High ISO noise

[JimTx]

Have a Canon 50D and the Canon 70-200 2.8 lens on it for sports. I am shooting baskeball in some caves and not allowed to shoot with flash. Will it cut down on the noise if I go to med size jpegs? Does the image size have any effect on noise?

[Michael_Lambert]

Shooting in Jpeg means the camera is applying its compression and adjustments that it feels fit.

For the cleanest shots you want to shoot RAW then edit it the way you and and then run it through a noise program such as Noise Ninja.

[roby_photo]

There should not be a lot of noise if you shoot at 2.8 on ISO 800 or or 1600.
I shoot at ISO 800 with my 10D and it's fine

[JimTx]

I am having to shoot at ISO 3200 and 6400 to stop action ... these places be dark!!! Noise Ninja is working fairly well but am still wondering if reducing the image size to 8 MB would help with the noise? I am going to try it the next game I shoot but was wondering what the pixel peepers had to say. I shoot all sports in jpeg ... raw can't handle the speed of shooting.

[DDCSD]

raw can't handle the speed of shooting.

I'd learn to time your shots better and shoot RAW if you're that worried about noise. A 16 image RAW buffer is more than fast enough for sports. You have to hold the shutter down for almost three seconds to fill that up up at 6 frames a second.

It will also save you hours sifting through throwaway images to find your keepers.

[lauderdalems]

I've been shooting basketball in another cave for the past two years with a 75-200 2.8IS and 3200ISO.

But last night I used my 85 1.8 for the first basketball game, still shot a 3200ISO for faster SS and was pleased.

For future games, I'll use the 75-200 for cheerleader closeups and the 85 for game action....

They are not perfect...but you can view them here.

http://gamedayphotos.uwa.edu/BBM/MBBindex08.htm

[clarence]

They are not perfect...but you can view them here.

http://gamedayphotos.uwa.edu/BBM/MBBindex08.htm
Some good pics there.

The kid in #0115 looks 9 ft tall!
I love the eyes of the guy in the bottom of #0204.
Great focus in #0235... uncropped does it have the "NCAA" background shown in #0236?
Creative composition in #0237.
Delete 0245.
Great shot in 0248... plus, check out the expression in lower-right.

[lauderdalems]

Thanks for the comment

@0235 is only cropped very little at the bottom - no cropping on the side.
0237 - I was sitting on the floor next to the bench and it just happened - no real planning
0245 - agree it should have been deleted.

I enjoyed shooting with a faster len that was lighter than the 70-200 2.8IS

Enjoy the turkey next week.

[mpeters]

I shoot virtually everything in RAW - especially if the lighting is poor or inconsistent.

I don't find RAW to be speed limiting at all. I do make sure than in camera NR and highlight tone priority is turned off so that the buffer is not limited and use a fairly decent CF as well.

It's the extremely rare event that I would want to shoot a 16+ frame burst.