Great shot. What lens what it shot with? Guess I must clarify that I cant get the shot at 6400 1000 shutter speed with my 70-200 siggy. Prob could with my primes. I hope you tell me that shot you posted was with a 70-200 or 80-200 nikon becuase that is what I am looking at getting instead of the sigma 70-200 2.8. thanks for the post. great stuff. I always ask what the the setting were when you took this pic. I am shooting 9 point dynamic, center weighting, C - release. You?
jamesdaniels21 wrote:
I am shooting 9 point dynamic, center weighting, C - release. You?
For the handful of times I have shot high school basketball, I found it best to shoot in manual exposure mode. Take a light reading of the court before the game starts, and set your ISO, aperture, and shutter speed manually. With our local gyms (not the best with regards to gym lighting), I usually shot at ISO 3200, f/2.8, and 1/400 second.
Mike, that is what I end up shoting. But as you can tell by my pics, they are not coming out the best. The only descent shot I have posted on this thread is the one with the orange number 23 and that was with my D90 coupled with a 5omm. I am yet to get a great shot out of my d700 coupled with my Sigma 70-200 2.8. Some think its the lens. I just want to make sure I have all my setting right before I go to buying more lenses. Thanks.
Wow. great. I was thinking of getting the 80-200. Wonder if I should spurg and get the 70-200 vr?
What picture control were you using? Std. And did you custom white balance or just shoot auto?
James, just looking through this thread after getting your PM a while ago. I would not suggest you ditch the Sigma lens until you know for certain the lens is causing problems. I don't see anything in this thread that tells me you are having gear issues.
Not trying to be harsh--just want to get to the point--you seem to really be fishing around trying to get a handle on the basics of shooting indoor sports--ISO, shutter speed, white balance, etc. It is important that you have those kinds of issues in check before you can begin to start blaming the gear. At this point, for all we know you could have a faulty camera body! It's easy to blame gear, but without a firm grasp of the basics of exposure and shooting in these (tough) conditions, you're really only kidding yourself and not growing as a photographer.
I don't shoot Nikon, so I'm not sure how much help I can be with gear details. But, as others have said, I would start with a shutter speed of 1/500, wide open (f2.8 on the 70-200) and then set the ISO to whatever you need to get you proper exposure. At this point, I would even shoot with auto WB until you get a handle on the exposure basics for shooting action. You can always dial in WB once you know you're getting good exposure. I shoot center point focus only and use a custom function in the body to separate focus and firing the shutter (helps track action without losing focus).
Thanks for all the great advice Scott. And you are ABSOLUTELY correct in ref to the gear. I continue to refine my skills and get more knowledgeable about the camera and its capabilities. I had the opportunity to go shoot a ball game last night. Of course it was in the tipical oklahoma dimly light gymnasium. I reach my goal of getting the camera to shoot a min of 800 SS. Wow, it did make a difference. I could not get them to load up to the site for some reason. My neatgear wireless hub must be doing me wrong. Anyway, if you all have the time to go look I have posted them at the following flckr address. Once again thanks for all the feedback.
James, keep working at it! Big improvement in that last gallery over the first image posted in this thread.
Just a couple more thoughts. I think we're starting to see that some of the issues you've had aren't related to gear or, specifically, the Sigma lens. Unless you've got money burning a hole in your pocket, I wouldn't run out and buy a more expensive lens as has been suggested. Keep working what you've got.
In my experience, trying to get a shutter speed of 1/1000 is unrealistic for high school basketball. I shoot Big 12 basketball at 1/640 and I have yet to find a high school that has lights that match those venues. I don't doubt they're are some out there, but it doesn't look like you're shooting in one of them.
There are some of those Big 12 images at this link, where you may run across see some other tidbits that might help at some point.
Just finish reading all the posts and I'd love to keep up with this post so James plz keep on trying.
I might not have the rights to speak here cuz I have never shoot sports. But I had my camera set on AF-C Priority Selection to Focus only instead of Focus and release, and tracking Lock-On as 5(according to the new firmware). If you set the AF-C to focus only it won't take shots if the image is not in focus. You may lose some shots when your camera is still trying to focus. But it'll be pretty sure every single release you click will be in focus. Hope it helps. And plz tell me if the result is getting worse or not so I can learn from your experience too
Remember that it is far easier to remove noise from a high-ISO shot than it is to remove blur from a low-ISO shot.
Also, be aware that VR will not freeze subject motion - it only counters your own movement. Chances are that you don't need the 70-200 VR. There will be times when the VR comes in handy but it won't be while shooting players at work; more so for the spectator shots, etc.
Funny thing with the D700 I have experienced. While doing some outdoor shots, I seem to end up really extending the exposure time. The camera was showing a center line exposure. But the shot was way over exposed, I dropped it about 4-5 lines and then it was fine. Not near what the camera thought. Then some other shots on center exposure and their perfect, go figure, but it is practice, practice and more practice, just be glad it is not film, $$$
tach18k wrote:
Funny thing with the D700 I have experienced. While doing some outdoor shots, I seem to end up really extending the exposure time. The camera was showing a center line exposure. But the shot was way over exposed, I dropped it about 4-5 lines and then it was fine. Not near what the camera thought. Then some other shots on center exposure and their perfect, go figure, but it is practice, practice and more practice, just be glad it is not film, $$$
What metering mode were you using? Did you have EV comp on?
are you post-processing your images at all? i think some of the shots you shared would be acceptable with a few slight tweaks to exposure and contrast..
hope you don't mind, but i went ahead and processed one of your images, just to show you what i'm talking about:
Omeega, for some reason I can not see the redo that you posted. I very interested in seeing it. Can you try and repost and if it wont show, can you send it to my email at [email protected]
Oh, forgot to add one thing. Yes I am post processing but:
1. I suck at it.
2. I am not doing the right things to the photos.
3. BUTTTTT, I am learning every day and WILL get better becuase of people like you who take the time to show us rookies the ropes.
thanks so much again. James.
PS. I am anxious to shoot another game but live at Fort Sill OK and we got hit with a very harsh ice storm and I have been out of my house for a week.
daleroy wrote:
What metering mode were you using? Did you have EV comp on?
No not really real generic settings, nothing fancy, it was different. I'd have to go back and look at the details and specs of each photo and see what went where.
I remember it worikng fine at f4@100/ ISO 200 in the pouring rain with a 28-75 tamron/2.8.
