to detect whether the subject is stationary or moving. If the former, it shoots single-servo; if the latter, it shoots continuous servo. This seems good for my football shooting because sometimes my subjects will be stationary (e.g., shots while lined up at line of scrimmage) while other times I shoot the play unfolding. Regarding focus points, the D7000 manual recommends shooting football action in 21 point dynamic area AF (with either AF-A or AF-C) because the subjects will be moving "unpredictably." I tried AF-A with 21 points last Friday and obtained good results, but I did notice some focusing on persons other than my intended subject, so your point is well-taken. What do you think of using AF-A and following the D7000 manual's advice above?

Well if it works, great! However as as you have found, it is sometimes unpredictable. Sometimes I think they write those manuals thinking that you are simply pointing at all the players with a 50mm lens and if something is focused on, then oh goodie, you have a snapshot. If you are using long lenses and a more narrow DoF, that that really isn't the case.

I use AF-Ch on my D3's and single point when shooting human's playing field sports such as (baseball, soccer or football). This way I can compose the shot and nail exactly what I want as the subject.

That might sound a bit far fetched given the unpredictable action, but I normally shoot motorsports where speeds range from 30mph up to and above 200mph. Humans in comparison are rather slow in comparision me. lol

Originally Posted by attorneyjay I recently started using a Nikon D7000. It has AF-A mode, not just AF-S and AF-C. In AF-A, it's supposed to detect whether the subject is stationary or moving. If the former, it shoots single-servo; if the latter, it shoots continuous servo. This seems good for my football shooting because sometimes my subjects will be stationary (e.g., shots while lined up at line of scrimmage) while other times I shoot the play unfolding. Regarding focus points, the D7000 manual recommends shooting football action in 21 point dynamic area AF (with either AF-A or AF-C) because the subjects will be moving "unpredictably." I tried AF-A with 21 points last Friday and obtained good results, but I did notice some focusing on persons other than my intended subject, so your point is well-taken. What do you think of using AF-A and following the D7000 manual's advice above?

I tried AF-A when I got my D7000. Laughed, then put it on AF-C and left there.

Last season I was shooting a soccer game for fun. So I decided to try shooting in all the different focus modes. In great light, single point AF-C was best. At night I found 9pt best as sometimes the area under the single point could not be locked.

You are welcome to look through my site and read the EXIF on my photos. I leave it intact in nearly all cases.

-P

Thanks for the very helpful replies!

Jay

Here's a link I found helpful.
http://johnfriend.blogspot.com/2009/10/nikon-d300-auto-focus-for-sports-i.html

Originally Posted by Icebear Here's a link I found helpful. http://johnfriend.blogspot.com/2009/10/nikon-d300-auto-focus-for-sports-i.html

The only two points I would quibble with in this tutorial are:

#3: Release--this many give you more FPS, but all you'll get is a lot of (slightly) OOF shots. At least for me, when shooting wide open and submitting images to media outlets, if it's not in perfect focus it's worthless.

#4: Multiple active AF points--this never works for me, as many of the images appear soft because the camera has many more focus options and usually takes the one with the greatest contrast. I have much better luck with a single AF point. One of my exercises is to shoot birds in flight with a single AF point, just to practice tracking. After many hours of this, soccer players are not so difficult.

Just my $0.02's worth...

John

Thanks everyone, Great info ,

Originally Posted by Icebear Here's a link I found helpful. http://johnfriend.blogspot.com/2009/10/nikon-d300-auto-focus-for-sports-i.html

Wow!. That is an excellent article.

This one does a pretty good job too:
http://mansurovs.com/dslr-autofocus-modes-explained

Phil