First try at sports (Rugby)

[B.C.]

My college club team (Cal Poly) hosted BYU last night in Rugby so I thought Ive give it a go. Being at night and under not natural light I was weary of camera setting. On my 20D, in aperture priority at F/4, the shutter was varying between 1/40-1/25. Even with it being underexposed a stop I couldn't get it to shoot fast enough. This picture is the only good motion capture that I got. If anybody has some suggestions at shooting at night, please let me know. Oh yea, I had on a 70-200L with a 1.4 extender on. The photo has been run through photoshop only for crop, noise, white balance and sharpen. Thanks.

[Amorous]

First of all, 70-200L f/4 is too slow for night sports, and you added a 1.4X extender which makes it to f/5.6 and gets worse. You were lucky to get one good picture. I've never seen a Ruby game, but assuming that the field is about a football or soccer field, you need a 70-200 f/2.8 WITHOUT an extender.

Secondly, the shutter speed of 1/25 to 1/40 is way to slow for sports. It needs to be 1/400 or faster. Of course, you cannot use this fast shutter when you have a slow lens. My suggestion is to sell your 70-200L f/4 and buy a Sigma 70-200 f/2.8. You will definitely get better results.

[B.C.]

Actually, the lens I have is a f/2.8. Next time ill try it without the extender on and see if i gain a stop or two on the shutter speed.