Frisbee game at night under stadium lights?

I know these are less than ideal conditions, but wondering if I should even bother giving it a go? It would just be casual/candid shots but I still want decent shots or nothing at all

I've got a 70-200 F4 IS or the 100-400 f4.5-5.6 IS paired with my 5D4. This would be after sunset but the high school stadium has those stadium floodlights.

The sport would be ultimate frisbee, so running/jumping people and discs being thrown through the air... i'm guessing minimum 1/800s ideally?

Do you guys think I could get something out of my setup, or just wait until I can take shots earlier in the day?

kaitlyn2004 wrote in post #18427633
I know these are less than ideal conditions, but wondering if I should even bother giving it a go? It would just be casual/candid shots but I still want decent shots or nothing at all

I've got a 70-200 F4 IS or the 100-400 f4.5-5.6 IS paired with my 5D4. This would be after sunset but the high school stadium has those stadium floodlights.

The sport would be ultimate frisbee, so running/jumping people and discs being thrown through the air... i'm guessing minimum 1/800s ideally?

Do you guys think I could get something out of my setup, or just wait until I can take shots earlier in the day?

I think it would be real tough with your lenses. Can you rent a 70-200 2.8 or something faster like an 85/1.8 or 135L?

If this is a fun/free gig, I'd just shoot with the 100-400 and crank the ISO up on the 5d4. You might be at ISO 25600, but it would clean up well enough. I'd probably drop the shutter speed to 1/500 as well. 1/800th is more ideal, but probably not worth the ISO tradeoff.

Just don't shoot loose shots and expect to crop in. Shoot tight and ISO 25600 can look fine. The 70-200 f4 (or 85 1.8 or 135L) just isn't long enough for a big field sport like Ultimate, so you'd end up shooting loose with a high ISO, trying to crop in, and it would look like garbage.

Don't underexpose, either, and try to boost shadows in post (it will look like garbage). Also, pay attention to the placement of lights on the field and try to shoot in spots where the lights best fall on faces.

Depends on how long after sunset and the quality of the stadium lights. Some lights provide a much better color cast than others.

I think it is worth trying. If you're not happy with the action photos, focus on sideline action and where the play isn't moving very fast. There's plenty of that in ultimate--Spirit of the Game!

If you have sideline access, I'd go with the 70-200 and move up and down the sidelines with the players as that one extra stop is huge (difference between ISO 25600 and 51200). Otherwise you're going to need the 100-400 for reach.

Good luck.

BTW, my daughter was on the U-19 mixed team, DC Swing Vote, that won Nationals in 2016. Lots of photos on my site, including some played in the evenings. Next night game I'm probably going to shoot with flash--settings will be near ambient and the flash (ETTL and HSS) will provide just enough light for color correction.