Basketball with 17-55 EFs

[ust82gopher]

I have a difficult gym set up at one HS where I shoot basketball. There is almost no room under the baskets - guessing less than 6 ft. The lighting is poor (surprised huh?) and I find that all my lens set ups on my 40D are just too long. Hardly ever get all the action I want into the frame.

Has anyone tried the 17-55 EFs lens on a 40D for poor light basketball photos? Could you offer opinions and/or photos as to its suitability? I am wondering if that lens might be the answer.

Thanks in advance.

Tim

[Simon Turkin]

I use the 50 1.8 and i have 2 feet in pretty bad lighting thats what id go for plus its dirt cheap.

[cstewart]

Tim:
I recently used this exact set up (along with my 70-200f2.8 L) for a BBall tournament. YOu can see some of the photos in THIS thread (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=629719) as well as at www.cjscons.com/roms.

The only catch is that I was in a new, pretty well lit gym (all images at 1600 ISO) However I found it very useful when sitting on the baseline under the basket for capturing a wide variety of shots. In some instances it also seemed to perform better than my 70-200 in terms of sharpness and light. I found it to be a very suitable lens, although in a darker gym, perhaps not as much especially if I needed to use more ISO than the 40D can produce (3200). In which case you may want a lens with lower aperture.

Cheers!

Chris

[ust82gopher]

Chris,

Thanks for the comments and the link to your photos. Very nicely done.

Simon,

Never thought about the 50 prime. Do you have a photo you could post?

Tim

[snyderman]

Tim:

Zoom that lens all the way to 55mm and setup camp about 5' left of the sideline right on the baseline shooting to your left. Focus on action in and around the paint/basket area only. You should come away with some pretty good action shots.

dave

[J.Lynn.R]

I've done it with my 18-55. It worked at the 55mm end. Course the photos didn't turn out so great because it was uber low light and f/5.6, but the length was right.

I've been using my 85mm f/1.8 recently for sports. Bit of an odd choice, I know, but it's an incredible lens for sports -- fast, sharp, great DOF...bit too long tho. Definitely consider the "nifty fifty".

[ust82gopher]

I thought I would add a view shoots to show where I am at.

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m184/ust82gopher/IMG_8844.jpg

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m184/ust82gopher/IMG_8940.jpg



PP is Noise Ninja and a small amount of sharpening.

Just would like to get a little wider and, frankly, a little sharper.

Tim

[Simon Turkin]

Here you go Tim.. if you want to see more just follow the link in my sig.

[bsmotril]

I don't shoot basketball, but I do shoot Rollerderby under similar lighting conditions. I use the 17-55 exclusively. I had been using a 24-70 L, but it was not quite wide enough when sitting trackside. I find the 17-55 to focus faster and more accurately than the 24-70, and it is just as sharp, if not sharper. I think the 17-55 is a very under rated lens for sports as it does that job very very well.

[cstewart]

Simon:

Your posted photos and many on your site look very much underexposed on my monitor (calibrated) and could likley use a boost of exposure in post processing. Not sure these are the best examples to illustrate use of the "nifty fifty".

Cheers!

Chris

[MikeC710]

What shutter and f-ratio were you at for these?