Fetch the ball ...

[armando_m]

I got a couple of photos of my dog chasing the ball in the backyard

I tried the sports mode in my camera, this sets it to iso 400 and max apertures, with continuous focus

the results were so so, with focus on the wrong part of the dog

I set it then to aperture priority F8, Iso 400 and gave it try still with continuous focus

still got the focus not on the face of the dog

finally set it to spot focus and got better results

here are the best images I was able to get

my hats off to sports photographers!

both had the white wall slightly lowered brigthness,
the one where she is looking at me was cropped

Thanks for looking

[Loupey]

Nice job on #2.

I too have been trying to figure out the AF on my system with dogs. I shoot Canon and found that even on servo mode with a relatively fast focusing combo (50D and 70-200mm f/2.8L IS) it still cannot keep up, reliably, with dogs running at full tilt directly towards the camera at close distances. Often the focus is a full one dog behind so I often get the 2nd dog rendered sharply.

Keep working on it to find the best method/combo that works for you

[Canyon Hiker]

Good job on the pics!!
Loupey, that's a great setup. Try setting your shutter speed (Tv mode) to 1500 or higher and set your iso at 1600. With that camera/lens you can probably shoot with a shutter speed of 2-3000 (1/3000) without a problem. Set your drive mode to High speed continous. You can take 6 pictures a second in that mode by just holding down the shutter button. If your dogs are running towards you start by haveing your lens zoomed out to 70mm, this will help in following them. You AF points should be set at the center point and servo mode is great for shots like that. Try this. You will be very happy with the results. Good luck, make sure we get to see the pics

Darin