hj wrote:
I am shooting community college soccer daytime pics using a Canon 80D with the EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM lens. I'm confused which focus setting I should use on the Canon 80D. Thanks for suggestions.
For sports photography, I would ONLY use AI Servo focus mode and I'd use it with Back Button Focus (to set that up, on 80D all you need to do is disable AF from the shutter release button... using the button customization menu to set that to "meter", instead of "AF").
Most of the time I use Single Point, manually selected. It's up to you which point to use, but I often use the center one, switching to others only for special shots.
On 80D you also have two "Zone" patterns that you might try. I'd experiment with the smaller of those. This will likely cause some missed focus shots because when multiple AF points are enabled, the camera will usually go to the one that's active and covering something closest to you. That may not be where you wanted it to focus. (I don't use Zone much on my 7D Mark IIs... I prefer to use Expansion Points... but 80D doesn't have that option.)
You can increase your "acceptably focused" shots a bit by stopping your lens down between f/5.6 and f/8. More depth of field can help hide some slight focus errors. The downside to using smaller apertures will be that backgrounds won't be blurred as much, separating the subjects as nicely. So look for plainer or more distant backgrounds to photograph the subject in front of.
Definitely DON'T use AI Focus or One Shot focus modes. One Shot is for stationary subjects. AI Focus really isn't a focus mode at all. The camera is supposed to determine whether or not the subject is moving, then switch to use either AI Servo or One Shot, as appropriate. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, in my experience.
There's no "Focus Confirmation" given in AI Servo... you have to trust the camera and lens. If you hear your camera "beeping" during focus, you're in the wrong focus mode to be shooting sports (I hear this all the time at sporting events... and I know most of those photographers' shots will miss focus!)
The lens you use will also make a difference in focus speed.... Canon USM or "ultrasonic" lenses are generally the fastest (also Sigma HSM and Tamron USD). Canon STM or "stepper motor" lenses are okay, but not as fast to acquire or as good tracking movement (don't know if other manufacturers have similar). Canon "micro motor" lenses (not marked either USM or STM) are their slowest focusing and most difficult to use for sports photography.
With slower focusing lenses, if you are unable to get the AF to track the subjects, you may need to pre-focus on a point where you know the subject will be and then wait for them to arrive, tripping the shutter at exactly the right moment.
You also cannot safely manually override the micro motor AF system without first turning it off at the switch. USM and STM lenses can be manually focusing any time without risk of damage to the AF mechanism. This allows you to use a de-focus/re-focus technique when needed. Don't do that with micro motor lenses. It will damage them.
There may be some other tweaks that can be done to the 80D (there are with 7DII), but I wouldn't get into those without experimenting carefully, to see what they do and how they work for your particular skills.
Practice is important, too. Some of it comes down to your skill and ability.
With sports photography it's all about getting as high a percentage of in-focus shots as possible. We all have some misses... we just try to keep it to as few as possible.... and we don't share them! It ain't always the case, but when I'm "in practice" and using my gear correctly, I'll get fewer than 2% of shots with missed focus (and it's always hard to say for certain whether it's the camera & lens or me that's at fault).
Other stuff besides focus....
For daylight shooting I usually use M + Auto ISO now (I set the shutter and aperture, the camera chooses the ISO to use). I often dial in +1/3 or +2/3 ETTR too... but that depends on the situation and the particular camera model. With particularly light colored or dark colored situations, I'll dial some Exposure Compensation in, as needed.
I use Canon's Evaluative metering 95% of the time in good daylight.
I shoot high speed continuous mode all the time, but I only shoot short bursts typically. Even doing that I often shoot several thousand images at an event (with two or three cameras)... and am spending too much time post-processing already, so I just try to rein myself in and not take to many shots.
I shoot RAW and in Adobe RGB most of the time, in broad daylight I'll use Auto White Balance. I'll make JPEG, sRGB proofs from my images. Later, if and when needed I'll make more fully finished images in whatever file type, color space, size is needed.