Cannon Rebel XT and shooting sport scenes

[greg voce]

I have a Cannon Rebel XT and want to shoot baseball actions shots of my kids when they are playing. I have a Quantray 100-300 zoom lense. Should I just used the sports mode on the camera and go with the defaults? I am getting some good shots but seem to lose focus on say someone coming in for a slide. The initial shots are clear but as the scene progresses the focus seems to drift. Thanks

[livin4lax09]

you may just be limited by the AF speed on the lens and the camera. On sports mode the camera will be on an autofocus mode called AI Servo, which tracks the subjects as they are coming at you and never stops focusing on one spot. So in reality you SHOULD be getting clear photos, but if they are coming at you too quickly, it's probably just because your lens and AF motor can't keep up with your kids. A technique is to try pre-focusing where you think they are going to be then just click the shutter down when they get to that point.