Most of my photography has been of relatively stationary subjects, where I just use single-servo AF and either focus & recompose or move the single focus point to where in the frame I want the subject, or largely-individual sports like triathlon. But I’ve struggled getting sharp shots in team sports photography with a large number of moving people in frame.

If I try using continuous autofocus, it often focuses on the wrong subject or the background or seemingly nothing at all. If I try falling back on the techniques that work in other contexts, I usually just can’t get the shot off at the right time.

I don’t really understand the different autofocus options on my camera. I was mostly using what it calls “3D”, but I also briefly tried “group-area”. I don’t really understand how group-area differs from d9 or even 3D. And my camera’s manual doesn’t clear things up for me. I spent a little while in manual autofocus with a fairly closed aperture, by using autofocus and then switching to manual and leaving it untouched; but this only worked when play stayed roughly the same distance from the camera for a while, so didn’t really scale well.

Separate from the focus question, I spent the afternoon shooting at 1/1600. I’m not completely sure if this is fast enough, and maybe some of the blur in my photos is actually better explained by camera shake (shooting at 200 mm on a 1.5x crop sensor) or movement of the subjects. I suspect it’s probably not relevant, but I thought I’d mention it just in case.

What’s the best advice for how to get sharp shots in team sports photography?

(Included photo is a SOOC jpeg of a set play on the opposite side of the field from where I was…a situation that minimised my chance of focus problems.)

  • Zagorath@aussie.zoneOPEnglish
    1·
    5 months ago

    I’m using Nikon’s 55–200 mm f/4.0–5.6 VR. When play was on the opposite side of the field I definitely wish I had a longer lens, but when it was close to me, having the shorter end of that scale was crucial. Of the 354 photos I took, 50 were at 55 mm, and 4 more were above 55 but below 70 mm. (16 of 77 after my first pass). And I can always crop down when I want the far side photos to have larger subjects. I think the 70–300 would make more sense if the camera were full frame.

    • ianovic69@feddit.ukEnglish
      2·
      5 months ago

      I’ve made a mistake, the 55-300 does not have the fast AF I suggested it for. Apologies for that.

      The 70-300mm VR AFP f/4.5-6.3 DX ED has much faster AF. It works on your camera, is affordable, and the best tool for your usage here.

      Interestingly, I’ve read that with VR teles, switching off the VR will actually get you slightly faster AF. It’s only really for slower speeds, so that makes sense.

      You should only use DX lenses.

      When the play is close to you, set your position to allow for that.

      Edit to reflect that I got confused with which lens I recommended. Sorry!

      • Zagorath@aussie.zoneOPEnglish
        2·
        5 months ago

        Interestingly, I’ve read that with VR teles, switching off the VR will actually get you slightly faster AF

        Oh, good tip, thanks!