[leonardotmnt]

I have a K-3 and like to take photos of my son's U10 soccer games. I've had some trouble getting sharp images and was wondering if anyone has some tips but I see there's a setting under Info in Liveview that's for Contrast AF. Right now it's set to Select. I see there's a mode for Tracking. Would this help me get sharper images as the kids are running? There are also options like Face Detection, Multiple AF Points, and Spot. Can anyone explain or point me to an explanation of what these modes will do? Or are these settings only for Liveview?

I have 1st Frame Action in AF.C set to Focus Priority, Action in AF.C Continuous set to Focus Priority, and Hold AF Status to High. I have the AF setting set to AF.C and Select 2.

Any tips on how to get sharper images or is it probably that I just need to improve my technique? Thanks!

[Supakatti]

What lens you used? How your photos were unsharp. There is different reasons. Are they unsharp because of too long shutter time or unsharp because bad focus? You could show one example photo here with its exif information.

[leonardotmnt]

I'm using the 55-300 WR. I think it's because of bad focus. I generally try to stay around 1/400 shutter speed. Sometimes 1/500. I thought that'd be plenty for their age but I guess I'm not positive. .

[leonardotmnt]

Here's an example.

Attached Images

View Picture EXIF

File Date

 

[victormeldrew]

Looking at the image, there is nothing much there that is properly sharp. On the boy, the feet are much less sharp than the face, despite being more or less on the same plane. This leads me to suspect motion blur is a much bigger issue than focus. For sports, shutter speeds in the thousands are generally used to ensure sharpness, so I would suggest starting there. Open up the aperture a bit, crank up the ISO a bit (you can do noise reduction later) and aim for 1/2000 or thereabouts.

[pschlute]

I suggest using a higher ISO... say 800..that will give you more options for higher shutter speed and not having to shoot with too large an aperture

[leonardotmnt]

Thanks. I'll try that then. I guess I thought 400 or 500 would be okay for his age but maybe I was wrong. I've been trying to keep the ISO low but I'll raise it. The aperture on this one was higher than I usually use because I thought maybe it was that I was a little too wide open but it seems like I can keep it wider? 5.8 is as wide as I can go at 300 mm.

Here's one that looks a little more in focus. The fact that some look more in focus than others was why I wasn't sure if it was the shutter speed.

Attached Images

View Picture EXIF

File Date

 

[pschlute]

Well i use a K1 and have been taking pictures of our dogs running about with a DA* 60-250. I am finding it difficult to get well focussed pictures with AF-C, maybe one in ten. I have more success by using the old fashioned method of pre-focussing in manual mode on a given spot and then when the action "arrives" there give it a burst of highest continous shooting mode

...and to answer your earlier question, yes contrast Af is only for LV

Have a look here too. This has only just come out so not read it yet myself..https://www.pentaxforums.com/articles/photo-articles/dslr-sports-autofocus-settings-guide.html

[leonardotmnt]

Unfortunately with soccer it's nearly impossible to pre-focus at least at this level. The action moves in all planes way too quickly. His game was rained out today so hopefully I'll get another chance tomorrow to try a higher shutter speed.

[RoccoStiglitz]

The different contrast AF modes are pretty self explanatory. Face detect tries to lock onto a face and moves the focus point around as the subject moves on frame. Tracking is simular except you pick a subject, place the AF point over it and the camera attempts to lock onto it. Multi point auto is the cameras best guess as to what should be in focus. I'm not sure any of those auto modes are going to be able to keep up with this particular task.

I know you'd have to use the OVF rather than LV but isn't phase detect AF better for stuff like this? I had decent success at a softball game using the OVF with AF-C and the auto-9 setting on my K-1.

[victormeldrew]

Here's one that looks a little more in focus. The fact that some look more in focus than others was why I wasn't sure if it was the shutter speed.

Again, the feet and arms of the boy are motion blurred. It is possible that at that moment, the head and torso was relatively stationary and so are more sharp. f/5.8 will give more than enough depth of field at that distance and so keeping the aperture wide open is the way forward. You might like to try TAv mode, set the aperture wide and the shutter speed around 1-2000 and allow the ISO to vary to keep the exposure correct. Experiment, try a few shutter speeds, and review the images later to see where the sweet point is.

[zosxavius]

Well i use a K1 and have been taking pictures of our dogs running about with a DA* 60-250. I am finding it difficult to get well focussed pictures with AF-C, maybe one in ten. I have more success by using the old fashioned method of pre-focussing in manual mode on a given spot and then when the action "arrives" there give it a burst of highest continous shooting mode

...and to answer your earlier question, yes contrast Af is only for LV

Have a look here too. This has only just come out so not read it yet myself..Guide to Camera and Autofocus Settings for Shooting Sports - Articles and Tips | PentaxForums.com

The 60-250 is just too slow to really track well. it does ok at distances and with panning shots but it is a slow focusing lens.

[normhead]

Use a monopod or tripod, use 1/1000s ƒ5.6 in TaV mode. Use AF.s centre point focus instead of AF.c. Use first shot focus and burst mode, 4 to 5 shot bursts for each desired image.

That's what i would try first.

If I can't get that to work I might try messing around with tracking.

In Pentax land this is DFA 70-200 territory, although the new 55-300 PLM is reputed to be very fast focussing as well.

[leonardotmnt]

Moving shutter speed to 1/1250 really helped with the focus issue. Thanks for all the help! Still lots to work on as far as technique but the shutter speed suggestions really helped.

[ThorSanchez]

Rather than start an all new thread on a similar subject, hope no one minds me hijacking this one...

I've shot a lot of my kids playing soccer, but I'm having issues with focusing on the background rather than the subject. I have a K-3ii and am using the old SMC DA 55-300. I've been using 9-point auto, but I think I'm going to try more spot focus. I use back-button focus, this was with AF-C (that doesn't really matter with back-button, correct?). Any other hints or tips?

I'm paranoid that the camera was messed up after a dropped it a few months ago, but I have plenty of sharp examples since then. And I ran all my lenses through micro-adjust calibration yesterday before this morning's soccer game. The 55-300 looked pretty dead-on with my little focusing setup in the dining room, although that's from a few feet away, not 50 or 100.

One other thing, I have a Sports preset I use where I'm typically shooting f/7.1 for depth of field but the photo below was wide open at f/4.5. I didn't notice but almost everything I shot this morning was accidentally wide open. That could be a contributing factor.