Hey Joe,
Good advice provided prior. Technical issues aside, you should plan out your approach for covering the race. Decide on the balance of wider group shots vs. Individual runners. Try to determine how closeup you will be to the action and how many other photographer bodies you will be jostling with. Figure out where the sun will be.
Bring a hood. Maybe a monopod or small Ultrapod II depending on the conditions and your lens.
Re: your query, use AF.C. and the high-speed shutter and center point focus. Moving the AF function to the AF button is the fast way to focus. RAW will slow you down, but it will be easier to fix the shots later if needed.
In a sport such as track, the emotions and body language of one or more runners will make the shot special. So get good definition of the faces. Practice quickly shifting from vertical to horizontal shooting because some of your best shots can be vertical in orientation. The grip helps here if you have one. Shallow DOF is preferred, unless you are documenting the mass of runners, and even then it's worth experimenting with.
Also consider different shooting heights and focal lengths.
I would think a minimum of 1/250 would get you by, so adjust ISO to facilitate and then shoot AV mode. ISO 1600 on a K20D should be OK if you shoot RAW and cleanup, though noise on those kinds of shots is secondary or even tertiary if you are in daylight. Use larger cards too.
Sounds like a fun time.
Hope this helps.
M
Originally posted by jrforman
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So my question is, which of the following would be better?
1. Set focus on AF.C and Drive mode on Continuous, select subject and shoot, or
2. Set focus on AF.S, and drive mode on single, then select subject bring the shutter release down, letting the camera fire once it has focus or
3. Some other alternative I don’t know about.
Thanks a lot.
Joe