First Div III Basketball with 85 f/1.8

[TopGear1Ds]

Hey everybody. After a dismal performance trying to shoot basketball with my crappy 28-90 f/4-5.6 a week ago (which I never posted.. for good reason!) I went out and got a 85mm f/1.8. I was debating between the 85, and the 50 f/1.4 but I kept hearing that the 85 focused faster, so I decided I'd give it a try.

The difference in quality is literally night and day. I was shooting 1/100-125 last week at iso1600, but today I comfortably shot the whole game 1/400s iso800! What an amazing difference!

On to the photos though. I've been shooting sports for only a couple months, and this is my second basketball game ever. I'd really appreciate any C&C. Exif should be intact, but I shot manual exposure f/2 1/400s iso800, AI Servo AF. (Btw, AF tracking on the xt not up to the task for fast action like basketball. I had a lot of well timed shots that were total throwaways because the AF wasn't keeping up.) AWB, but this seemed to suffer from some minor cycling of the lights. I tried to correct in PP, but I really suck at that.

1
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2362/2097176634_7b3fe88fc7_o.jpg
2
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2403/2096400093_8744a2e4d8_o.jpg
3
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2146/2096400063_23ec7e8c51_o.jpg
4
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2109/2096400037_5e935e904f_o.jpg
5
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2296/2096399985_70e3b71233_o.jpg
6 - Thought this was a little different. Do you like it, or not? (image quality is a little off for this one. I shot this on a second xt body with my 28-90 on it, so its iso1600 plus some PP)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2392/2097176562_b2d7455844_o.jpg

btw, can you guess who our leading scorer is? ;)

[TopGear1Ds]

that bad? or is the fourm just collectively tired of seeing basketball threads? I know these photos aren't perfect. Thats why I posted them for C&C.. 50 views.. at least say you don't like them lol

[Sauk]

the wb seems off in these. I think you could have pushed the iso to 1000 to 1200 to make them even lighter (is that a word lol)

Seem a touch dark. I see you got a shutter speed of 400 on 800 iso which is really good. Those lights must have been pretty darn good. Try a touch higher iso and maybe even move the shutter to 640. Noise won't be to bad at iso 1000 to 1200. Even 1600 iso is cleanable on a XT

[TopGear1Ds]

I really wish the xt did ISO in 1/3 stop increments, but it either has to be 800 or 1600. On my camera at at least, 1600 really looks like crap, so I was trying to keep it lower. I'll give 1600 a try at the next game and see if I can lighten them up with out getting too noisy.

I agree about the wb.. I need to bring a card to the next game and do custon wb. I was in a hurry yesterday.

[Sauk]

Just shoot raw and you will be fine.

Yeah I forgot that the xt did do that :( Sucks because 1000 to 1200 would be perfect lol

But seriously 800 doesn't look bad, personally I would like to see the images a touch brighter.

[TWill757]

If you're worried about noise, Noise Ninja does a GREAT job cleaning up for me.

[superdiver]

Not bad, but seem a little soft to me. I would jump the ISO up to 1600 and get your ss up more. I try to keep my ss to a minimum of 1/500 and I like it more like 1/800

BUT for a 2nd try, WAY better then mine!

[TopGear1Ds]

Yeah, they are soft. I can't tell if its focus tracking, DOF, or slightly slow shutter speed. Probably a combination of all three.

Affirmative on the ISO.. I will definitely be shooting 1600 from now on. I was just so pleased with my new lens I couldn't help trying 800!

My biggest frustration was shooting AI Servo and trying to get a photo of a shooter and the ball in the frame. For dribbling, and up close shots, I had to use the middle or upper focus point to get the face in focus, but when players went to shoot, suddenly their faces were in the bottom half of the frame with their arms and the ball in the top, with nothing good to focus on! That was the only time my hands felt tied with the 85mm focal length. I guess I just need to get a little faster at switching AF points between plays..

[superdiver]

Its mostly a matter of timing. You will get it, just keep practicing. I use ISO 3200 alot to keep my ss up. dont be afraid of high ISO. If you get the exposure correct or slightly to the right it can clean up nicely.

What you DONT want to do is shoot to the left to try and make up ss. Cleaning it up will introduce an inordanant amount of noise that probably will not be cleanable....