Getting better with my R7 settings for sports

Chris Summers

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Chris Summers
So far I am really liking the new Canon R7 despite it feeling a bit small in my big hands. I've learned several things as far as settings when shooting sports that work for me, YMMV.

For most fast moving team sports I found "eye tracking" or even "tracking subject" to be not helpful. The camera will refocus when it perceives which subject to lock on to and that quite often is not the one with the ball or doing the main actions I want to capture. I tend to just use the "One point focus" focus mode placed in the center of the frame as that is where I am usually pointed at for the subject. I imagine it would be the same if you were photographing a moving flock of birds or other group of animals.

I'm using the fastest mechanical burst mode at 15 fps. I just follow the action, hold down the back button focus button and then the shutter release and sort it out later in Lightroom!

Noise is not too bad, most of the shots I am taking are meant for the kids to have through Flickr albums I share with them. They will mostly end up on social media so sizes are small. I reduce the noise in LR on the first of my picks and then just batch sync the rest to match. Speeds things up.

I shoot in T mode and chose the ISO that looks good as far as overall exposure. I find with Auto ISO it will go up or down too much depending on the area behind the player which is unimportant to me. I leave the F/stop on Auto.

Here are a few from last night's volleyball game. School gyms aren't always lit well, for these I was at 10,000 ISO and 1/1250 sec
 

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Good stuff, on figuring out what works for you. I like the first shot with the ball "wrapping" around her arm
 
Nice work! I have an R3 and R6 and I've been very happy with them for sports but I haven't done many indoor sports yet. The first time I did, was also volleyball. I have been contemplating an R7 for a combination of the crop sensor in sports as well as a body my kids can learn/use.
 

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