Best Auto focus mode for action video T6i

[theandies]

I shoot my sons High School Lacrosse games using an EF 75-300 ultrasonic lens.  I zoom in on faceoffs as my son is the teams faceoff specialist then zoom out while filming to capture all the action.  What auto focus mode would be best for this application?  I don't want to experiment while shooting the game is the reason I ask and as always Thank You!

I know using this lens for this application is not ideal but I need the 300mm zoom to get good shots of the faceoff as I need them for recruiting videos and I don't have access to the field and can't get closer.  BTW my son has quickly become a D2-D1 Lacrosse prospect because of his faceoff skills.  No, I'm not a proud Father.

[Tim]

Hello theandies, 

Congratulations to your son for the lacrosse achievements.  Shooting with that particular lens and the EOS Rebel T6i, the AF mode you'd want most likely use is face+tracking.  This mode will allow tracking of a particular subjects face, in this case your son, continuously across the frame.  You'd need only to position yourself in an ideal vantage point and start shooting.      

[theandies]

Thanks for the kind words about my son and thanks for the advise.

I was reading about that mode in the manual last night.  Does it strickly just track faces or since it's called face+track will it track objects as well?

Since I'm videoing so far away there is no way it will be able to track his face even fully zoomed.

John

[kvbarkley]

Note that this only works in live view which might not be the most comfortable with a big lens!

I think that just setting the center focus area with one shot using the viewfinder would be good enough. Just follow the action and continually half-way press the shutter button to keep the focus updated. You can try AI servo, too.

And do you have the 75-300 or the new 70-300? The 70-300's are *much* better.

[kvbarkley]

Also, just saw this:

https://learn.usa.canon.com/resources/blogs/2017/20170323-stoner-action-shots-blog.shtml

At the Canon DLC blog.

[theandies]

Thanks KV that is informative.  I have the older 75-300 lens.  I'm more interested in the video aspect of auto-focus than still shots.  What I'm thinking of doing is taking my cheap $99 digital videro recorder and setting it up to get the full team action and using my T6i for video closeups of my sons faceoffs.  The only problem with the video recorder is just that, it's cheap and doesn't make good video for recuriting videos.

I shot a scrimage game the other day and the reason I'm asking is during filming video I get good focus fully zoomed in during faceoffs but as I zoom out sometimes it goes a little out of focus then back in and continues to do that as I pan back and forth to keep the action centered.

We have a game tonight so I'm going to experiment with face+tracking as I have not tried that mode for this situation yet.

[theandies]

I used face+tracking and that seems to be the best.  I still have to prefect my technique but it works good.  What I do is zoom all the way in on my son then using the touch screen select him to focus on.  After the faceoff I zoom out as the action dictates and when zommed all the way out press the shutter button to refocus if the AI hasn't kept up.  Much less "hunting" done by the camera to stay in focus this way.

BTW - they went into overtime and in Lacrosse the first team to score wins.  My son took the OT faceoff, won it clean, ran down and scored the winning goal against on of the best teams in the region.  Very exciting!