basketball lens and lighting

greenjk

ok i am going to buy a lens to shoot basketball with i use a nikon d2xs but dont know what lens to use for inside basketball here are the lens i am considering : Nikon D Type AF lenses 50mm f1.8d, 50mm f1.4d, 85mm f1.8d 85mm 1.4d if just seeing what everyone thought and what everyone uses

lastly our gym lights give off an orange cast to them dont know what type of lights they are and what custom white balance should i use thanks

:beer

greenjk

also if you go from lets say 2.8f to 1.8/1.4 how much of a faster shutter can you shoot and how much of an lower iso can you use thanks

mercphoto

greenjk wrote:

also if you go from lets say 2.8f to 1.8/1.4 how much of a faster shutter can you shoot and how much of an lower iso can you use thanks

Well, 1.4 to 2.8 is two stops of exposure correct? So that means four times as fast a shutter speed, or one-fourth the ISO. Or twice the shutter with half the ISO.

Steve Cavigliano

greenjk wrote:

ok i am going to buy a lens to shoot basketball with i use a nikon d2xs but dont know what lens to use for inside basketball here are the lens i am considering : Nikon D Type AF lenses 50mm f1.8d, 50mm f1.4d, 85mm f1.8d 85mm 1.4d if just seeing what everyone thought and what everyone uses

lastly our gym lights give off an orange cast to them dont know what type of lights they are and what custom white balance should i use thanks

I'd suggest the 85 F1.8, if you can handle the focal length after the multiplier. Or, a 135mm F2 if you can't.

I am not familar with your camera. If you can do more than 1 type of Custom/Manual white balance. You should probably check the manual. I just set a Custom w/b using a white sheet of paper or a gray card. It will really help when viewing in the LCD. I'd also strongly recommend shooting a RAW image also. You can do so much more with a RAW file. With B-ball shots taken in poor lighting, to get good results post processing is at least half the job.

Steve

Steve Cavigliano

greenjk wrote:

also if you go from lets say 2.8f to 1.8/1.4 how much of a faster shutter can you shoot and how much of an lower iso can you use thanks

F2.8 might get you 1/250 @ISO1600. F1.8 will give 1/600, under the same lighting and same ISO. So to freeze motion (1/500) using an F2.8 lens, you would need to bump the ISO to 3200.

Steve

greenjk

then whats the difference in this lens [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Nikon Telephoto AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF vs the other ones [/FONT]

greenjk

what will the 135mm F2 give you as far as shutter ect....

johng

greenjk wrote:

what will the 135mm F2 give you as far as shutter ect....

f2 is one stop faster than f2.8

So, if you are getting 1/250 at 2.8, you can get 1/500 at 2.0

I believe yourr camera is a 1.5x crop factor. In that case a 135mm lens will be too long if you're shooting from the baseline.

Stick with the 85mm 1.8 - it's a better focal length on a crop body for basketball. 50mm is too short and 135 is too long.

You're not going to use 1.4 for sports shooting - the dof is too shallow. More often than not you'll end up around 2.0 (which is still pretty shallow DOF).

mercphoto

greenjk wrote:

what will the 135mm F2 give you as far as shutter ect....

I hope what I'm about to write comes across the right way. It sounds as if you do not have a basic understanding of exposure. If you did then these particular questions would not be coming up. We cannot tell you how fast a shutter speed an f/2 lens will give you because we do not know the lighting conditions you will be in, what ISO you want to shoot at, etc. What we can tell you is that an f/2 lens is capable of shooting at twice the shutter speed of an f/2.8 lens, given the same lighting and ISO. We can tell you this because f/2 is one-stop difference from f/2.8. If you understand what aperture, shutter speed and ISO mean then you can answer questions like this, and many more, on your own.

cecilc

mercphoto wrote:

I hope what I'm about to write comes across the right way. It sounds as if you do not have a basic understanding of exposure. If you did then these particular questions would not be coming up. We cannot tell you how fast a shutter speed an f/2 lens will give you because we do not know the lighting conditions you will be in, what ISO you want to shoot at, etc. What we can tell you is that an f/2 lens is capable of shooting at twice the shutter speed of an f/2.8 lens, given the same lighting and ISO. We can tell you this because f/2 is one-stop difference from f/2.8. If you understand what aperture, shutter speed and ISO mean then you can answer questions like this, and many more, on your own.

Thank you, Bill, for voicing what I was thinking as I was reading through all the responses and subsequent questions .... and I think you put it well.

Many of greenjk's questions are "gym (or location) specific" and won't apply to all gyms' lighting conditions.

The gyms I shoot in around my area I shoot at ISO 1600; f2.0 (with either an 85 1.8 or a 100 2.0); and at 1/400. But that's high school gyms - if I move into an "arena" setting, the lighting is usually better (and daylight balanced, too) and it allows me to shoot at a lower ISO; faster shutter speed, and with a little more DOF.

Your mileage will vary .....

Steve Cavigliano

greenjk wrote:

then whats the difference in this lens [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Nikon Telephoto AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF vs the other ones [/FONT]

Dunno about the Nikkor versions But besides the ODF issue, there is also a significant difference in AF speeds between the Canon versions.

That's why so many Canon sports shooters swear by the 85 F1.8

Steve