Settings on a 1DmkIII for ice hockey?

[RobNYC]

Hello all,

I'll be doing some shooting at a pro ice hockey game at Madison Square Garden this weekend. I've only had my mkIII for around 2-3 weeks now and have not really had the chance to master all the new custom function settings, particularaly involving AF.

I was wondering if anyone had any advice/suggestions for settings...

I know the contrast between the bright ice and players can be an issue, not to mention the low light. Should I go with highlight tone priority etc?

I'm hoping to be much closer during pre-game warmups but for the most part I'll probably be a decent distance from the ice. Is it safe to say that AF tracking (or AF settings) is less important because I'll likely be at inifinity no matter where on the ice they are?

Any advice would be appreciated!

[MichaelAlan_Photo]

Hey, nice gig!
What teams will you be shooting?

You will want to do the following:
1.) shoot in Aperture Priority if the light on the ice is inconsistent. Shoot in manual, set it and forget it if the light is constant. Make minor exposure changes if needed and chimp to see if things changed.
2.) Shoot in RAW will hinder your FPS. Shooting in JPEG will let you shoot faster. Be sure to enable the max burst rate in the custom functions if you lessened it.
3.) Shoot AI Servo over One Shot. Set your AF to your liking. Get this taken care of during the warm ups. The AF sensitivity if set slow, will take a lot to get the camera to jump focus ship and track something else. The faster you go, the less time it takes to focus on what comes in front of it. If you are shooting a break away and someone magically skates in front of him then a fast sensitivity will track the new person entering the frame while a slower sensitivity will be more inclined to focus on the same plane as where it was before... Try it and see what you like that suits the situation best.

If you shoot raw then no need for the highlight tone priority. If you have to shoot natural light at high ISOs then be sure to over expose a pinch so the noise will look better. It looks better when you dial down the exposure for being a bit too bright than having to increase the exposure because the photo is too dark.

Hang out in CFn III world and my guess would be the following to start with:
CFn III - 2 = middle (start here)
"" - 3 = 0
"" - 4 = 1 = ignore anything quickly in the way of your focus.

That should get you started along with shooting in AI Servo mode will suit you right.

[RobNYC]

Thanks Michael... I appreciate the info!

It is the Rangers and Devils... preseason.

[MichaelAlan_Photo]

Good deal. Get a shot of Drury for me.

[Lore]

WOW! Excellent advise given Michael! :cool: I really hope I'm not thread hijacking... but I will be doing alot of shooting myself & was hoping to find similar info & so this thread had great timing.

Course I don't have a mkIII :p

I'll be shooting with a 450D/XSI hopefully similar settings will work fine for me as well?

I'll be shooting the Blackhawks @ the United Center, several times through out this season, my first go, will be a preseason game this Sunday :D

[nicksan]

I agree mostly.

If the lighting is consistent, then yes, you are better off with M mode so the different color jerseys and the white ice won't throw off the metering. You take a reading, set things up, then shoot away. Change the settings as necessary. Otherwise if the lighting is crazy, then yes, stick with Av/Tv.

Shoot RAW. Don't worry about it. You have a 1DMKIII!:D

Use AI Servo. I have CFn III - 2 set to second slowest and also have the surrounding assist points enabled, but YMMV. Usually center AF point works the best since it's the most accurate, however I use off-center AF points if needed.

If you can't get fast shutter speeds, then using the 10 fps might help you. Otherwise, time your shots...I usually shoot in 2-3 fps spurts, but when the shutter speed isn't fast enough, I guess you will have no choice...

[resin]

I just took a bunch of pics of the Anaheim Ducks training camp and they turned out pretty good. Unfortunately most were underexposed so I had to adjust them in pp. I just got my 40d and it seems the lcd shows things brighter than they are. Anyway you can see my pics here: http://flickr.com/photos/b-rphotos/collections/72157602366310764/ I used noise ninja on 'em too.

Not sure I could have done a whole lot better since shutter speed was relatively slow for most already.

[tadrscin]

If you can't get fast shutter speeds, then using the 10 fps might help you. Otherwise, time your shots...I usually shoot in 2-3 fps spurts, but when the shutter speed isn't fast enough, I guess you will have no choice...

Could you explain this please? I don't understand how a faster fps will make up for too slow of a shutter speed.

[nicksan]

Not sure how exactly to explain this, however it is referred to as "Spray and Pray"...

Shooting in fast bursts PERHAPS increases the chance of you getting something acceptable in at least one of the frames.

But obviously there's a limit to this with regards to how slow your shutter speed actually is in relation to the fps speed. So in order to attain the 10fps rated on my 1DMKIII, there's a limit to how slow my shutter speed can be set in order to actually attain that speed to begin with.

Does that make sense?



Could you explain this please? I don't understand how a faster fps will make up for too slow of a shutter speed.

[mwade]

The purpose of a fast shutter speed is to freeze the action - the FPS has ZERO to do with that.

[Darsk47]

I'd also CWB off the ice. 'Used' ice is preferrable to fresh - it's whiter. Get you shutter up to 1/500. Hockey is fast and 1/500 is about as slow as you want to get action stopped. Some goalie shots, and faceoff shots when they're not in the action, you can use a slower s/s. You'll probably end up with your 70-200 somewhere close to wide open. Adjust the ISO to get proper exposure and to keep the s/s up.

AI Servo and centerpoint focus is what I prefer. The others who have already stated it are accurate that FPS and s/s are not related. If you do get down to ice level for the warmup, keep the lens hood against the glass to minimize glare. Mind the pucks headed you way.

Post some results & Let's Go Rain-jas !

[RobNYC]

Thanks again all...

[namasste]

For hockey, I really favor M over Av as you'll often find more jersey contrast than lighting contrast in a pro venue (not always true for HS dungeons). If there is a large contrast a couple bucks on a gray card might be money well spent and you can use that to meter and set a custom wb from (although I do tend to prefer rough ice foe wb). Worst case, spot meter both teams and determine how much under/over each is and try to find a happy medium. If you have a light meter, forget all of the above and use it to get your manual settings.

Have fun. Go Rangers!!!

[RobNYC]

Thanks Scott