Advise for indoor hockey

Here is the scoop, I'm heading to a youth indoor hockey game and as I can tell by browsing around a little, it's not a great photography environment. Any tips and pointers for me using the following equipment:

450D/XSI
18-55IS
55-250IS
50mm 1.8
Sigma 530 super flash

I'm guessing that the 50mm with some post cropping or possibly the 55-250 with flash will be the way to go. XSI gets up to ISO 1600 so I'm thinking I'm going to have to max it??

Pointers?? PLEASE.

The only way you'll get anything that MIGHT be usable with the 55-250 is with the flash.. but.. it doesn't focus fast at all so most at rest, non-action photos might be a good bet with it. You could maybe get some usable with the 50 1.8 from behind the net through the glass at goaltenders and players there?

Hopefully you can find some clean glass in the corners. Your going to have to bump up your ISO untill you get a descent speed. If you have a problem with slow focus then you can manual focus on the net/post and wait for some good action on that focal plane. Stay away from the 1.8 if your looking to get clean shots of the players faces. 2.8 is not too bad.

I'm not sure what state your in but Most California rinks have terrible lighting unless its a rink rink used by the pros for practice.

have fun

You'll struggle to get many keepers with your current setup.

I shoot hockey with an XSI w/ Sigma 70-200 2.8. I shoot in manual mode at 800ISO, f2.8, and can generally get 1/250 to 1/500 and find about 50% keeper rate. This is 6-10 year olds. For older, faster skaters, the rate would be much lower as you can't freeze the action at 1/250.

Are you trying to get action shots? Or individual shots of faces and emotion? If the former, use the 55-250 and expect a lot of PP to correct lighting issues. The players / coaches may not like you using flash and good luck shooting through the glass with reflections from flash. If you are going for the latter, try to shoot from penalty box, and get the kids as they skate towards you - use the 50mm and crop appropriately. Or shoot from behind the net, but you won't reach much past the front of the net.

I find 1600ISO on the XSi to be weak at best, so stick to 800. But, I'm blowing up to larger format (11 x 17 to 24 x 36). Your opinion may differ.

If you should in Av mode, set to overexpose by 1/3 at least. Shoot AI Servo.

Good luck
Brian

Thanks for the advise everyone. Sure did come in handy. There was no available seating without the glass in the view, so flash was a no go. The 55-250 worked wide open at 1600, not great though. Wound up shooting mostly with the 50 1.8 set at 2.8, 1/500 and ISO 800. They results weren't horrible... Focus could be a bit better but I'm sure the glass doesn't help matters. A couple of shots from the game:

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

With some cropping you could have some great shots.