5DMKII , 70-200mm f/4 IS USM L , & a decent monopod, has been working wonderfully for various sports.
I shot the Winter season of indoor basketball-soccer, and Spring season of kids soccer with no issues at all, some 5,000 shots.
I’m now on the Fall session of U11 U12 traveling soccer league. I find the AF of the 5D2 more than adequate. To keep computer/processing time down I shoot jpeg, nailing all the settings in the camera.
Here are the settings I currently use.
AutoFocus Settings
AI Servo
Continuous Shooting
Manual Selection of Center point with AF point area expansion on
AF is set to AF-ON button only (not shutter release)
Shutter release instigates IS, metering, and release.
Metering is set to Center-weighted average (I find this setting quite reliable and consistent)
Exposure is on Aperture priority f/5.6 for that lens, tack sharp.
ISO 200 (this typically keeps my shutter speed near 1/1000 second)
I use the thumb wheel to use exposure compensation for when the action moves into a strong side lit or back lit subject, thus compensating up to +1.666 ev and at times -ev to add visual weight to images)
Image Settings
To keep computer time down, I try to nail the picture settings. Set at large JPEG (+RAW if I have the card space, but typically I don’t reprocess the RAWs if I did my job with setting up for jpegs) The best scenario is to create your own in Picture Style Editor. You can nail down 95% of the colors, but if your team has some colors that are on the fringe of the gamut, picture style editor will give you the ability to do special tweaks to really match team standards if needed. For example, the teams I shoot have a real nice red jersey. But if I try to accurately capture that red within 2 delta e’s, I’ll sacrifice my subjects skin tones. I end up letting the jerseys hue going a bit yellow in the reds. You can fix this in PSE by adding a few hue-saturation adjustment points.
If you use a canned setting, I find these settings quite good. (note, these settings are based on customers ordering prints at MPix and the high propensity for the client base to want colorful saturated and contrasty images, your taste maybe different)
WB-Nailing the WB is obviously the most critical part for good color. I’m typically shooting mid day with mostly sunny skies. I manually set the WB around 6500 (+/-500), also, I’m constantly tweaking the WB shift. Nothing too extreme, a few clicks off of center. I find Canon’s custom WB function a bit flakey. Sometimes it’s great, other times, I find it made a bad choice.
Highlight tone priority on
Auto Lighting Optimizer on
Color space sRGB for more support and consistency for print fulfillment.
Picture style: Standard*
*Sharpness 6
*Contrast -2
*Saturation+1
*Color Tone (only changed when the WB shift isn’t giving me what I need, usually if the flesh tones are needing some red, set to -1, too red, set to +1)
Note about using exposure compensation. Mastering this dial can be crucial in the final look of your images. While shooting if you find the camera making judgements and producing images visually too bright, don’t be afraid to dial in some weight by setting some -1/3 or more. This dial works similar to working with curves in photoshop. Having the ability to make quick image adjustments that will appeal to your clients without using a computer is a big plus and time saver. It’s ok if part of an image is blown out. It’s ok if part of the images has dark 3/4 tones and shadows. I dare say making a technically perfect exposed photo is great for forum posting, but not always the best creative choice for the final image sale.
Make a quick assessment of what is it your clients really want to see, and use this as your guide. People love to see the expressions. Faces and eyes during strain and contact are huge. My clients like bold color. Be predictive in your shutter release. Try framing your images as tight as possible for good storytelling. I use to shoot with a Nikon D3. The FPS speed is a sure luxury. But, even with all that velocity under your finger, I still found I like to “tap” the shutter at the precise moment. I rarely shoot a camera like a machine gun. In fact, last year I shot a few games with a Canon Rebel XSi for fun. The results were more than acceptable. If you have any computer gaming under your belt you will have ample training in this kind of process. Unreal tournament, Halo, Quake, Fallout, etc… All of these are great exercise’s in predictive reactioning. (it’s a word) Also, it well help you feel better about those countless hours you spent gaming when you could have been climbing K2 or pondering Existential Psychotherapy.
Dial in your camera, learn your clients wants and needs, hone your shooting mechanics, get comfortable with your print fulfillment results, and you’ll be treated to images that are on par with the professionals.
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