Sports camera setting
I have recently bought a Canon EOS 10D - my previous camera was a pocket canon ixus! I want to take more detailed shots of the sport my son plays, hence the purchase of this camera. It comes with a Sigma 17-35 and a Sigma 28-200 lens. My son plays ice hockey and inline hockey and i have been trying to take some good clear action shots but am struggling a bit. I know the camera is capable of taking these shots but am not sure of the settings i should be using? I tried it yesterday at a game using the 28-200 lens and although the pictures are a lot better compared to the ixus they are still a bit blurred. I used the camera in Manual mode with the ISO to 1600 and the shuter was set to 30 and 40. The camera was set to Tv. I didn't do a lot of adjusting as i wanted some pictures. Does anyone know of the proper settings i could start with or is there anything anyone could give me pointers on.
Thanks :bow
Thanks :bow
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While the Canon 10D is a pretty good camera, it would never be anyone's first recommendation as a sports camera. Neither would the lenses in your current kit.
Indoor sports is one of the most demanding of photographic endeavors and really takes rather specialized equipment in order to maximize your rate of returns.
The first thing I would recommend is the purchase a lens capable of both more light gathering and faster AF. On a budget the Sigma 70-200mm, F2.8 EX DG MACRO HSM APO has many of the right properties. The f2.8 constant aperture means that at 200mm you will have 4 times the light gathering power of your current 28-200mm lens and it will also be sharper wide open. It also has Sigma's HSM AF motor technology which provides both speed and accuracy over your 28-200mm lens. The f2.8 will also allow your camera to properly AF in low light.
(I should add that the Canon 70-200mm, f2.8L USM is an even better lens and would yield an even higher rate of keepers.)
All of this will add up to a much better "keeper" rate and ratio.
After that the basic strategy is to use ISO 1600, as you have done, and then try to maintain as fast a shutter speed as possible for the situation and use the f2.8 to help seperate the subject from the background.
The purchase of the lens alone will give you much of what you desire but a more advanced sports camera would be the final part of the puzzle if you want to maximize your shooting performance.
Then you just have to shoot and shoot and shoot some more because no camera, no matter how good, will give you a 100% ratio of shots to keepers, so you shoot a lot to get a decent quantity of acceptable images.
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If you do not feel comfortable shooting in manual mode then I am going to suggest you switch to AV instead of TV. That may seem confusing, but let me explain. Indoor sports shooting is a compromise based on the generally poor lighting. Shutter speed vs ISO. If you sacrifice shutter speed you get blurred shots. If you sacrifice ISO (high ISO = more noise) you get noise. Which would you prefer a noiseless blur at 100 or 200 ISO or a sharp photo with some noise that can be helped in post processing.
In AV set you aperture wide open or very close to wide open. Start around 400 ISO just in case you are really lucky. Now check the shutter speed indicated. To slow, up the ISO and check again. Still too slow up the ISO again. You can make quick shutter speed changes by changing your ISO and maintain the best aperture possible. Usually wide open but not always depending on your glass.
Finally, get there early and meter the entire playing area. If you can go to a practice beforehand and find the right settings for the proper exposure. One of the best ways of reducing high ISO noise is to have the exposure dead on. Good luck.
Ziggy is correct with his lens recommendation and gryphonslair99 is spot on with his shutter speed recommendation. The other main tidbit is for you to use a custom white balance...
And check out this thread. It includes most of my tips on photographing the sport.
Good luck.
The main lens I use is my 135L at the f/2 aperture. The limit is that it is not a zoom, but then I determine where I will be shooting my shots (eg, under the basket, or the right side hitter...). A less expensive, but excellent option, is the 85 mm f/1.8 which I used before acquiring the 135L. In both cases, I shoot using Av to keep my aperture wide open so that the camera will select the fastest shutter speed for that particular moment. Stopping the motion with the fastest shutter speed I can get under the conditions is my highest priority (over ISO noise).
Lighting is the big bugaboo. I usually shoot at ISO 3200 to get the quickest shutter speed, often being only 1/400 in an average gym. I shoot in AI Servo Focus mode using only the center focus point. I also shoot in RAW mode so that I can white balance using the DPP program. The white balance actually changes on the sequential frames if shot at 6.5 FPS because the lights are cycling electrically and the color temperature varies!
Another interesting fine point of consideration is the uniform color. In gyms with dark backgrounds, the players photographed better with their road jerseys (darker color). With light backgrounds, the home whites were better. I would bet that the white jerseys would give you better photos for hockey. Sometimes you can plan to shoot more pics in the better lit rinks (or make sure you can be at those games).
One last point is that you can "stop motion" better by choosing when and where you shoot. If they are skating directly at you (if you were at the end of the rink) a given shutter speed would capture the action better than if they were skating across your field of field (if you were at mid-ice). You can also take the picture when they stop to shoot or fight for a stationary puck.
Good luck. And enjoy taking photos of your son and his teammates!