I need help.
Oops.
I shot high school basketball on Tuesday night, just as I have a few other times so far this year. And, no matter what I do or change or try, I can’t stop backfocusing.
© 2011 by The York Dispatch. York Suburban's Kevin Donahue shoots a free-throw in the first quarter at York Suburban High School on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011. Donahue scored his 1,000th point in the game's third quarter. The York Suburban High School boys basketball team defeated Susquehannock High 65-41 at home.
Here are the facts:
- I’ve always owned a Canon, but now use a full-frame.
- Because of not-so-ideal high school gym lighting, I shoot at 2.8. (Which I also did for college basketball, in better lighting.)
- I use back-button focus.
- For focusing modes, I’ve tried using AI Servo and One Shot at different games. One Shot used to work well for me when I shot with a cropped-sensor Canon. Now, neither mode is helpful in alleviating my backfocusing issues.
- I miss Nikon’s pro-body focus-point options, but that’s a moot point.
- I use center-point focus.
© 2011 by The York Dispatch. York Suburban's Ted Hinnenkamp shoots against Susquehannock High in the first quarter at York Suburban High School on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011.
Timing and framing aren’t problems. Backfocusing is. I can’t count how many great photos I’ve had to pass because they were backfocused. And I’m not a bad basketball photographer. I’m not the best, but when I shot college basketball with a Nikon or cropped-sensor Canon, I never had any technical issues.
Now, I’m shooting high school basketball with a full-frame, and I’m overwhelmed by how many awesome moments are ruined because I couldn’t focus fast enough.
Help. Please.
(And no, I’m not switching over to Nikon. Or using my 30D for these low-light gyms.)
Words and Light 
I had a lot of trouble last year learning how to focus on a full frame over a cropped. I don’t know why it is different, but it took me awhile. I think I just needed to get to know the focusing system and develop a different touch with it.
I haven’t heard of this problem before though, I wish I could help more, but I shoot Nikon.
good luck!
Chris,
I’m guessing by “full frame” you mean the 5D Mark II (I’d be very surprised if you were having these problems with a 1Ds). The AF is going to work against you, but here are a few things you should think about doing. For one, it’s good that you’re using the center focus point only. I would ditch rear-button focus for sports: you need to be set to AI Servo and Continuous Drive mode, and it’s a pain in the but to have your thumb mashing the rear AF-ON button and your index finger pressing down on the shutter *all of the time,* which is exactly what you’d have to do for sports. For this situation, I make the AF-ON button an autofocus “stop.” This means that when I hold in the rear button, it won’t autofocus.
When you’re using AI-Servo, it’s basically like having One-Shot AF on the back because you can let the camera focus and then hold the back button so it stops “hunting.”
Now, go into the custom function menu and select the submenu III: Autofocus/Drive. Custom-function III/1 is “Lens drive when AF impossible” and it should be set to “Focus search off.” This prevents it from hunting when it has no idea what is going on. (You may try this one on and off to see the difference and determine if it works for you.) Setting III/7 is “AF point area expansion” and you might try disabling this. It’s possible that even though you’re selecting the center focus point, the camera is choosing another point near the center that is part of its “expanded” coverage.
If after all of this you still have back-focus problems, you might consider getting a LensAlign MKII so you can confirm if you really have back (or front) focus problems and use the camera’s autofocus micro-adjustments to correct them.
Good luck!
David
Thanks, DK! I’m going to have to print this out next time I shoot basketball. Swimming wasn’t a problem; I use One Shot for that and didn’t have a problem. (Those photos are coming up soon.)
David, that was really, really, really helpful. Awesomeeee
One thing I forgot to mention is that the 5D Mk. II is deficient in a couple of ways: Canon did not provide it with the custom functions to control the “AI Servo Tracking Sensitivity” (which should be set to “Slow” on all camera bodies that have that CFn because it makes the AF less “jittery:” if you point the camera at another spot its less likely to jump to it when you set the sensitivity to slow, which is good when you’re panning in sports and you accidentally point at the stands 50 yards behind the player!
The other thing that it can’t do is set the “AI Servo 1st/2nd img priority”which should be set to “AF priority/Tracking priority”in the camera bodies with that option (7D, and all of the pro bodies).
The 5D Mk. II *should* have these options, but it doesn’t, which is why shooting sports with it is hard. Not impossible, but harder than it should be! Good luck!
David
Yeah — I remember when the 5DII came out, Jeff and I talked about it and blew it off as a portrait/studio/wedding camera because it’s just not built for sports. I knew I’d have some adapting to do once I got it (and am obviously using it for photo-j), but yeesh.
Thanks again, DK; I owe you a drink next time we see each other!
Ah, that David Kennedy. A smart cookie, he is!
[…] where refs never go — whereas for these games, I made a point not to do so, to alleviate my backfocusing issues. As it turned out, backfocusing wasn’t such a big problem last night, but I know I missed a […]