Monopod or not for H.S. night football

[mayo_win_tei]

I shoot a lot of high school night football and volleyball in poor lighting conditions. I use a Canon 50D with a 2.8L Canon 70 - 200 lens. Due to the lighting, I shoot on manual setting and wide open at 2.8 and try not to get a shutter speed less than 1/500. I find anything slower than that results in images more blurred than I want - plus I want to be able to stop the ball in mid-air without any obvious movement. I end up shooting darker than wanted, but I can usually improve this in batch processing in Photoshop.

I've tried using a monopod before, but have found it isn't very practical for me as it's easy to miss a play fooling around with the monopod. I also move up and down the sideline constantly along with the team and it's a hassle dragging the monopod along and getting set up for each new shot. Maybe I just need to keep using the monopod until it becomes routine for me.

I use the IS setting on the lens of course, and my photos are pretty good, i.e., the parents think they're great and buy loads of them. I think the images are a little soft, particularly after batch processing them with Noiseware Professional to get rid of the noise (which tends to soften images more).

I'm wondering what experience others here have with night football or volleyball using or not using a monopod. I do notice several news photographers at the games and I've never seen any of them with a monopod but, from their images I see in the local newspapers, they don't seem too worried about the quality (more the nature of the print, than a comment on their professionalism).

Here's a link to my website where I have numerous Sports Galleries:

http://photoexperts.zenfolio.com/

Thanks much in advance!

[pantherphotos]

I personally don't use a monopod. If you have no problems hand holding the 70-200, and can keep it steady, that I would recommend hand holding it. It allows you to be more free to move and as you said, you don't miss plays by messing around with it. Just my $0.02 worth; keep the change.

On a side note, IS does nothing for sports/action shots. In fact, it can be counter-productive and cause softer shots because it is trying to compensated for the camera moving as you are following the play. IS is only good for tripod and low shutter speed shots. Try turning it off when shooting football.

[danaitch]

I think MOST people on here would agree that if you're getting fast enough shutter speeds to freeze the action, you don't need a monopd... UNLESS your lens/body combo is just too heavy to hand-hold for a game.

Most tend to switch to a monopod once they're at a 300mm tele and above, or a 200mm tele with a much bigger aperture. Most hand-hold a 70-200mm.

[mayo_win_tei]

Thanks for the comments - that pretty much confirms my experience too.

I did forget to include my ISO setting before. I try not to shoot less than 1600, but as the season moves on and it gets darker faster, I end up with 2500 and 3200 towards the end of the game.

I'm looking forward to the new Canon 7D, as it supposedly takes another big leap in noise improvement at high ISO settings. I really saw improvement in this area when I went from the Canon 40D to the 50D.

[namasste]

+1 on no the monopod unless I am shooting the 300. The 70-200 2.8 is not a big lens and monopod does detract from the flexibility it offers when handheld. Heck, I've been known to handhold the 300/1D, just not for long periods of time!!!

[canonnoob]

I'd like to see this big improvement from the 40 to 50. Its been shown that the 50 did practically nothing over the 40.

Anyway op. I use a mono on my 300 2.8 and handhold my 40 with 70-200 2.8 is. No need to put that on a monopod

[mgardner]

Turn the IS off. Your battery will last longer and you don't need it with the shutter speed you're using.

[mayo_win_tei]

"I'd like to see this big improvement from the 40 to 50. Its been shown that the 50 did practically nothing over the 40."

I'm just giving you my own experience. I had terrible noise problems shooting volleyball in one particular gym - it was like a dungeon. The change after I got the 50D was very noticeable.

Maybe it had something to do with the individual camera I had but, whatever the reason was, I was quite pleased with the change.

[canonnoob]

Sorry if that came off irrorgant I meant littlerally show me the two shots.

[namasste]

Sorry if that came off irrorgant I meant littlerally show me the two shots.
jerk!:lol:

[canonnoob]

shush Scott!

[DHMN]

After shooting hockey today without the monopod I found I can carry the 50D with the Sigma 70-200 without problems.. I may try football next time without the monopod to see how that works for a quarter or even a half. Soccer I'm pretty sure I'll keep the monopod for though.. there's just too much "down time" in it where I would like to have the ability to just hold the weight on it instead.

[lauderdalems]

I carry a monopod attached to my belt at football games and use it about 50% of the time. While I am only using a 70-200 2.8IS I get tired of holding it esp. during extra TV timeouts. Never use one for volleyball. Pod works good at softball/baseball when I want to prefocus on batter or certain player and can need to watch the pitcher.

[Mike R]

I had always hand held my 70-200 f/2.8 until I ruptured a tendon (not because of photography) which meant a weight restriction on lifting so I had to start using a monopod. I would much rather hand hold the camera. At one point, I couldn't raise my right arm to take the shots and had to use a cable release with my right arm by my side.But it got the job done. I sure got strange looks from other photographers until I explained why.

[liam5100]

I had always hand held my 70-200 f/2.8 until I ruptured a tendon (not because of photography) which meant a weight restriction on lifting so I had to start using a monopod. I would much rather hand hold the camera. At one point, I couldn't raise my right arm to take the shots and had to use a cable release with my right arm by my side.But it got the job done. I sure got strange looks from other photographers until I explained why.

You do what you've got to do, I quit worrying about strange looks from other photographers long ago.

As far as a monopod, like all your tools there is a time and place.

[n1as]

I guess I'm a wimp. I use a monopod with my 1D + 70-200 f/2.8. Since doing that, my constant back pain has become better.

OP - I think you should turn off IS as it may mess up your shots when the IS system tries to counteract your attempts to follow the action. Also, when I shoot at high ISO, I pay special attention to the histogram. Set the exposure to push it to the right as much as possible to keep noise down. I get better results at ISO 3200 exposed to the right than I do at ISO 1600 underexposed.