Are these lenses good for nite football?

I will be shooting night, high school football this fall with my 30D (I only have the one body). I am thinking these two lenses would be good to use: a 70-200 2.8 and an 85 1.8. The long zoom most of the time and then switch to the 85 when shooting from the back of the endzone when the team is about to score--light usually falls off there in most stadiums around here.

Any thoughts from you experienced shooters of night football? THANKS!

I find that night sports are so brightly lit, that you can get some amazing shots with the same setup as daytime. and you won't have any blown backgrounds to deal with!

mkuriger wrote in post #3740549
I find that night sports are so brightly lit, that you can get some amazing shots with the same setup as daytime. and you won't have any blown backgrounds to deal with!

I don't know what HS football stadiums you're at but that's not close to true in this area. The fields are extremely poorly lit and using the same settings as day time events would equal all throw away shots. If I had to make a choice I would say 70-200 2.8 IS, but personally it would feel to short for football. I use the 300 2.8 and it's not enough most of the time (end zones usually it's tight or just right). Also, the end zones are usually the worst lit part of the field, 40-40 yard line is usually the best as most schools just point all there lights towards the center. I know a lot of HS shooters use flash, I don't like to use it cuz it's annoying but have to this year for the client I'm shooting for, that or shoot all day games which is impossible.

Last year I was shooting with a 20D & 300 2.8 IS, manual mode, f/2.8, 1/250 - 400, just couldn't get any more...ISO 1600 I think --- and it was without a flash. If it was a day game I would have been shooting ISO 400 at most, f/2.8-4.0 (if using the 1.4 convertor) and shutters at least 1/2000. With a flash you can go lower ISO but still not finding the same results you'd get in day time.

Our high school fields are not particularly well lit either. I use my 30D with a Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 and it works well. Last year I shot with flash (and an external battery pack), but I'm going to try and do without this year. Last year I shot full manual - 1600 ISO, 2.8/f and between 1/120 and 1/250 and they came out pretty well. Let me know if you'd like to see any of the shots I took with this set up.

Did you use the flash with that set up? 1600 ISO and all?

Yep.

Strange, wouldn't you be able to take the ISO down and up the shutter with a flash? Those are the settings I used with no flash at all pretty much.

Maybe the lighting on your field is better. Here is an example of what I came up with using those settings and the flash:

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

Nice shot, the guy in white in the middle with the dude going over the top is looking a bit worse for wear. His helmet is halfway off, did he lose it.

Have you got a website Debbie. I was shooting some touch-football here in Oz for my brother & the fields are shockingly lit. I ended up telling him it was worth me venturing out in the cold weather.
Cheers

Brad.

I have all my photos on a photo hosting site - here is the link:

http://www.imageevent.​com/pokemom

If you look at the ETHS Varsity folder, you'll see all the games I shot last season. The only game that is different is the first album - the North South All Star game. That one was played on a college field with MUCH better lighting, I was in the stands (as opposed to on the field) and I did not use flash. Everything else was shot with the approximate settings I indicated above.

Interesting, doesn't look like much noise at 1600. The company I'm shooting for this fall said anything above 800 ISO they won't accept...our field is HORRIBLE...

http://mikejanesphotog​raphy.exposuremanager.​com/g/varsity_vs_batav​ia

That's how dark our field is..horrible lighting.

That is really terrible lighting - have you tried/will they accept photos shot with a flash? I've found that the flash with an external battery pack works well and can keep up with me however fast I shoot.

Try a little noise reduction on ISO3200 and see if they still complain about the noise.

It is probably a standing rule from 1DmkI days...

Rob

IODebbie wrote in post #3741693
That is really terrible lighting - have you tried/will they accept photos shot with a flash? I've found that the flash with an external battery pack works well and can keep up with me however fast I shoot.

The coach, who is my old coach, told me he didn't realize how bad the fields lighting was until he saw those pictures. It is horrible and I have not tried shooting night since, but have to this year and will be using a 580EX flash. Only problem though is I find that darn thing way to annoying myself as a coach, so going to try and NOT use it as much as possible, and the only way to do that and get the stuff published (according to the company) is to shoot day games....sooo...thats my goal for the year, as many day games as possible as we have a few teams without lights so they play Saturday afternoons.

At least football is a sport where flash isn't as intrusive as say basketball, volleyball or baseball. I'd never use a flash in those....strobes for b-ball, but not the others, and definately not flash. Football it's not noticed by the players at all usually, I never noticed one at least in my playing days and do remember many photogs at night games with them, just seeing them when I came out to the sidelines.

MJPhotos24 wrote in post #3741573
Interesting, doesn't look like much noise at 1600. The company I'm shooting for this fall said anything above 800 ISO they won't accept...our field is HORRIBLE...

http://mikejanesphotog​raphy.exposuremanager.​com/g/varsity_vs_batav​ia

That's how dark our field is..horrible lighting.

That company has their priorities arse-about for sure. Are you telling me they would prefer excessive subject movement and/or underexposure over a little noise?!

Get with the 21st century!