Quote Originally Posted by DavidEccleston View Post
Oh, and general sports advice...

Ensure your lens IS is set to panning mode. Nothing worse than blurry shots because you're tracking the action and your lens is fighting your movement.

Use AI Servo focus mode to enable tracking and prediction.

Ensure you half-press the shutter well in advance of action to allow time for the IS to stabilize and AF to lock and track.

Don't smack the head of the guy sitting in front of you with your lens.

Go into the settings (link) and change the first shot/subsequent shot priorities to your liking. Shutter priority will take the picture when you press the button, whether focus is locked or not, and, for the first shot, not taking into account focus prediction. Use this if you want exact timing, and are willing to accept slight OOF for a fast moving subject. Focus priority will wait for focus lock and prediction before taking a shot. Use this if you desire sharpness over timing. I use Focus/Focus. Serious Pros who need "the shot" might use shutter/Focus.

Sports shooting settings that won't apply to you - dealing with varying light levels (ie: cloudy days):

I tend to use M mode to choose both my shutter and aperture manually. I set ISO to auto, then choose an exposure compensation for my environment. This lets the camera adjust ISO for changing lighting. Setting the EC is actually harder on the 7DmkII than it was on my old Rebel. There is no dedicated button. You can remedy this though. I changed the focus-mode-toggle lever around the joystick to be an exposure compensation adjust lever.

Take a test shot.
Review.
If I need EC changed, pull the lever, spin the adjustment wheel, release lever. Repeat taking test shot.

Thanks again. I'm leaving the lense hood home so I don't smack the person in front of me. Good advice none the less.

Trent