Any action sports photographers here? need help with 350D

[sportsactionpics]

Hi. I borrowed my brother canon 350D camera. i am taking some shots of fights at a local kick boxing gym. The problem is i dont know where to start. Some shots the punches and kicks looked blurred and i think it is due to the lense shutter not being fast enough do you know how i can change this. Also do i need to change the ISO speed its at 100 at the moment and the AF mode its at One shot in the menue bit. i am a novice at this. would ask my brother but he doesnt know either. dummy :lol:

[Jon]

What exposure mode are you using, and what lens are you using? What shutter speeds are you getting?

You will want to boost the ISO up to 800-1600. That will let you get a faster shutter speed. AF One-shot should be OK.

[sportsactionpics]

it was on 1/60 but went to tv mode and turned it to 1/200 looks a lot better. the lense is a 24-70mm Canon L lense. looks high tech. the ISO is on 400 and AF mode is on AF servo sorry.

[Jon]

AF Servo's fine, too. Try Av with the aperture at f/2.8. Then you'll get the fastest available shutter speed for t he light. Or take a basic meter reading (grey card or equivalent) and use M to set both aperture and shutter speed. 1/250-1/1000 should be good speeds to use, but whether you can reach the high end indoors is going to depend a lot on luck. You'll probably need that higher ISO.

[sportsactionpics]

thanks Jon, the shutter speed only goes to 1/200 with the flash up. i dont have one of thoses add ons. Also on metering mode theres a grey box, one with one with a arrow going up and down and one with a dot in the middle, which one would be best to go with. thanks like i said i am a novice at this :(

[Jon]

Try not using flash. The kick-boxers will appreciate it, if nothing else. Also the range of the built-in flash is very limited. You can take a meter reading with your camera's meter. Just see what it says, and use that for the lot. Use "Evaluative" metering; that'll be the one, IIRC, with what you're describing as "an arrow going up and down".

[fortinaa]

Assuming you are very novice... I'll start with the very basic. When you half press the shutter, there should be a numbered line going from -2 to 2 along the bottom of the viewfinder. That tells you where your metering is. You want it to be dead center. You can shoot in AV mode and set the camera to F2.8 and see what kind of shutter speed it gets you. If it isn't high enough, you can bump up your ISO until it is. If you have to shoot with a flash, your range will be 15ft or less (usually).

Other option is to shoot in TV and set your shutter speed to 1/200. With a flash, that should freeze motion well enough. No doubt, the camera will probably set aperture to F2.8. At that point, if the picture is too dark again, you'll have to bump up the ISO again. Notice... when you shoot at 1/200 and anything under ISO800, your meter is always going to be on the negative side. That just tells you that the flash is going to be your main source of lighting for the shot. The closer it is to 0, the more ambient lighting you allow for.

For focus mode: use AI Servo if the subjects are constantly changing their distance to you. If they are in the same spot, and just have moving limbs, use One-shot.

Hope this helps.