Hockey - focus or noise?

[dlpasco]

I've had problems at this rink for two years. I get an occasional sharp image but many of the shots are fuzzy. I don't know if this is poor focus, poor exposure and the corresponding noise or ???

Camera Model Name - Canon EOS 30D
Firmware - Firmware 1.0.5
Shooting Date/Time - 12/1/2007 16:05:25
Tv(Shutter Speed) - 1/320Sec.
Av(Aperture Value) - F2.8
Metering Modes - Partial metering
Exposure Compensation - +2/3
ISO Speed - 1600
Lens - EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM
Focal Length - 200.0 mm

I pushed this +1/3 and sharpened this in DPP, applied some noise reduction, bumped the contrast and saturation.

Can anyone help?

[Scott6]

I say both...I have tried to shoot hockey (I play, so I tried form the bench) im most local rinks, the lighting is very poor. 1/320 wasn't ever enough for me to stop the action in hockey

So I see grain form ISO 1600, blur from movement (It looks like you were trying to pan form the background) and some blur form OOF...

[dlpasco]

I'm the Assistant coach (again) this year and so this is from the bench. This is the rink in Cody, WY. They have windows with frosted glass so a bit of natural light blended with the rink lighting. To conserve energy they only turn on half the lights.

[TopGear1Ds]

To conserve energy they only turn on half the lights.
ouch! talk about making a tough situation worse. I think 1/320 should've frozen motion of the player better than that though.. at least his head and chest for sure. I play hockey, but haven't photographed it before. I've gotten sharper images 200mm 1/125 f/5 iso1600 of a college basketball player coming toward me at full charge though. His legs and the ball were blurred, but face and chest were good. I vote for poor focus.

oh also, is this a tight crop, or does it represent the full frame of what you took?

[dlpasco]

Thanks for the responses.

No - this isn't tight crop but it is cropped. This image is representative of about half the shots. All of my shots are from the bench and closer shots are definitely better than the shots in the far corners. On Sunday I shot with CFn 4 = 3 instead of 1, boosted ISO to 3200 and had better results.

[TopGear1Ds]

so slow shutter speed was to blame after all? glad you got better results!

[dlpasco]

I'm not convinced that it is slow shutter speed. I think it is focus. I shot a tournament at an outdoor rink two weeks ago and had 90% in focus and sharp as a tack. That isn't a good test however - lower ISO, smaller aperture and higher shutter speed all contribute to sharpness.

I know that autofocus performance goes down in dim light. Is it dim enough in an indoor rink to slow the AF down enough to produce slightly OOF shots?

I notice that as the subjects are closer the focus is sharper.

[AdamLewis]

Without reading through the entire thread, Im going to say..

Its not soft because of noise.
It is more than likely soft because of a slow shutter speed and in not being 100% in focus to begin with.

I say shutter speed only because from shooting sports, I know Id never want to drop to that low of a Tv. I also say OOF to begin with because even the slow moving parts of the body are blurry.

I suppose it could be blurry because of you moving the camera at 1/320 but thats just another variable.

[TopGear1Ds]

I know that autofocus performance goes down in dim light. Is it dim enough in an indoor rink to slow the AF down enough to produce slightly OOF shots?

Absolutely.. This isn't a scientific comparison by any means, but the difference in my focus keeper rate between indoor and outdoor sports very significant. I'm getting tired of shooting b-ball this winter after the focus troubles my xt is giving me in low light. Your 30d should perform better than the xt, but by how much is hard to say.

edit: I just noticed that you never mentioned which AF mode you were using. You're shooting AI servo right? (dumb question, I know, but sometimes those are the easiest solutions)

[dlpasco]

Thanks Adam and TopGear. Maybe it's time that I listened to MetalMan's advice and move to a camera with better AF performance ;)