Indoor Sports Photography

I have been shooting outdoor sports with a 100-400mm is L lens and have been very satisfied with the results. I have tried to shoot indoors at an indoor soccer game and am not as satisfied. I have adjusted about everything and still get blur. What lens and/or additional equipment should I look into in order to shoot indoors? The lighting in the arena is about like a basketball gym using halogens. Thanks

Your distance from the action would figure into the equation. I have shot indoor soccer, but I was in the box with the players and didn't have to shoot through the glass sides.
Being that close to the action I used my primes (28mm 1.8 & 50mm 1.4). It was a total struggle trying to get the right lens since the action was too close and then too far away. I wish I had had my 17-55mm 2.8 at the time. That would have covered all the focal lengths I needed for that situation.

If you do any basketball from the stands, the 85mm 1.8 would be a good lens. If you are on the front row of the stands, then the 50mm would be better. Under the goal, a 28mm. I shot my last BB game from about the second row of the stands using my 17-55mm and it did a real good job as long as the action was on my end of the gym. On the other end, I could have used a 100mm better.

All the above is based on a crop sensor like the 7D. If you are shooting FF, all of that changes.

Hope all my rambling helps.

You should have a 2.8 or faster lens and a camera body that gets good results at ISO 3200 (or even higher).

Here is a shot at 300mm, f/2.8 1/1000, ISO 6400 Arena Football
The lighting will vary at different venues but it it usually pretty bad.

standard camera settings for indoor sports like basketball / volleyball, (assuming a standard HS gym) are: lens at f/2, shutter speed 1/640 (plenty fast enough for boys' HS basketball) and ISO 'up' until you have good exposure.

The gyms I shoot basketball in are anywhere from ISO 1600 in a VERY well-lit gym all the way up to ISO 4000 (which produces horrible results!) and standard is ISO 2500 which still produces good results.

That said, if you have a lens that opens to f/2.8 (like a 70-200 f/2.8L IS) your ISO setting would be higher to see 1/640 on shutter. If your 100-400 is an f/4 or higher, you can forget about getting meaningful shots indoors. The lens just isn't up to the task!

dave

I shoot with a Canon 5D Classic

2.8 + faster lenses

This is 24-70L on a 5D Mark II

The 100-400 L is way to slow for indoor sports...remember you need a minimum of 1/500 to stop the blurr.
You need a 2.8 lens or better. Even at 2.8 apt it is challenging depending all on lighting. Yo have to crank up the ISO..

I suggest you rent the 70-200 f2.8 MKII from Roger at LensRentals for 4 days and you will be a happy shooter. Bring along a light monopod to ease the weight but it works great shooting indoors on a relatively horizontal plane using the pod.

Regards,

BulldogBlue wrote in post #12295243
What lens and/or additional equipment should I look into in order to shoot indoors? The lighting in the arena is about like a basketball gym using halogens.

No different equipment is needed, as long as the camera body operates well at high ISO.
Examples of indoor event images from a Canon T2i:

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What shutter speeds are you getting and what ISO are you shooting? An f/4 lens is a challenge indoors for sure, but if you can increase your ISO (at the expense of noise) you can increase your shutter speed to help with the blur. Some of the indoor places I shoot wouldn't allow me to shoot at f/4 unless I want to use ISO 12,800, which I don't. The gym I shot last night gave me 1/400th, f/2.0, and ISO 3200. Definitely not possible to use f/4 in a place like that and still get acceptable shots.