sports focus

[Magmo]

Hi, I just took the step from DSLR to RF and the R6 Mark II, I'm struggling a bit to get the focus to work. I shoot basketball indoor and have backbutton focus, detect people, eyefocus and mode 4. I find the camera to jump around between players and wonder if there is a way to minimize this. I now focus on the player I want to take a photo of, recompose and then hope the camera stay on the target wich it doesnt do all the time.

Or can the camera be configured to work as before with a DSLR?

 

[AntonLargiader]

If you turn tracking off, it will work just like a typical DSLR. However, all of the detection stuff generally depends on tracking, and you won't be able to recompose.

Try Case 2. That one is aimed at keeping the lock on the original subject. You can even tweak the tracking down farther to -2 for increased stickiness. And use a small AF area (spot or single-point) so you can get all of it on the player you want.

 

[Magmo]

If you turn tracking off, it will work just like a typical DSLR. However, all of the detection stuff generally depends on tracking, and you won't be able to recompose.

Try Case 2. That one is aimed at keeping the lock on the original subject. You can even tweak the tracking down farther to -2 for increased stickiness. And use a small AF area (spot or single-point) so you can get all of it on the player you want.

Hi, I tried the case 2 but I didnt think it worked good enough, should I also set whole area tracking Servo AF to off?

 

[Magmo]

Hi, I tried the case 2 but I didnt think it worked good enough, should I also set whole area tracking Servo AF to off?

I wanted to update on what I ended up doing that works fine and maybe can help someone out that is also struggling

Servo
Flexible zone 1 and change the size and position
Detect person
Detect eye
Case 2
Increase stickiness

This way the camera will not look for a persons eye outside the flexible zone which it did before and since I shoot basketball there is always lots of players in the shoot and I don’t want the camera to look for a subject other than my main target

 

[AntonLargiader]

That all makes sense. Thanks for that note about the camera not looking outside the flexible zone for an eye. Is this the same for all AF zones?

 

[Magmo]

That all makes sense. Thanks for that note about the camera not looking outside the flexible zone for an eye. Is this the same for all AF zones?

Yes, they all works the same but since you can resize the flexible zones I see the other flexible zones as presets with a fixed size set already. I configured the flexible zone one to fit my needs when shooting basketball and it works very good

 

[AntonLargiader]

I have more basketball coming up and I will experiment with that. Last game (looking at the EXIF) I used Servo, Spot, Case 2, Tracking -1, Detect People, Switching disable, Tracking enable. I have AF on the shutter button.

 

[Magmo]

I have more basketball coming up and I will experiment with that. Last game (looking at the EXIF) I used Servo, Spot, Case 2, Tracking -1, Detect People, Switching disable, Tracking enable. I have AF on the shutter button.

I can mention that I use back button focus also

 

[jcass]

Indoor sports lighting is always tough. I use a dual back button focus setup like the configuration schemes found on many birding sites. The primary BBF button is on eye detect and the '*' button is on center point AF. Sometimes eye detect AF is just too jumpy. In my configurations I also use the half-shutter press to lock exposure.

All of these are Servo AF, not one-shot. BBF allows you to set the focus and release the back button if your subject is relatively static. That is usually how I use the center point AF on the '*' button.

I feel that focus/recompose won't work well with sports. Maybe zoom out a little and crop in post. Things just happen to fast and the players are always in motion. With eye detection, I use Servo AF and take the shots with focus active. By the time you recompose, the focus may be off.

In all sport photography, I believe that your experience/familiarity with the sport makes the biggest difference surprisingly. My years playing soccer and baseball let me anticipate moments and prepare a split second before the action actually occurs. Practice and keep taking photos with a setup that you feel comfortable with. Develop your sixth sense and occasionally it will feel like "bullet time" and your auto-focus will naturally improve too.