Indoor basketball HELP!!!

[donnybwisor]

I have a EOS 20D with the standard lens a 75/300 lens and a 300 fixed lens and a speedlight 580 EX flash. I have to shoot a lot of indoor basketball games in a high school where the lighting is terrible. I know very very little about SLRs and I have tried every dial on top of the camera. All of my picture are coming out either blurry or too dark for photoshop to fix. It is very discouraging to think I have a great shot and then see it on my comp and it is too blury to do anything with. Suggestions please and if you can, dumb it down for me.

[jorj7]

I'd suggest you get a 85 f1.8 lens, shoot in av mode set at f1.8-2.2, ISO 800-1600,
AI Servo, center focus, partial metering, and continuous capture. Try to keep
the shutter speed between 125-250 and keep the center focus point on what you
want in focus (remember there's a very small DOF). Once you learn that lens then
get a 200 f2.8L or 70-200 f2.8 (depending on your budget). Then for the baseline
get a 24-70 f/2.8. If you can use the flash, set it in high-speed sync mode. That's
how I started, and I was able to get some good shots.

[kndreyn]

Hi Donny,

You're going to need a little faster lens to get good basketball images. I think the most popular choice is the 85 f/1.8. There is a lot of info on shooting BB in the sports forum here. Basically you'll need to get your shutterspeed up around 300-500 to freeze the action. Shoot wide open on the aperture and don't be afraid to crank the ISO up to 1600 or 3200. Just keep your exposure on the highlight side a little when using high iso.