Gymnastics Advice for new DSLR

Hi -

I just purchased my first DSLR last night, a Canon XSI with the kit lens. The batteries are charging as I type. I owned a Canon AE-1 years ago . . . and my current camera was a film fixed lens Olympus SLR. But I have to admit, I used it mostly on auto everything. I bought the XSI in hopes of getting some good gymnastics, basketball and soccer pictures. I know I have a lot to learn!

I have been doing some reading on and off over the last few months and I am aware that the kit lens will not cut it for gymnastics. I would like to buy a 50mm f1.8 or 85mm f1.8, but we will see. I noticed the 50mm f1.8 is only about 85 on Amazon with free shipping which I may get. The only local store I have found it at is Ritz for 119 plus tax . . .

My daughter has 2 more gymnastics meets left. One tomorrow and one in about 2 weeks. I know it would have been nice to at least have a better lens for tomorrow . . . She has a practice tonight so I thought I'd bring my camera tonight to play/learn some and bring it to the meet tomorrow knowing that I may not get the best pictures, but it would be good practice at least for timing and composition.

That being said, does anyone have any recommendations on where to start for basic settings? The kit lens is a EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS.

Thank you!
Kim

You are going to have real difficulty in using your lens without resorting to flash which is probably prohibited.

I would suggest you get as close as you can so you can stay on the wide end of the lens, the more you zoom out the more light you have lost with the variable aperture of the lens you have. At f/3.5 you should have some marginal to decent shutter speeds with the below settings but when you get up to f/5.6 the shutter speeds are going to drop well below what is recommended for this type of sport.

Set your ISO to 1600, leave the lens wide open so shoot in either AV or if you are comfortable with the new body in manual, use a center point AF selection, center weighted metering, set AF to AI servo and burst mode for frame rate along with a custom white balance (to the venues lighting) if not shooting raw.

You will want to try to get your shutter speed at or around 1/400th but I think you will have difficulty getting there so I would expect that you have a rather low keeper rate of frames but you should get some decent images. Good luck!

BradM is right. Try to wait for natural pauses in the action.
I would suggest getting a 70-200mmL f2.8 IS if you are going to a lot of kid shooting. It is expensive but will allow you to get shots in low light at a distance.

Thanks for the advice Brad and poloman.

For now, I plan on probably just trying for beam and floor for more of the poses rather than action shots.

So do you think I should get the 70-200mm f2.8 before the 50mm or 85mm f1.8? Would the 70-200mm f2.8 be good for outdoor soccer too? Would it also be fast enough for gymnastics?

ETA : ok - just looked at the price of that baby . . . maybe a future buy. Any recommendations for the $500 range?

Given what you want to shoot, that lens is your best bet. You won't believe the results you will get over what you have. You might also want to get a 580ex speedlight. You would then have the best totally portable kit for what you want to do. Later, you could add some studio lights with portable power supply and radio triggers.
You might want a monopod to support that big heavy lens.

poloman wrote in post #5403033
Given what you want to shoot, that lens is your best bet. You won't believe the results you will get over what you have. You might also want to get a 580ex speedlight. You would then have the best totally portable kit for what you want to do. Later, you could add some studio lights with portable power supply and radio triggers.
You might want a monopod to support that big heavy lens.

Gymnastics is a no flash sport... so it has to be fast lens and high ISO...

I shot gymnastics for 5 or so years... I used a Sigma 70-200 F2.8 EX HSM as my main lens... that and Neat Image to clean up the noise in the higher ISOs...

I also used a Tamron 28-75 f2.8....

I have shot my grandaughter during her meets. Like it has been said you will need to use ISO 1600 and you need a 70-200 2.8 IS. You could possibly rent one to avoid the cost but you do need the 2.8 to be able to get the shots you want. Try shooting her on the beam as she is not moving very fast and some floor and position yourself where she has a pause in her performance. Good luck, it really is great watching your child or grandchild in this sport.

Re: Flash. I had in mind all the other times you might need such and item. I consider it essential....
Contrary to what many think, you will actually concentrate more on the events as you try to shoot them.

Gymnastics:

1. No flash. It is universally banned.
2. 70-200/2.8 - forget it. f/2.8 is too slow for gymnastics even at ISO3200. It really only works with a 1Dmk3 and ISO6400.

I recommend you get the 85/1.8 and go from there. Not only is 50mm a bit too short for gymnsatics, the 50/1.8 does not have the AF performance for anything that is not static. The 85/1.8 will also be handy for B-Ball shot much the same way.

Shoot gymnastics in M mode. Start at ISO1600, f/2 and 1/400 and take shots. Look at the histogram and adjust from there so that the whites are pushing the right side of the histogram. Use RAW so that you can fix the funky WB that you get with Sodium Arc lamps.

You need 150mm to 300mm to shoot soccer. That is a different lens. For soccer faster is nice (to blur out the background) but not as much required as with the indoor sports.

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JeffreyG wrote in post #5404413
Gymnastics:

1. No flash. It is universally banned.
2. 70-200/2.8 - forget it. f/2.8 is too slow for gymnastics even at ISO3200. It really only works with a 1Dmk3 and ISO6400.

I recommend you get the 85/1.8 and go from there. Not only is 50mm a bit too short for gymnsatics, the 50/1.8 does not have the AF performance for anything that is not static. The 85/1.8 will also be handy for B-Ball shot much the same way.

Shoot gymnastics in M mode. Start at ISO1600, f/2 and 1/400 and take shots. Look at the histogram and adjust from there so that the whites are pushing the right side of the histogram. Use RAW so that you can fix the funky WB that you get with Sodium Arc lamps.

You need 150mm to 300mm to shoot soccer. That is a different lens. For soccer faster is nice (to blur out the background) but not as much required as with the indoor sports.

Thing is some times 85 is too short, especially at the bigger meets where you have to shot all the way across the gym...

fishingjts wrote in post #5404531
Thing is some times 85 is too short, especially at the bigger meets where you have to shot all the way across the gym...

The trick is to look like you know what you are doing an then go where you need to be to get the shots. I shot the above bars shot with an 85mm lens on a 5D from the floor very near the apparatus. Even if you have a very long lens most distant shots will be less exciting if the perspective is from above.

For B-ball you mostly want to crouch along on the line behind the basket.

JeffreyG wrote in post #5404594
The trick is to look like you know what you are doing an then go where you need to be to get the shots. I shot the above bars shot with an 85mm lens on a 5D from the floor very near the apparatus. Even if you have a very long lens most distant shots will be less exciting if the perspective is from above.

For B-ball you mostly want to crouch along on the line behind the basket.

true... but i've been at meets where they have 3 flights going and your child is competing way off in the corner and you simply cannot get back there...

fishingjts wrote in post #5404637
true... but i've been at meets where they have 3 flights going and your child is competing way off in the corner and you simply cannot get back there...

That's why I have the 135L

Good advice on the lenses above. Depending on your budget, 85 f/1.8 to start, and move with your feet as much as you can.
For outdoor soccer, the 70-200 f/2.8 non IS would cost 2/3rds the IS version & you can usually find a good used one. The 70-200 f/4 is a great daylight lens & they're only about $500 used.

Make sure that the white pushing to the right aren't the overhead lights. See if this helps: Need an exposure crutch?
More on how the subject affects the exposure in Post # 47

PhotosGuy wrote in post #5405631
Make sure that the white pushing to the right aren't the overhead lights. See if this helps: Need an exposure crutch?
More on how the subject affects the exposure in Post # 47

Good point. try not to have lights in the frame when you are taking setup shots.

As you can see in my example, the light fixture is totally blown out. This is intentional, and also incidentally a good example of why you want to shoot in M mode.