350D Canon 70-200 f/4 hockey photo tips/settings?

[freeflydrew]

Good Morning,
I'm heading over to the ice hockey rink this afternoon with the 350D a couple of lenses. I'll be shooting with the Canon 50mm f/1.4, the Canon 70-200mm f/4, and the Sigma 15mm fisheye f/2.8. I assume I should have the ISO set to 1600. I'll have a monopod for the long lens, and I already have a slot on the bench to get around the plexiglass. I'm just not sure what settings I need to focus on the most with the zoom... Do I need to set the white balance? Should I prioritize the shutter speed?
Any suggestions, comments, or ideas would be totally appreciated!
Thanks
Drew

[snibbetsj]

I'd try for a shutter speed of 1/320 minimum. Set your aperature at f4 and check for exposure. Don't be afraid to go up to 3200 ISO, it's not really that bad and you can get rid of most of the noise in post processing.

[freeflydrew]

I think I can only go to 1600 with the 350d... is there a way to get up to 3200?

[Skippy29]

is there a way to get up to 3200?

Yes, buy a 20D


: )

[MTalley]

Whichever lens you are using, use Av mode to set the aperture wide open (smallest number). Do a couple of test shots at, say, ISO 800. See what shutter speed you are ending up with. Less than 1/320 or so? Crank up the ISO to 1600 and try again. Still too low? Might have to wing it.

I'd venture to guess, when using the 1.4 or 2.8 lenses, you'll be just fine. Depending on the lighting, you may come out OK with the f/4. If you can afford the memory space and don't mind some post-processing, you could shoot RAW. That'll give you a couple more stops to play with on the computer.

White balance? If the ice in the rink is white, you could use that to set a custom WB from the start. Depending on where you are shooting, the lighting may be a little uneven in temperature and give you a different cast, but this should get you pretty close, on average. Shooting RAW? Don't worry about WB. You can fix it during post-processing a lot easier than diddling around with it on the camera.

[freeflydrew]

Awesome, thanks for the tips... I ended up with RAW, ISO1600, f/4, AV +1.5 and the shutter around 320 and 500. I experimented with 125, and althought the lighting was good, I wasn't as pleased with the quality (blurry obviously). I didn't manually set the white balance though. Have to read the manual to figure out how to do that with this camera.

Got another game today, so I'll give it another shot.

Thanks again