Dexter56 Loc: Ohio

Looking for advice on which AF-Area mode to use with my D500 while shooting high school football under the lights. With all of my other Nikons, I have had pretty good luck using dynamic area focusing d9. The D500 has a minimum number of points of 25. I notice with my D500 that I have a lot of shots where I will have the subject in focus in a few frames, then the focus will jump to another player. Not sure if that is because the number have focus points is higher, therefore increasing the area the camera is looking to focus. I have thought about using single point or switching to Group Area focus. The problem with Group area, from what I read, it chooses the subject closes to the camera. Does anyone have experience with the D500 shooting football? In custom shooting menu a3 I have focus tracking set to "3" and subject motion set to "erratic". Thanks for any help you can give me.

tommy2slow Loc: Drippings Springs, TX

Switch to "Manual" and choose your target!

btbg

I use a single focus point on my D500 and D5 both when shooting football. You might also try back button focus as you can program the button that moves your focus point to also be used to focus the camera. That puts your thumb on both controls together.

I like that for football, but not for volleyball or basketball which I tend to shoot vertically. Programming the button for back button focus is great when the camera is held horizontally, but I don't like it at all when the camera is vertical because of where the button is.

aaciolkowski Loc: Sugar Grove Illinois

Football and Soccer back button and single point focus.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Buy this book and wonder no more.

ronichas Loc: Long Island

I would suggest group focus, which is a Nikon feature. I use this often on my D750. It is also found in the D500.

**The camera focuses using all the focus points in a group around the point selected by the user, reducing the risk of the camera focusing on the background. Choose for subjects that are difficult to photograph using a single focus point.**

**When compared to the regular Single-Point AF Mode, Group-area AF activates five focus points to track subjects. This focus mode is great for initial focus acquisition and tracking of subjects when compared to a Single-Point or Dynamic AF, especially when dealing with smaller birds that fly erratically and can be really hard to focus on and track. In such situations, the Group-area AF mode might give better results than Dynamic AF, showing better accuracy and consistency from shot to shot.***

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Fortunately your camera is equipped with GROUP AUTO FOCUS, in group auto focus Nikon by default picks the center spot and then puts four spots around that one for a total of five focusing spots right in the middle of the viewfinder. My keep rate for focus in 98 to 99%. It is that good, as long as one of the five spots is on your player, that player will be in focus. I shoot birds in flight which are more unpredictable than a football player and I try very hard to put all five spots on the center mass of the bird, and yes, the eyes are always in focus. Try it, you may like it. Enjoy yourself and keep on shooting until the end.

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

Dexter56 I feel your pain... been there with the D500, that is until I found wisdom from Nikon Professional Services (Global) Technical Solutions | D500 TIPS: Sports AF Edition... I would strongly suggest you invest a day or so reviewing and getting your head around the savvy knowledge latent within... http://nps.nikonimaging.com/technical_solutions/d500_tips/af/

Please do not think that purchase of "wisdom" from a third party is going to yield knowledge more valid than that from the entity that designed this unique camera.

That said shooting action sports is a craft which one must develop over time... And intimately knowing the limitations of one's kit comes with the territory... It took me quite some time to master the D500's focusing system idiosyncrasies... As you have discovered this is not your typical Nikon... It is a beast of it's own... But it can be tamed with perseverance and most importantly practice and tenure... Like the first few thousand frames are at best a "wash". Only after you have discovered what doesn't work will you become one with your D500. Do yourself a big favor and study Nikon Professional Services (Global) Technical Solutions | D500 TIPS: Sports AF Edition in as it was the key to my mastering the D500.

Also I would place little if any credence in what those who offer "advice" without showing the level of their tenure with the camera... Sadly UHH is overrun with hobbyist who are highly opinionated in what "works" albeit they likely haven't a clue since they don't shoot commercially... enough said....

Examples below were shot with the D500 mated to an AF-S 200-400mm f/4 ED IF VR Lens; Aperture f/4 @ 1/2000 second. While this isn't "Nighttime" American Football the only difference would be easily accommodated with Auto ISO. The D500 while no match for a full frame in low light does "acceptably" well... Btw, I have since sold my D500 owing to it's lack of IQ... I now only shoot action sports commercially on full frame since the D500 just wasn't producing imagery at the level my clients have grown to expect...

Hope this helps or is at least food for thought...
I wish you well on your journey Dexter56

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billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

I find your quote "Also I would place little if any credence in what those who offer "advice" without showing the level of their tenure with the camera... Sadly UHH is overrun with hobbyist who are highly opinionated in what "works" albeit they likely haven't a clue since they don't shoot commercially... enough said...."
As a former PROFESSIONAL photographer I have found many, many Hobbyist to be very skilled in their craft, and their advice is usually spot on. You have shamed and underestimated many folks on this site. And after all, we are all giving advice, isn't that the point of this site.

dyximan

I recently rented this camera specifically for birding etc. moving objects. And discussed with the camera store and others this very subject. You might try spot focus first then the next one up is a matrix and the large focus area is way too much and I found the camera can't decide what to focus on an individual the referee the bench etc.. you might also Google the D 500 as I did and found helpful as it explained it three focal areas and the conditions in which they Work best. Good luck have fun I guess you have till Friday before the next game

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

As a professional sports action photographer, I use a D5, D500 and D850. I shoot sports using Group Focus and set Focus Tracking to 2. I leave "subject Motion" in the middle. YMMV, Best of luck.!

sandiegosteve Loc: San Diego, CA

Night time football has another added dimension that makes it hard; lower light makes focusing harder. Daytime soccer, no problem, indoor gym sports and night time, my ration of in focus goes down. It could very well be a problem between the viewfinder and the button (me).

Back button focus (with BBF, always use AF-C). I've experimented with 9 point and single. For me, the most important is getting the target AF point where I want it. I move it up a little to focus on faces. If I can predict things, maybe one left or one right.
With BBF, you can pre-focus which is nice... sometimes.

The fewer AF points, the less chance of the camera guessing wrong, but the great chance of telling it to focus in the wrong spot.

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

I use the D500 and use Group focus mode. I am 72 yrs. old and have trouble keeping the single focus on the action. For football I follow the ball and group works great for me. The only thing I can say is try the different modes. Remember the center of group is surrounded by other points that help with sharp images. These shots are with group focus. The best of luck Dexter.

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dyximan

also I noticed mentioned the tracking sensitivity which is a great one to consider I know it sounds a bit complicated but it's not all that bad. If you have time you can look it up in Google it or run to your local camera store. The back button focus will allow you to focus on a particular object and keep it as such while moving without changing the focus based on objects to come into your cameras view. And with the tracking sensitivity it will delay as you cross paths with say The REF, a goal post, a bench and not focus on those things.

Dexter56 Loc: Ohio

I always use BBF. You are right, much easier to use. Single point was my next try. Going to use it for a quarter on Friday night. Hopefully I can keep that single point on the intended target. Thanks for the reply