[Martowski]

Hi all,

Just curious if you have found what AFC settings work best with the KP when shooting gymnastics? Of course, typical indoor sports stuff at about 20 yards distance. I'm shooting my KP with a Tamron 70-200 1:2.8 and having issues with the AFC keeping up.

Thanks!

[robgski]

You might look at the Sports Photo thread under the General Photography section

[Martowski]

You might look at the Sports Photo thread under the General Photography section

Thanks, I'll look!

[kypfer]

Hi all,

Just curious if you have found what AFC settings work best with the KP when shooting gymnastics? Of course, typical indoor sports stuff at about 20 yards distance. I'm shooting my KP with a Tamron 70-200 1:2.8 and having issues with the AFC keeping up.

Thanks!

You'll probably need to set the "Hold AF Status", p59 in the manual, to Low or Off, but the camera is then relying on you to keep the subject matter within the focussing area so it doesn't "lock" onto the background.
If you give the camera too many focussing points to choose from there's a better chance that the "wrong" focus point will be chosen, so I'd suggest sticking to single-point a/f continuous and concentrate on keeping the subject under the focussing point in the viewfinder.
I use half-button-press of the shutter button for focus tracking, mostly 'cos that's what I'm used to, but there is valid argument for using "back-button-focussing" in this sort of scenario, which may take a little practice but many seem to swear by.
If the lighting is good enough and/or you're not too sensitive to high-ISO noise, stopping down by a couple of steps will give a bit more depth of field to help mask slight focussing errors, but if the ISO gets too high you'll have the noise-removal cycle slowing you down, so there may be compromises to be made.
As with much action photography, a modicum of practice will pay dividends, so take any opportunity to take pictures of anything active to become familiar with the capabilities of the camera … which are extensive!
If you've not applied the latest firmware update, my limited experience (before upgrading to my K-3iii) was that the follow-focus capabilities of the KP were improved, so that would be high on my list of priorities
Good luck.


PS :- Once you find a combination of settings that suit you, save them in a User Mode, then you can go back to them immediately without having to fiddle about

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Last edited by kypfer; 09-19-2021 at 01:48 PM. Reason: afterthought

[Martowski]

You'll probably need to set the "Hold AF Status", p59 in the manual, to Low or Off, but the camera is then relying on you to keep the subject matter within the focussing area so it doesn't "lock" onto the background.
If you give the camera too many focussing points to choose from there's a better chance that the "wrong" focus point will be chosen, so I'd suggest sticking to single-point a/f continuous and concentrate on keeping the subject under the focussing point in the viewfinder.
I use half-button-press of the shutter button for focus tracking, mostly 'cos that's what I'm used to, but there is valid argument for using "back-button-focussing" in this sort of scenario, which may take a little practice but many seem to swear by.
If the lighting is good enough and/or you're not too sensitive to high-ISO noise, stopping down by a couple of steps will give a bit more depth of field to help mask slight focussing errors, but if the ISO gets too high you'll have the noise-removal cycle slowing you down, so there may be compromises to be made.
As with much action photography, a modicum of practice will pay dividends, so take any opportunity to take pictures of anything active to become familiar with the capabilities of the camera … which are extensive!
If you've not applied the latest firmware update, my limited experience (before upgrading to my K-3iii) was that the follow-focus capabilities of the KP were improved, so that would be high on my list of priorities
Good luck.


PS :- Once you find a combination of settings that suit you, save them in a User Mode, then you can go back to them immediately without having to fiddle about

Wow, great advice... thank you! I will try some of the things you've mentioned and will test before hand!

[clackers]

You can see in my picture below there were plenty of tempting lines and edges other than my subject, the skill is to lay the focus point on our target and just our target. And not the dark part of the rider's outfit, either, that's useless, there is no distinct line there. The target would've been the border of the white patch below it, my lens is the Tamron 70-200 screwdrive like yours but it kept up enough at f3.5 here.

You will need to make sure you're positioned so that the subject is frontally lit for you to do AF-C, single point Expanded Area, preferably with back button focus. A back lit subject will be hard to acquire a line, especially in the poor conditions of a stadium.

[mikesbike]

As kypfer and clackers say- and indeed practice makes closer to perfect. Improving your panning skills is vary important. Developing a good quick eye and trigger finger as to just when to release the shutter takes time and experience. I also prefer the half press for fast action sports shooting, as my finger is constantly going on the half press and for me it is quicker to complete the press when my eye says "now" to fire the shutter, compared to using both thumb and front firing finger. For me, one finger beats two operating. What ever works best for you. In doing this to gain experience, you also become more aware of the fine points of the movements of the sport, which makes anticipating the action a bit easier.

[Martowski]

Once again, thank you everyone! I'm a novice at shooting this kind of stuff and appreciate everyone's insights.

Thanks for sharing that shot clackers, that's very nice.