Sony A9 II A9ii AF setting for baseball

[rlatjsrud7913]

I'm struggling with shooting in/outfielders as I only have 1~3 sec to find, compose, focus, and shoot. I missed a lot of images and I felt disappointment despite shooting student baseball for 3 years. I do try my best to predict who's gonna catch the ball but doesn't sound easy to me.

Currently, I'm only using Zone AF as it can find and focus quickly as it doesn't require initial precise focusing unlike all Tracking AF. I just cant predict fast enough who's gonna catch the ball to focus and shoot.

Just wanted to ask if you are shooting baseball games, how do you find a player who is trying to catch the ball as quickly as possible in 1~2 sec?

 

[iamdlewis]

I would probably go with a wide area over the zone.

I assume that you are photographing from the pits at the ends of the dugouts which does add a level difficulty to tracking. There really isn't a shortcut to this. I have found that watching school/travel and to a lesser extent minor league is more random than major league. Knowing what the pitcher throws, where the catcher sets up and how the defense is aligned should give you an understanding of which side of the field the ball is most likely to head. This means that you will probably need to decide coming into each at bat what you are going to limit yourself to attempting to capture. So if three was a right handed batter with an average pitcher, catcher setup inside and defense shaded to the left I would probably setup in a way that my camera is pointed towards the shortstop, if the ball is hit towards the SS I am good, the left fielder is an easy adjustment, to basically anyone else I would be kind of screwed. If a fly ball is hit into the outfield don't track the ball just track the player. Outfielders will always tell you the general area the ball was hit too.

For me I love baseball and other sports exist to occupy the time between seasons. I've played/coached/watched thousands of games. I get annoyed when watching baseball in movies because I can tell from the way the ball was hit that it isn't going to where they cut to show a play being made or the ball wasn't hit hard enough to show the fielding play they filmed. Basically this is me being long winded to say I'm not sure what I said was helpful or not. But I do thing with the speed of the game being selective each at bat is the best option.