Best Fuji XT4 settings for indoor sports photos?

I tried to take photos of a Volleyball game at the school where I work and it did not turn out well! I'm a bit confused by different types of shutters perhaps and settings so I'm wondering if anyone can recommend their setting for successul sports photo with a Fuji XT4.

Some observations, I found photos when they did focus worked better with single vs continuous focus and the small square, not the tracking or the larger square.

I tried sports mode and regular, but slightly confused about shutter types because it wasn't clear which one I should be using.

Any ideas/recommendations would be greatly appreciated so I can try again next week to more successful results!

TIA

Sports is 90% of what I shoot however it’s outdoors so I’m not sure I have much wisdom to impart with regards indoor shooting specifically.
The first thing I would suggest though is forget about Sport Mode - it offers absolutely nothing in my experience.
If you find you do quite a lot of panning then I’d suggest sticking with the mechanical shutter as the electronic shutter will exhibit quite a bit of shutter roll. Mechanical shutter will still do 15fps in high speed burst which is pretty good. 
For focus, my own personal preference currently is to use Zone along with AF-C & custom setting 2, sometimes I switch to 3. I do sometimes revert to just the centre square if for some reason the Zone AF just isn’t doing it on that particular day, perhaps due to lack of contrast with poor/low light.

There are a couple of other things that might be useful to know, like what lens(es) are you using and are using flash?

What lens are you using? What settings are you using?

The priority is to shutter speed to get tack sharp photos. Usually Iso 800 to 1600 allows SS of 1/1000sec, to avoid blurr

A fast lens is needed f 2 or better

A FL around 50 to 70mm is usually ok in order to keep a wide view of the game Further crop wiil produce detailed view the 26 megapix allow that

AFC and use the CFG6 set to 3/2/front The front parameter avoid catching the background

Preliminary trials are absolutely needed to validate setting parameters

Good luck !

Bob

In these samples light was average I worked with ISO 1600 and 3200 To get very good prints from RAF a denoise program is needed according to the final print size

Thanks everyone for the thoughts.

I went out again last night and tried to shoot a basketball game rather then the volleyball game I originally tried with. With AFC, SS 1000, auto ISO and focus area not the small box but the slightly larger one I had a lot better results.

I find it interesting to read in this thread and others that "sports mode" is pretty useless. I may try not to use it next time but had it on because, why else would there be a "sports mode!"

I also used MS shutter, not ES which apparently is needed for sports mode.

Here are my results on insta if you're interested: https://www.instagram.com/p/CbxaZLnLH3N/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

One other interesting thing about sports in the few times I've done it. It definitely helps if you know the sport yourself! Volleyball I know nothing about and couldn't predict shots or player position but I know enough about basketball to take chances on where the player or ball is going!

Last thought. The XT4 is growing on me. Initially I really didn't like the new screen, new battery and a few other issues, but the more I uses it the more I'm enjoying the camera again. Still having some issues with super bright outdoor shooting (ie. beach shots) But I guess practice makes perfect.

I've had great success shooting my son's 8th grade basketball games with my X-T3 and the 50-140 f/2.8.

1/500, ISO auto (usually ends up between 3200-8000 depending on the gym we are in), f/2.8. AF-C, central zone area only (not the full/wide area).  I don't rely on it for tracking.  Just AF in the area I have selected.  Then again, I've shot sports for years digitally since the original Canon DSLR I used in 2002-3 on the sidelines that could only shoot 3.3MP at 3fps and didn't have AF-C tracking, etc. I manual focused and timed it well with an f/4 lens. So, what I'm saying is that indoor sports can be a challenge and it does take practice. The camera helps, but it's still the photographer and it does take some practice.

Don't give up.  You have a stellar camera and I'm assuming a decent lens (I don't recall you mentioning what you are using).  For that indoor stuff, I wouldn't go past f/4 at all...that will sink you pretty fast at a school gym.

If you could post a photo or two and what lens you are using, we can help a bit more to see what's going on.

tnishihira wrote:

Same question if anyone can help, I appreciate it.

Equipment: Fuji XT4, FX50-140mmF2.8 lense

Settings are AUTO

pictures taken at a high continuous shooting at RAW quality and the images are blurry and seems out of focus

Your shutter speed is much too low - 1/10s. For any sort of sharpness (even with still people) you need at least 1/125 or preferably 1/250.

For these sorts of environments you should really be shooting manual, or, at the very least Shutter Priority.

GMacF wrote:

tnishihira wrote:

Same question if anyone can help, I appreciate it.

Equipment: Fuji XT4, FX50-140mmF2.8 lense

Settings are AUTO

pictures taken at a high continuous shooting at RAW quality and the images are blurry and seems out of focus

Your shutter speed is much too low - 1/10s. For any sort of sharpness (even with still people) you need at least 1/125 or preferably 1/250.

For these sorts of environments you should really be shooting manual, or, at the very least Shutter Priority.

And f20!? Please don't use full auto.

Put your aperture ring to f2.8, shutter speed to at least 1/250s and you can leave ISO to auto (up to 12800).

tnishihira wrote:

Same question if anyone can help, I appreciate it.

Equipment: Fuji XT4, FX50-140mmF2.8 lense

Settings are AUTO

pictures taken at a high continuous shooting at RAW quality and the images are blurry and seems out of focus.

I would suggest:

• Under these kinds of low light conditions, keep aperture (ring on the lens itself) at as low of a number as possible to let more light in (f2.8 or a little higher. Maybe no higher than 5.6).
• Set your ISO dial to "A" for Auto. Under the "Shooting Setting" page (icon looks like a camera), go to "ISO" and set to AUTO 1, where your AUTO 1 settings are: DEFAULT SENSITIVITY 160, MAX SENSITIVITY 6400 (or even 12800 if you don't mind a little noise in the photo), and MIN SHUTTER SPEED is AUTO.
• As already mentioned by another poster, set the shutter speed dial to "250" or higher. For this kind of action, I'd try around 800 or 1,000. If the result is too dark, drop the shutter speed value down until you don't get motion blur and the image is properly exposed (bright enough). Note: After you've set the shutter speed on the rotary dial, you can use the front or rear scroll wheel (I'm not sure which, but most likely it is the rear thumb wheel) on your camera to fine tune the shutter speed value.

I hope this helps.

tnishihira wrote:

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, I have another tournament coming up next month and I'll try your suggestions and post some more pics.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how much improvement you can make. Please do post again once you've gotten the chance to give it another try.