Light Meter for Indoor sports

[Cozmocha]

The Sekonic L-358 is the industry standard light meter. You can pick iso and f-stop then it will give you the shutter speed or set iso and shutter speed and it will give you f-stop. Some cheaper models only let you set iso and SS to get the f-stop. It depends on what you need but it is a flexible light meter.

http://www.sekonic.com/Products/L-358/Overview.aspx

Now will a light meter make your images better then using the internal metering or test shots looking at the histogram to judge exposure? It might, but not sure if it is worth it now.

[abbypanda]

Ok so how bad did I do:

I found it difficult because the gymnasium had windows on one side and it was a cloudy day.
Tried a few options. Metered off some gis, the grey wall, etc. Shot at 2000 ISO and 3400 and 4000.
Very grainy! I don't think I got it right but I think I'm getting better. I felt after removing the noise in lightroom the people look very soft. I also shot in auto point expansion the first part of the day and all those pics were out of focus really bad no matter what I did. I ended up turning off IS hoping that'd help. I also switched back to the zone selection and those shots were much sharper, still not as sharp as the seminar I shot a few weekends ago, but I think I got the exposure better this time. I am really disappointed in the lack of sharpness b/c the ones from before were very sharp and clear....

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks for the replies everyone.

[Zivnuska]

Originally Posted by abbypanda

What is a good light meter for indoor sports?

I also like the Sekonic L-358.

[xchangx]

They look slightly underexposed. Try bumping them up a little in Lightroom. Also, try to just use center point AF, I think you'll have a better keeper rate.

[abbypanda]

Thanks xchangx, I am bumping them up now and that is exactly what I switched to and I had a much better result at the end in terms of sharpness. Thanks for the help

[momof3b1g]

If its not to late. When I shoot basketball indoors. I am pretty limited to what settings I can use. For a sport you need to decided what SS you need. This almost always has to stay the same. ISO being indoors (unless there are large windows) would be 3200-6400. You may get lucky if you can get by with 1600-2500, if you dont need a high SS. BB I do. Then change your ap. Which you usually need a wide ap for more light. Then check your histogram for under/over exposure etc. HTH

[abbypanda]

Hey Mom, Thanks for the help. I did get a light meter but didnt use it in time for the last comp. I will next time. I shot around 4000 iso I think shutter was around 500. Absolutely hated the noise!

Stopped action ok for the most part, but it seems like all my pics are underexposed no matter what I do. I used my light meter for some stuff out doors this weekend to try it, used it on animals, flowers, etc. When I looked thru the camera the cameras meter said what the light meter had suggested was right on but when I put them in light room they all were underexposed according to histogram. I'm beginning to wonder if I should just shoot overexposed and hope that will help compensate.

Just have to keep practicing I guess. The light meter def helps for now. Thank you very much.

[xchangx]

What setting have you set your in-camera meter? Sport, Partial, the whole frame? That will also determine what it shows you.

If you are shooting indoors with no changes in light, just put your camera on Manual, set your Aperture to 2.8, shutter speed to 1/500 and ISO to 6400.

If that's too dark then 1/400.

At high ISO over-exposing and bringing it down in post is better than underexposing and bringing it up.

[thrash_273]

sekonic L358 is awesome

[abbypanda]

I got the polaris meter someone recommended. I like it but have not used it on sports yet. I have my camera set in evaluative metering. I have also tried some "center weighted average". But for those pics I posted and the event I shot I had it in manual and did like I was recommended in this thread as far as metering off something white, setting iso and aperature. I also read before a lot of folks shoot underexposed but I think I'm gonna switch to overexposed and bring it down, I was not purposely shooting underexposed but figured it was ok b/c i could bring it up. It's starting to get annoying tho b/c all my pics are underexposed and I wanna fix this.

I truly hate the noise of the 7d at 6400. I need to save up for a ff

[joeblack2022]

Originally Posted by xchangx

At high ISO over-exposing and bringing it down in post is better than underexposing and bringing it up.

Originally Posted by abbypanda

I also read before a lot of folks shoot underexposed but I think I'm gonna switch to overexposed and bring it down, I was not purposely shooting underexposed but figured it was ok b/c i could bring it up. It's starting to get annoying tho b/c all my pics are underexposed and I wanna fix this.

I truly hate the noise of the 7d at 6400. I need to save up for a ff

What xchangx said is true, underexposing is a bad thing at high ISO because you'll be bringing up the noise level when you compensate in post.

If you have not seen this thread it's a good read for high ISO shooting with the 7D:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/....php?t=1079217

[xchangx]

Originally Posted by abbypanda

I got the polaris meter someone recommended. I like it but have not used it on sports yet. I have my camera set in evaluative metering. I have also tried some "center weighted average". But for those pics I posted and the event I shot I had it in manual and did like I was recommended in this thread as far as metering off something white, setting iso and aperature. I also read before a lot of folks shoot underexposed but I think I'm gonna switch to overexposed and bring it down, I was not purposely shooting underexposed but figured it was ok b/c i could bring it up. It's starting to get annoying tho b/c all my pics are underexposed and I wanna fix this.

I truly hate the noise of the 7d at 6400. I need to save up for a ff

The problem with metering and sports is that just because it's white won't really mean that you want it exposed to that white. For example, take a black football player in a white jersey on a bright sunny day.

If you expose for the white jersey there's no way you are going to see his face, the camera will increase the SS to properly expose the bright white.

So what do you do? Expose for the face, that's what's important. You can bring down the jersey in post.

[abbypanda]

Ok I'll expose for the face now on, but then should I use a spot metering or what for that

Thanks for the help

[kenjancef]

Originally Posted by xchangx

The problem with metering and sports is that just because it's white won't really mean that you want it exposed to that white. For example, take a black football player in a white jersey on a bright sunny day.

If you expose for the white jersey there's no way you are going to see his face, the camera will increase the SS to properly expose the bright white.

So what do you do? Expose for the face, that's what's important. You can bring down the jersey in post.

+1

I've been shooting a lot of baseball, and I make sure to expose for the face, even though everything else might be blown out a bit. It's hard with ballplayers because most of the time the bills of the baseball hats create shadows on the face. But for sport, the face is the most important, even when wearing helmets.

[Rocketdun]

In shooting most indoor sports especially basketball, the white balance on one end of the court will be entirely different than on the other end. Most school venues have entrances that are lead to the court, some of course have skylights above goals or nets.
One thing that might assist you is the Expo Disc
Also the Color right white balance tool and a couple of their offerings are sold on Amazon
My solution was to set one body color balanced on one end of the court, and one color balanced at the other end of the court when white balance became a constant issue.
One solution depending on where you are allowed to shoot, your positon, the stands or along the lines is to position your self, set the color balance,
You want to shoot with the action coming toward you no matter what the color balance, you want to capture the players faces, not their numbers moving away from your position on the court
Expodiscs come sized, if you have a long lens be sure and purchase the Expo Disc for that sice lens, and then you have the option of using it on smaller diameter lenses
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&key...l_7js0xjr0jy_b