flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

AF-C, using Center focus point, surrounded by as few margin points as you can get away with. My Nikon has 2 I use...9 mostly, of 21, sometimes.

btbg

Agree with you totally. 135 is a good focal length for most volleyball action and 1250 is about the minimum to stop action.

swal

Hello. The people in the rear are sharper than the "focused area" so that is telling me that the shutter def needs to be set faster. Shooting sports? I would use the fastest shutter possible (lighting allowed).

coolhanduke Loc: Redondo Beach, CA

I would agree with this analysis.

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

Food for thought...
PhotoGuy you may have the cart before the horse.
Indoor gyms are notoriously bad venues with terrible illumination...
Learn your craft well in bright daylight before migrating into a dungeon...

Once you're adept at shooting in daylight then maybe you'll forget about beating yourself up in gyms.
That said, for indoor venues you are looking at a fast f/1.4 lens to allow your focus sensors enough ambient to lock instantly... Most commercial shooters use a body like the D500, D3s, D4, D5 so they can spray and pray their way to an occasional decent razor sharp composition...

Your journey is likely light-years away from commercial publication quality indoor gym sports imagery.
Please start with daylight Baseball or Softball where you can lock on the pitcher, and/or pan with the infielders. Remember no ball? No image... Word!

I shoot league soccer and even in bright daylight that is a serious challenge.

Be happy shooting the kit you have in bright daylight... It typically takes years to master sports/action.
If you insist on working indoor gyms you'll need an AF 85mm f/1.4 and credentials to shoot adjacent to the court. btw, VR, OS and IS are virtually useless in this scenario... Look seriously at a D500 w/ an AF 85mm f/1.4 (The "D" variant will work here and is more cost effective)

Wish you much joy on you journey PhotoGuy

Agency represented Professional Ballerina... Kit? Nikon D3x with a vintage AF 135mm f/2D DC IF Nikkor

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joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

Your perfect shots are making me fall in love with this spectacular model ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

richardjkirby601 Loc: Northern VA

I shot a lot of years of volleyball, with two daughters playing and one into college - it's not an easy sport, but better than outdoors under lights in weather. Center focus and shoot a lot - delete a lot. People are moving - and jumping or diving in the best shots. So, take a ton of pictures and delete most. This picture was one of ~250 I shot for that match, and I saved 27 photos.

The attached picture was a Sony DSLR-A580, on a monopod - 1/320 @ F2.8 ISO 1600 - it was taken at a convention center, so the lighting was not as good as a bright high school gym. The Sony has in-camera stabilization, which I have noticed does help, but not your issue, as part of the picture is in focus. Often when my daughter was playing, I would jump to manual focus, focus on the net where she hit from and work with that point. Often, I would use the net pole as the focal point to give me the depth.

Also, when possible, as others suggested, shoot so the background is not so busy. Not possible here in a convention center, but at a high school, try the end of the court, provided it doesn't interfere with players' movements. A less busy background will reduce the autofocus effort to pick the target, also center point focus helps too. Also, the manual focus trick if you know where the shot might come from. You just have to keep the player of interest in the middle. And for the most part (not saying everyone is like this), the ladies like photos head-on while playing, but if you are doing video, either up in the stands (if stable enough) or from behind.

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richardjkirby601 Loc: Northern VA

Where do you live that the roads are so clean?

jcboy3

Use a smaller focus area; you don't need to be focusing on the floor or balconies.

Check your AF setting on the lens, especially if it is supposedly back focusing. Note that the required focus adjustment can vary through the zoom range; generally you want to use a value from the 200mm end, but if it varies wildly you might want to use an average.

It is easy to check using the Dot Tune method. This will explain it:

https://learn.zoner.com/focus-problems-fine-tune-your-autofocus-with-dot-tune/

DanielB Loc: San Diego, Ca

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

Nikon D 7500=Good camera! It looks as if you have too many focus points chosen. AF C /GRP mode/ auto ISO. Matrix metering has nothing to do with focusing...exposure only! Technique? Set your shutter release control to Focus.Custom setting menu (Pencil icon) A 1. Autofocus AF-C priority selection Focus, then 2. AF-S Priority selection/ Focus. To my old eyes, it appears that the chairs and the woman in the blue dress are sharper by just a bit than your player. Subject motion? Camera movement? You may want to modify your fine tuning some, or take your camera and photos to the store that adjusted your tuning, and see if they can/will help you. If you do it yourself, set the fine tuning to 0. You can always return it to the former setting.Take some photos of a detailed subject at a reasonable shooting distance...the recommendation of 50X focal length seems a bit much to me...use a tripod for the tests, and also shoot some handheld, using good technique, and see how it goes. Don't use a tripod when you are trying to shoot sports. (Just my non-humble opinion) Good luck!

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

For sports work, I would recommend setting your focus mode to Shutter Priority which will provide you the best chance to get a great shot. As I use a Z9 for sports, I use a custom focus area setting but Group AF is great for any camera that has it. For most sports work, I use Manual mode with the shutter set to 1/1250 (mostly) and the aperture set the the max (widest open) of the lens. I set the ISO to Auto using matrix metering. For outdoor sports, I would normally use an f2.8 lens (as I like to 'blow out' the background). Indoors, in poorly lighted gyms, I prefer a f1.4 or f1.8 lens and sometimes, if I'm feeling strong, an f1.2. In well lighted gyms the f2.8 might also be a good choice. Personally, I shoot sports at 20FPS, sometimes faster. Sports work is an acquired taste and requires lots of practice. Knowledge of the sport you are shooting is very helpful. Best of luck. Just get out there and practice!

rjnedimyer Loc: Altoona, PA

I agree ISO is too high, also 1/600 should be fast enough. BUT THERE IS A 90% CHANCE YOU ARE OUT OF FOCUS @ 29.? Meters ! Unless you are a large college then there is just probably oof.YES! I saw the focus point but I shoot Highschool VBall and about 29.85 meters is over 90 feet [is across court and out of building]. CAMERA GOOFED NOT YOU!

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

I agree except maybe widen the focus to 9 point. Single point is difficult to hold on the subject when there’s movement.

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

I agree about the bbf. It’s a must especially for sports.