indoor sports settings?

[stevek71]

[B]anyone have suggestions on settings for indoor sports iso etc. would be greatly appreciated /rebel xt with 85 mm 1.8

[frenchdub]

Hi there

Indoor sports can be a real pain, no light and no flash allowed... Basically shoot at 500th minimum (or you'll get motion blurr) ... to get this you will need to be at 800 or 1600.... in Pro arenas you'll get 500th at 2.8 at 1600 most of the time.... in amateur arenas it can be a lot less which increases the difficulty in getting good shots...

If an 85 is long enough you'll be ok... but I've never found a lens under 200 useful for sports shots.. so an 80-200 f2.8 or a 300 f2.8 would be more appropriate for good tight action shots...

Regards
Gareth

[Spearin]

Which sports? Depending on the speed of the game, you can afford with even under 1/500.

As for ISO, I wouldn't go past 1600. I have tried 3200 even with Noise Ninja and I wasn't impressed at all. ISO 1600 is fine.

So when you get there, take a few exposures and test your settings. I always shoot Manual (pretty much any situation, not just sports) and test out different aperature and shutter speed combinations until I am happy with the results.

[liza]

Hi there

Indoor sports can be a real pain, no light and no flash allowed... Basically shoot at 500th minimum (or you'll get motion blurr) ... to get this you will need to be at 800 or 1600.... in Pro arenas you'll get 500th at 2.8 at 1600 most of the time.... in amateur arenas it can be a lot less which increases the difficulty in getting good shots...

If an 85 is long enough you'll be ok... but I've never found a lens under 200 useful for sports shots.. so an 80-200 f2.8 or a 300 f2.8 would be more appropriate for good tight action shots...

Regards
Gareth

The 85mm is perfect for indoor sports. They don't call it "the basketball lens" for nothing! For indoor venues, I never use zooms, preferring fast primes instead. Depending where I am in the gym (I move around a lot.), I use the 85mm, the 100mm f/2, and the 50mm f/1.8. It works well for volleyball, also. As for settings, I stop it down to 2.2 and shoot at 1/500 with an ISO of 1600. For our gym, those settings work well. The trick is adapting to your own situation which can vary drastically. I also meter the light when I move to another area of the gym, due to variance in ambient light from one spot to the next. Oh, and I always shoot in RAW to compensate for cycling gym lights. Though I strive for a perfect exposure to reduce noise, it's nice to have a backup plan.

[frenchdub]

Yes agreed 85 is nice for basketball..the few times I've shot it...although in my Nikon days I liked the 180 a lot...
I mostly used to shoot tennis, gymnastics, atheltics... indoors, all of which require longer lenses than 85mm. But the exposure settings remain pretty much the same...
We tended to use the 80-200 zooms as they were more of a second body and rarely used for the main action shots. Saved carrying more than two cameras.
As you say really depends which indoor sports one is shooting.
Regards
Gareth

[stevek71]

thanks