Although I don't shoot much football, when I use the 70-200mm lens I always set the focus point to centre or left or right of centre - but only one point activated - more than one focus point active slows up the focusing speed tremendously and I find I start missing the shots. AI Servo is preferable, but sometimes I shoot without it, but I would set it on. Manual settings - hmm I don't think you have enough time to get fiddling with that if you are going to wait for a shot so I would decide what it is I wanted to achieve - IE DOF or stopping the action and set accordingly. If you want to stop action you need high shutter speeds - set the camera to Tv - set the speed you want and the camera will choose the aperture - dial in EC if you need.
If it is DOF you require whereby you want to isolate a subject from the background (by making it out of focus) use Av mode, set your aperture to 5.6 or whatever will give you what you want and then allow the camera to choose the shutter speed.
Don't shoot much sports, but these are the principles I apply when shooting unpredictable fast moving people/things
|