High School BBall with built-in flash?

[Jamesino]

I'm looking to shoot some high school basketball with a Canon XTi and a 70-200mm f/4L (non-IS). Since the gym is not very well lit and my aperture is not that wide, I find that if I do not use flash, I can not freeze the action too well.

So I'm thinking about using my built-in pop up flash on my rebel the next time I shoot. Since it's high school sports, I can prolly get right up to the court, so I dont think distance is an issue.

Is this possible? My highest shutter speed I can sync with my flash is 1/200s. What other settings should I be aware of?

[Mike R]

Ask the coaches if flash is allowed before you use it. It would be embarrassing if they stopped the game to tell you. Even if people in the stands and any media photographer is using it. You now fall into a different category then they do. The coaches don't want to upset parents that they relay on funding from and they want the papers to continue to give the team coverage. I cannot use flash when shooting any indoor sport so I use my 85mm f/1.8 lens. The settings I use are to shoot in M , 1/400, f/2.2 and adjust the ISO as needed, usually 800-1600. Have fun!

[Dan-o]

I've never used the built in flash but will it even clear the 70-200?

[SueInBoston]

the built in flash will cause a lens shadow on your pics. You'll need an external flash for a long lens.

[Dennis_Hammer]

Your only going to get to 1/250 with the flash so you won't freeze a lot of the action.

[MT]

While I'm not expecting you will be satisfied with the results you get...

If it were me, manual mode, 1/200th @ f4. The other setting that you need to be concerned with is ISO - and you have two concerns. Your ISO setting determines the usable distance for your flash (higher ISO=longer reach), but in order to "stop" the action with your flash, you will need to be at least a couple of stops under ambient (ie without factoring flash in - 1/250 @ f4 @ ISO X would be at least two stops underexposed).

Basically, it works as though you were taking two pictures at once. The first, the flash variety last for only a fraction of the time the shutter is open (the flash duration), and the second, the non-flash variety which takes place for the full 1/200 of a second the shutter is open. IF the non-flash variety is fairly close to ambient, you will see a significant amount of ghosting.

[TopGear1Ds]

Your only going to get to 1/250 with the flash so you won't freeze a lot of the action.
common misconception... not true.

the motion freezing ability of a flash is that the actual light coming from the flash is a very short duration, usually in the neighborhood of 1/1000. It's got nothing to do with shutter speed.

If your flash isn't powerful enough to overcome the ambient light, as is probably the case with the pop up flash, you will still get motion blur, but with a more powerful external flash, you can get totally frozen action at 1/250.

Basically, it works as though you were taking two pictures at once. The first, the flash variety last for only a fraction of the time the shutter is open (the flash duration), and the second, the non-flash variety which takes place for the full 1/200 of a second the shutter is open. IF the non-flash variety is fairly close to ambient, you will see a significant amount of ghosting.

yup..

[lauderdalems]

Topgear is right about motion freezing with a flash. Remember the old film days when I had to shoot all flashes at a 1/60.

[mpeters]

If the flash is far enough over ambient shutter speed is taken completely out of the equation (unless you go over the sync speed) - you can freeze action with a shutter speed of 2 seconds if you were so inclined. The pop up isn't powerful enough to do that in an arena.

The pop up is useful for fill light for casual shots, but in this case it will give you the deer in the headlight look and if you use the hood on your lens may be partially blocked, leaving a dard crescent on the image.

A remote vivitar 285HV (less than $100) and set of e-bay triggers is a much better way to go.