quick metering question

I have to take some action shots tonight at my schools basketball game. I looked through my manual etc but I have a question =) what type of metering would you perfer if any? Evaluative/Partial or uh center-weighted..etc? If you give me an answer could you explain why?


thanks =)

M since it's consistent. Meter once, set it, concentrate on the action.

cdi-ink.com wrote in post #2549352
M since it's consistent. Meter once, set it, concentrate on the action.

i AGREE
Rob.

Oh and invest in a grey card, set a custom white balance, and save yourself a lot of work in post.

merp wrote in post #2549344
I have to take some action shots tonight at my schools basketball game. I looked through my manual etc but I have a question =) what type of metering would you perfer if any? Evaluative/Partial or uh center-weighted..etc? If you give me an answer could you explain why?
thanks =)

Sports photography is tough. I don't mean this offensively, but it sounds like you are fairly new to photography so I'm going to lay this out and word it accordingly.

First off, as other's have mentioned, your best bet for metering a sports game is to meter it once, before the game starts, lock that exposure into your camera by setting it in M mode, and leaving it there the entire night. There are too many different luminocities on the court that will fool your camera's internal reflective light meter into picking differnet exposure values for you the entire night.

Take your fastest lens to the game, set the lens wide open (fastest aperture, lowest f/number), find the shutter speed for that aperture and ISO combo, and verify that it's going to be fast enough to stop the action and prevent motion blur. If it's not enough shutter speed, raise ISO until you do have enough shutter speed.

Once you find the correct shutter speed/ISO ... keep it locked in and keep shooting.

Bill

Don't be afraid to try your flash as well. I've been shooting high school sports basketball all season using a flash and have had NO complaints from players or coaches. I will often times set my focus on a particular zone as well and switch my lens to manual focus and wait for the action to come into that zone. Sometimes the autofocus just can't keep up on my 300d with Canon 28-105mm USM 3.5 lens. Hope this helps.

Yep I'm a beginner, and I usually do use M. I took volleyball shots eariler in the year and they came out pretty well but not as good as I wanted. I was reading my manual last night and I was just wondering. Thank you guys for the imput - I am still trying to figure out this whole white balance thing-along with a couple other things.


thanks again

If the action is moving between different lighting situations, I would use the "almost" spot meter (since the rebel doesn't have spot metering abilities) and set on Av (or aperture priority) set on the widest aperture your lens with go and at ISO 1600. Then ensure you use the center focusing point, not the guessing game of using them all, put that center focus point on the subject and you will at least have your subject exposed well. If the lighting is consistent, I would set to Manual, take some test exposures to ensure the histogram looks good (mostly everything in the middle), with the ISO at 1600 and the aperture at your widest.

You will find experimenting and making mistakes improves your abilities little by little. By the time you have taken around 10,000 shots, you really will know your way around the camera. I know that may seem like a lot, but ask any pro about the time it took for them to get real comfortable with the camera and handling differing situations.