7d Mark II 7D2 - getting the best image sports image in low light

I tried out a 7D2 earlier this year for a basketball game, and was pretty impressed. I decided to go ahead and replace my 'soon to not be covered by CPS' 1D3 with a new 7D2.

Amazing camera, seems to handle low light much nicer than my 1D3 did. The anti flicker mode really, really does work.

My main observation is that the images seem a little flat. Now, I am shooting in faithful picture style; but bumped up contrast by 1 to see if that would help a little. Here's one shot from last night, only the exposure was bumped up a little.

javapop wrote in post #17713264
Here's one shot from last night, only the exposure was bumped up a little.

Try ETTR instead of bumping up exposure in post. You should get slightly less noise that way.

I would tone down the highlights slightly to make the white uniforms a bit less overbearing.

Experiment with WB and color tone; the first image especially looks a bit too green to my eyes

Also, a little NR wouldn't hurt.

Have you read the picture style characteristics (page 161-162 of the PDF English manual)?
According to the manual:
Faithful: Suited for processing the image with a computer ... Images will appear subdued.
Neutral: Suited for processing the image with a computer. For natural colors and subdued images.

Thanks for the tips. How can I use ETTR with the camera in post? Whats the technique you'd recommend?

I had high ISO noise reduction set on standard. Highlight tone priority turned was off. I should have done a manual WB; but didn't. I will be trying to find an adjustment so I can apply to all the ones I use since they were consistent kelvin.

m.eo.w wrote in post #17713285
..

Experiment with WB and color tone; the first image especially looks a bit too green to my eyes

Also, a little NR wouldn't hurt.

Ditto, the 2nd image appears much better. WB was my guess. But after reading, I'm not sure why if the setting was manual.

Ok @JWdlft You are correct...

I was just used to getting a bit different of an image using the same Picture Style with my 1D3, as well as my 6D. It does look a little different. Of course, this is the first 1.6 crop camera I've used since my ol' T2i.

I'll experiment a little more with picture styles!

javapop wrote in post #17713319
Thanks for the tips. How can I use ETTR with the camera in post? Whats the technique you'd recommend?

.

ETTR means shooting as far to the right of the histogram as you can without clipping the highlights, and then in post reducing the exposure. It's sort of the opposite of what you were doing if you are boosting exposure in post.

https://photography-on-the.net …php?p=8534003#p​ost8534003

I had it set to 5200k ; I should have done a custom white balance... (looked good on the screen on the field)

Thanks for the link @CyberDyneSystems

So, basically, I need to try shooting at a tact higher ISO without blowing the highlights. I know the white uniforms made this a little tricky. I actually bumped up to ISO 8000 thinking I' get more low light detail without having to slow down shutter speed.

you can look at the histogram to see if you're blowing anything out. not 100% accurate but its a good approximation.

also wb doesn't really matter if you're shooting raw, except for histogram readings. raw files' wb can be changed in post losslessly.

since i mostly shoot on awb cause the lighting at my uni is as nonuniform as it gets. random dark spots as well as different color lights (yellow/white) on the same field

I just fix it in post.

m.eo.w wrote in post #17713563
you can look at the histogram to see if you're blowing anything out. not 100% accurate but its a good approximation.

also wb doesn't really matter if you're shooting raw, except for histogram readings. raw files' wb can be changed in post losslessly.

since i mostly shoot on awb cause the lighting at my uni is as nonuniform as it gets. random dark spots as well as different color lights (yellow/white) on the same field

I just fix it in post.

Just be sure to recognize that:
- The raw file has a bit more stop headroom available at the ends of the histogram, so if the histogram shows clipping, there might actually not be any in the raw.
- The histogram is taken from the JPG file, not the raw contents.
- The histogram is greatly dependent therefore on your picture style.

If you're complaints are about the image feeling "flat" without much "pop" and not the noise in the pictures, then ETTR won't fix the problem (though I would still recommend doing it to reduce the noise). The incorrect white balance isn't helping, but that's still not going to be what the photo is missing. The "pop" you are missing is saturation.

http://gdlp01.c-wss.com …15/01/eos7d-mk2-im-en.pdf

Check out page 161 of the manual, linked above. But long story short, change from faithful to standard and you'll get most of the pop back.

Though, as always, you'll get much better results if you shoot in raw and learn to use lightroom to set these on a per photo basis. Though I understand that's not possible for everyone's workflow, just keep in mind you're leaving a lot on the table by not doing it.

@vengence I do shoot RAW, and plan on getting a manual WB the next game, as soon as the lighting is consistent to give that a try. I'll experiment with the picture styles; between that and WB, is where I've had the issues most likely.

javapop wrote in post #17715971
@vengence I do shoot RAW, and plan on getting a manual WB the next game, as soon as the lighting is consistent to give that a try. I'll experiment with the picture styles; between that and WB, is where I've had the issues most likely.

If you're shooting raw then white balance in camera and picture style will have no affect on your image. Both are set by the raw converter (i.e. lightroom or dpp) when you process the image.