Question: Why can't I get my ss higher than 250 when shooting basketball?

MJPhotos24 wrote in post #7178967
HSS is NOT intended for sports use, it will NOT help...

+ 1

Thanks so much everyone. I just pulled out my camera and flash manuals to re-read (it can never hurt). Well thanks for all of the responses...made you think tonight huh? You don't have to thank me...haha.

I might try next week with no flash to see what kind of shots I get. I was only asking because their is some motion still showing in my shots like the basketball isn't as sharp when bouncing. I can post a few pics if anyone wants to critique?

Thanks again.

With your basketball photos and the 430EX attached to your camera body, you are gonna get the combination of 2 pictures: a picture of 1/250th second without flash and a picture with flash with the time of the flash duration let's say 1/800th of a second. This will give rise to blur and ghosting in your images.

You cannot get away from this 2 picture concept because they are taken by your camera no matter what you do and combined on the sensor. But you can think about what to do with each separate picture:

For the minus flash picture (i.e. ambient light), you can try to make it as dark as possible. Ways to do that are to decrease ISO, and close down the aperture (e.g., use f/4). Of course, if you do these things it will also affect the plus flash picture.

For the plus flash picture, you can increase the flash output by buying more powerful strobes or using multiple speedlites or strobes. This will allow you to decrease the ISO and close down the aperture yet still get enough light.

My guess is that you don't want to buy new strobes just yet. And if you decrease the ISO and close the aperture, then your photos will be underexposed. That means that you will always get ghosting and your pictures will not be as sharp as folks who do use more powerful strobes or multiple speedlites.

Or another way to avoid the "plus flash" picture is to simply not use flash at all. In that case, you can consider the "plus flash" photo to be completely dark, so you are only left with ambient lighting. In this case you can use a fast shutter speed, but you will have to open up the aperture (with its concomitant narrower depth of field) and use a high ISO (with its concomitant higher noise).

In the end, I think you are between a rock and a hard place unless the gym lights improve or your flash improves.

For myself, I decided to use a least 2 speedlites whenever flash is allowed when shooting basketball. And when flash is not allowed, I must live with higher ISO and noise.

MJPhotos24 wrote in post #7178955
If it's a Canon user at the games you see strobes they are all shooting 1/250th at most. Nikon as a few bodies that are 1/500

Canon 1D also has 1/500 flash sync...
http://www.dpreview.co​m/reviews/canoneos1d/p​age2.asp

Thanks 40Dude and Clarence. Yeah, unless I'm willing to upgrade, I guess I am stuck with what I have which is fine. For the next game, I'm going to shoot without flash at all to see what kind of results I get. I'm just learning to play around with noise reduction software also so hopefully I won't soften my pics too much with it. It's fun just to keep playing and learning. Thanks everyone for all of the comments and suggestions.

Here are a few of the shots that I got yesterday if anyone is interested or has critiques...always welcome.

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/png' | Byte size: ZERO

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/png' | Byte size: ZERO

clarence wrote in post #7180269
Canon 1D also has 1/500 flash sync...
http://www.dpreview.co​m/reviews/canoneos1d/p​age2.asp

Read the entire thread, I already stated that - it's an older body and wasn't including it. Canon doesn't even service that anymore I don't believe (well, not on there pro services list at least).

MJPhotos24 wrote in post #7192451
Read the entire thread, I already stated that - it's an older body and wasn't including it. Canon doesn't even service that anymore I don't believe (well, not on there pro services list at least).

OK, no need to get upset. Maybe the 1D is too old for you to include, but it's 1/500" flash sync specs are still valid.

LOL! That's what he said!

clarence wrote in post #7192785
OK, no need to get upset. Maybe the 1D is too old for you to include, but it's 1/500" flash sync specs are still valid.

I really don't understand why the OP needs flash sync greater than 1/200s or 1/250s. And HSS isn't required either. Anyone care to explain?

All you should need to do is select a shutterspeed and aperture to kill ambient (2-3 stops underexposed) then fire away. Flash will then freeze the action.

... or am I missing something?

Yes, but if one doesn't want to (or can't) kill ambient by underexposing 3 stops (some gyms are too bright to kill ambient), then 1/500" sync would still be useful.

Also useful in outdoors when you can't kill ambient, but need strong fill-flash to overpower a background sun. 1/250 might be too slow, 1/500 could again be a useful option.

Consider if our camera's 1/250 suddenly became limited to 1/125 sync, wouldn't you notice the constraint? That's the same stop that you'd lose if you were used to having 1/500" but your next camera xsync was 1/250".

HSS works fine for fill in high-ambient (e.g., backlit sun portrait), but not in Sports... the range of a speedlight in HSS mode is miserable.

clarence wrote in post #7192785
OK, no need to get upset. Maybe the 1D is too old for you to include, but it's 1/500" flash sync specs are still valid.

Who's getting upset? Don't put a "tone" on my messages giving a false interpretation to them, great now I'm upset, look what you've done. Wait, no I'm not upset, or am I? I'll wait to morning to ask myself, I'm tired.

OK, back to the topic. The 1/500 sync speed is not valid for the OP and that's what people are addressing, so it makes that sync speed irrelevant for this person. They didn't go from 1/500 to 1/250 - they've only had 1/250 the entire time. The only way they're going to get 1/500 is to go buy a used 1D because I don't know any place that sells them anymore.

Nobody is saying 1/500 is a bad thing, I wish they kept it in all the 1D series but what can you do. Now for anyone who just got confused over the three stop thing, just go watch this...

http://web.mac.com …o_podcast_episo​de__3.html

I thought it was unfortunate that the all the schools I shoot at will not allow me to use flash indoors, After reading this debate, maybe it's not such a bad thing... However it sure would be nice to brighten up the caves.

nickybegood1998 wrote in post #7182852
Thanks 40Dude and Clarence. Yeah, unless I'm willing to upgrade, I guess I am stuck with what I have which is fine. For the next game, I'm going to shoot without flash at all to see what kind of results I get. I'm just learning to play around with noise reduction software also so hopefully I won't soften my pics too much with it. It's fun just to keep playing and learning. Thanks everyone for all of the comments and suggestions.

Here are a few of the shots that I got yesterday if anyone is interested or has critiques...always welcome.

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/png' | Byte size: ZERO

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/png' | Byte size: ZERO

Re: suggestions........tel​l him to keep his elbow in when shooting and his head up when dribbling . Great photos

Keep that 85 f/1.8 on the camera and don't use flash. Most schools do not allow flash.

Thanks for all of the comments. Lucky for me, I can use flash (photographing 5 year olds and 10 year olds) so I guess I will just keep working with what I have. I did say that I was going shoot half the game without the flash to see how I like the pics. Will post some from tomorrow if anyone is interested. I printed the pics and they came out quite nice.

Thanks again for all of the suggestions!