Football Question (American)

Do you think that you would be able to use F4 at a football game or any other sport at night with good results?

thanks

While this isn't football I thought it might be of some help. The following are all pictures taken at night with no light source other than the stadium lights. These are all shot at ISO 1600 with no noise processing done. I used the Canon 70-200 f/4L on a digitbal rebel xt. I believe these were mostly at 1/320, but it should show on flickr.
http://www.flickr.com …in/set-72157603876695975/

this one shows a little bit of motion blur in it, but nothing too significant:
http://www.flickr.com …in/set-72157603876695975/

this one you can see the motion blur in the ball, but not the players: http://www.flickr.com …in/set-72157603876695975/

xairsoft808x wrote in post #5392935
Do you think that you would be able to use F4 at a football game or any other sport at night with good results?

thanks

Depends on light from reflectors on stadium but basicly you can use F4 (i use 70-200 2.8 +1.4x converter) normaly on soccer games in Croatia...

xairsoft808x wrote in post #5392935
Do you think that you would be able to use F4 at a football game or any other sport at night with good results?

thanks

What level of league?

Professional (NFL): Yes

On down the line from major university to Pee Wee it goes from probably to probably not.

One major advantage of shooting professional sports is that the stadiums are lit for televsion. Sometimes, televsion even has extra lights brought in if a particular stadium isn't lit well enough.

I did several high school football games last year in the Dallas, Texas area and I can tell you for sure that at most stadiums I shot at after dark F4 will not cut it. At many of the games I was at 3200 @ 2.8.

Ditto.

The only place your going to really be able to shoot football at night with f/4 is in Alaska.

And thats when the sun is out for 24 hours!



Ok all crappy joking aside.

No F/4 at night is pretty much only useable if you are providing a decent flash source. Yes it can be done. But 99% of lighting for most Colleges (non Div I) and HS sports are just enough so the players can see the ball.

And some places have lighting coverage just barely above a closet lit with a candle!

So it will be really hard to get decent photos that aren't too dark without really stretching the limits of your camera body having to bump up the ISO's.

I have always thought that if I hit the lottery Im going to donate a nice portion of money to the HS that I went to when I was a kid. And I would specifically tell them to spend it on lighting the field so every photographer on the sidelines could shoot at ISO 800 and F/4.

But thats just a dream...

Ross

You'll be surprised how far a flash will reach out. Some clues to exposure in: Fill light at sunset

As a rule "No". Most fields I covered football on at night ISO1600 or 3200 f/2.8 at 1/250 with a 200mm prime lens was about all that could be expected. Remember to that you are shooting people wearing helmets, you will want to open up at least 1/2 step from any meter reading to get some face detail.


Jack

f it's not a professional sport at night or a pro stadium you might want to consider going 2.8.
I did a high school football game at night with the 24-105L f4
and my pictures were horrible because of poor stadium lighting (And I mean POOR)

Good advice is you have f/2.8, but I don't think the OP does?

Crappy lighting is a given in almost all those non-TV/Pro venues. We just have to learn how to work around that as best we can.
One way to get usable results from crappy pics is in post #3 of Some Volly Ball Tournament Tests **56K Warning!**