are my settings correct?

i keep messing about with different settings for kickboxing events. the one ive ended up with is. iso auto. shutter speed 400. al servo. do these seem ok or would it be better to change them. camera 70d and a sigma 17-50

thanks

tjs42 wrote in post #17155962
i keep messing about with different settings for kickboxing events. the one ive ended up with is. iso auto. shutter speed 400. al servo. do these seem ok or would it be better to change them. camera 70d and a sigma 17-50

thanks

There's no way to tell sight unseen or without seeing a sample image from the venue.

A suggestion: get a light meter and take an incident reading.

DC Fan wrote in post #17156003
A suggestion: get a light meter and take an incident reading

Couple that with manual exposure settings on the camera. The light won't be changing during the event, so you don't need any exposure automation in my opinion.

Good points above.

Take a shot in an auto mode--if you like how it looks, check the settings it chose, turn to manual mode and choose those settings as a starting point. Shoot the proceedings in Manual. In general it's true that lighting shouldn't be changing all that often so you might as well have consistent exposure from shot to shot.

Right off hand I'd suggest a higher shutter speed, since you will be shooting "action". A SS of 1/400 will tend to show a whole lot of motion blur.

If I were you I'd do some tests before you actually are at the venue, testing with moving/active subjects with speeds of 1/800 and faster and see what you come up with. From there adjust your aperture and your ISO to adjust to the lighting of the venue. You'd probably want a fairly wide/fast aperture.

tjs42 wrote in post #17155962
i keep messing about with different settings for kickboxing events. the one ive ended up with is. iso auto. shutter speed 400. al servo. do these seem ok or would it be better to change them. camera 70d and a sigma 17-50

thanks

you're probably going to need a faster shutter speed, set the ISO manually !

Try aperture priority, aperture wide open, ISO one notch below max, center point AF only, assist points on.

If you get a shutter speed above 1/1000 that's good. 1/640 or less, move ISO to max.

And others will surely give great advice on going manual, which indoors is fine.

But basically your shutter speed is too low.

when i set the iso to high its noisy. im using the centre point focus. i dont want to go manual as im not confident yet

tjs42 wrote in post #17161509
when i set the iso to high its noisy. im using the centre point focus. i dont want to go manual as im not confident yet

Thats just silly. Manual is just locking in the meter readings so you get consistent results rather than being fooled by meter bias in a moving subject. You are holding yourself back out of fear.

tjs42 wrote in post #17161509
when i set the iso to high its noisy. im using the centre point focus. i dont want to go manual as im not confident yet

You have to take your time and learn what works. Low light does mean that you will have problems, either with blur from movement or noise from jacking up your ISO. That's just the way things are. That's why professional sports shooters use expensive equipment -- cameras and lenses that can work in challenging environments.

Learn how and why a camera works.

tjs42 wrote in post #17161509
when i set the iso to high its noisy. im using the centre point focus. i dont want to go manual as im not confident yet

During events like these, the lighting rarely changes. Once the 'correct' exposure is determined you can shoot this setting for the entire event.

Takes me back to the days before auto exposure cameras were available (yep, I'm really that old and started shooting quite young). For sports for example, I'd automatically load 400 ASA (ISO) films. If the lighting was constant I would choose 500th- 1000th shutter speed, point the camera at the grass or tarmac during motor sports and twiddle the aperture ring to get the 'correct' exposure. Both grass and motor racing circuit tarmacs are pretty close to 18% reflectance grey.

It's really important to be able to recognise which tones are close to 18% reflectance grey.

yogestee wrote in post #17164533
During events like these, the lighting rarely changes. Once the 'correct' exposure is determined you can shoot this setting for the entire event.

Takes me back to the days before auto exposure cameras were available (yep, I'm really that old and started shooting quite young). For sports for example, I'd automatically load 400 ASA (ISO) films. If the lighting was constant I would choose 500th- 1000th shutter speed, point the camera at the grass or tarmac during motor sports and twiddle the aperture ring to get the 'correct' exposure. Both grass and motor racing circuit tarmacs are pretty close to 18% reflectance grey.

It's really important to be able to recognise which tones are close to 18% reflectance grey.

I still use those basic techniques to this day though I often have my handheld light meter handy. I started getting serious about photography in early 1965 at the age of 18.

SkipD wrote in post #17164554
I still use those basic techniques to this day though I often have my handheld light meter handy. I started getting serious about photography in early 1965 at the age of 18.

Same here only it was 1978 and I was 14.