Basketball Action Shots

Hello All

I am going to be doing some basketball action shots soon, and just wanted to ensure I had the right equipment/knowledge. I have a rebel xt and sigma 24-70 2.8 and 70-200 2.8 lens.

I think I will use the 70-200 2.8 most of the time - the AF is really quick on it (has equivalent to USM in canon).

Shooting at ISO 800 (1600 if I MUST), with aperture wide open, do you think I will be ok to get a shutter speed faster than 1/100?

Do you guys use Manual or Av mode?

Well, I'd say that if you can't get a shutter speed higher than 1/100, then you just ought to pack it in and go home .... 'cause 1/100 won't be good enough for "action" ...

Seriously, though, shooting at ISO 1600 is what you're probably going to wind up shooting at, unless that gym is really well lit - and don't get me wrong, some gyms are really well lit ( but, apparently, they're all gyms that I never shoot in! ).

Anyway, when I shoot basketball, it's usually in Manual mode; ISO 800 or 1600 (depending on the light) and wide open at 2.8 and 1/250 or 1/320 shutter speed. Actually, I shoot basketball with an 85 1.8 or a 100 2.0, so I shoot at 2.0 most of the time. I find that in most gyms, even a 2.8 lens is kinda slow ....

If you're good with post-processing images, shoot in RAW with the above settings and just set your shutter speed at 1/400 and shoot away. You might be a little underexposed, but you can "push" that a little in the RAW conversion. Be aware that a sharp, non-blurry image with a little noise in it beats a bad, blurry image with no noise every day of the week .... so keep your shutter speed up enough to stop the action, be spot on with your focus, and "push" process the image (if you have to) in order to get those sharp, non-blurry photos.

Best of luck with that ....

Thanks. Yeah I realize anything slower than 1/100 isn't worth it - hence the question. thanks for the help.

Any other tips/advice would be appreciated

As Cecil already mentioned... 1/100 is useless. If you can't get higher try to use flash (if it's allowed on that event of course). Otherwise if you want to stay on safe side go more to 1/500 then 1/320. No matter what basketball is still pretty fast moving sport, so with slow times you will have bunch of blured images. And one more thing... in normal gyms you will be lucky to get 1/320 at f2.8 and iso3200
PS: Personally I shoot all sport on manual. It just gives me more control and I got used to that, which means it's not somekind of a rule, but more personal choice.

After having just done some tests regarding this, I can say that underexposing (even down to about 2-stops, though that's pushing it) can be a very useful way to go, so long as you don't want to make very large prints. It's also safer when the dynamic range of the scene is fairly limited, and/or the subjects are rather on the light end of the range by default...

I've put up two samples here from my own Rebel XT and broken (but not) 50mm in low light, at ISO1600. The normally exposed one is absolutely untouched, while the underexposed one has undergone brightness/contrast modding, noise reduction, color balancing, slight saturation boost, and a weak (but very large radius) unsharp masking.

I suppose experimentation can be interesting.

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If you are going to underexpose so that you can push the shutter speed to a point where it is useful this should be done while shooting RAW. Also keep in mind that this attracts more noise than would a properly exposed image. As long as you are comfortable with noise management software then this is an option but I try not to utilize it unless absolutely necessary.

I can't remember who posted them but I saw some on here of basketball and they were using a 135 f/2 L as their lens. They were great shots. Maybe a search of this in the sports section might assist you.

Hey guys, thanks for the input.

I think that at f2.8 and ISO 1600 I should be ok - the gyms are pretty bright, not the best, but I mean, it should do. I used to work for a photography company doing gymnastics and we used ISO800 at 2.8 and were fine, so, we'll see I guess.

Will only come with practice. I don't think I could afford another lens right now anyway.

Also - shooting at 1.8, wouldn't that produce a very thing DOF, probably too thin for basketball?

I usually shoot basketball with the 85mm f/1.8 lens using the following settings:
ISO: 1600
Shutter: 1/500
Aperture: Two stops down from wide open for optimal sharpness and depth of field.

Your settings, of course, depend on the lighting in the venue. I usually use the 85 on one camera body and switch between the 50 and 100 on the other, depending on where I am in the gym at the time.

If you use a 1.8 and stop down 2 stops, doesn't that make it 3.8, therefore, using my 2.8 would be fine? Am I understanding this?

Provided the court you're shooting in is as bright as hers, yeah.

Great - thanks for the tips/advice guys!

Any more tips/advice for basketball shooting would be greatly appreciated

To clarify, my camera is set up in 1/3 stop increments. When I say "2 stops," I'm talking about f/2.2. Sorry for the confusion.

Get comfortable with panning - following a subject.

I've shot basketball in well lit gyms using my 70-200 f2/8L IS. It does a fair job while the team is farther away, from the top of the paint to the far basket. When the team gets near the paint my 1DmkIIn and the 70-200 won't focus fast enough.

I've since switched to the 85mm 1.8. It is razor sharp and focus very fast. I find I like the pictures of the girls under the basket, than I do with them dribbling or passing down the court.

I typically shoot at ISO 3200, f/2.2 and about 1/500 to 1/640 of a second. I use Av priority letting the shutter speed fall where it goes. Noise Ninja does wonders

see:

http://web.mac.com …ite/Pumas%2019%​20Aug.html