Basketball photography: autofocus speed

The main drawback of using the Canon EF 85mm f1.2L II USM lens for shooting indoor basketball is that this lens focusses rather slowly. As I wrote in another post, the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, on the other hand, is lightning fast, especially when paired with a built-for-sports DSLR, like a Canon EOS-1D X.

At the yesterday’s game of our university’s team, my associate Armando had an opportunity to directly compare the autofocus speeds of the 1D X and his recently-acquired Canon EOS 7D Mark II. He tried both cameras with a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, and his impression was that the 7D Mark II was slightly slower of the two. We had a hypothesis of why that might be the case: it is possible that this apparent lag in response is due to a lower battery voltage of the 7D Mark II. The massive battery of the 1D X probably drives the motor, which turns the optical elements of the lens, slightly faster.

When shooting a game like basketball, the autofocus speed is critical for being able to follow the rapidly accelerated players. Having said this, yesterday, I still used the 85mm f1.2L II USM lens because of its incredibly shallow depth of field.

Note: The most important of all camera settings to check before starting an action photo shoot is the autofocus mode. It should be set to AI SERVO, which makes the camera to continue tracking the subject if it moves after the focus has been acquired. In contrast, the ONE SHOT mode, while giving more accurate focus on motionless subjects, does not allow continuous tracking of a moving subject.