First, if you are not already a member of SportsShooter.com, I suggest you look into it. It is literally the single best resource for aspiring sports photographers. The ability to interact with the big names in sports photography like Brad Mangin is priceless. Visit them at http://www.sportsshooter.com/.
In fact, you can view my profile there: http://www.sportsshooter.com/jheffran
For all Canon 1D Mark II users, I was given the best link I could imagine. Remember, I just came back from the Big East womens basketball tournament where I got some of my best pictures yet (see below). But, I felt like I wasn't quite dialed in on my camera.
I asked a simple question on AF tips and was given a link to the Sports Illustrated "recommended settings" for the Mark II. Here's the link: http://www.siphoto.com/?canon1DM2.inc
That is a file you simply save to the root of your CF card and you then initiate the "Loading Camera Settings" option and your camera will instantly be set correctly. It is truly a time saver.
Here are some of the files from this past weekend. I did a little more sharpening and levels adjustment on these - it made a big difference. Granted it was through a "recipe" within Canon Digital Photo Professional software as opposed to individually adjusting each photo. Let me know what you think.
A little "noisy", but I didn't run them through Neat Image becasue I wanted them to have this look. When printed, they print smooth and very vivid and tack sharp. These are also low-resolution JPEGS, so that affects the output slightly.
