Basketball woes

brad21 · December 13, 2011

I've got a Lumix G2 and normally shoot with my 45-200 lens, which only stops down to f4.0, shoot in manual mode, iso 800. I'd like to get a faster lens but haven't really seen anything available, and most of the micro 4/3 stuff is really expensive. Any suggestions? Here's an example of what I've been getting with my current lens:

pathfinder · December 14, 2011

I think you will have some frustration shooting BBall without f2.8 or f2.0 lenses, and ISOs >1000.

One alternative is increasing the ambient light, which is how some of the pros do it. Add off camera flash, or raise the ambient light. Neither task is easy for an outsider to accomplish of course. Lots of high school or middle school gymnasiums are really very dark for high shutter speed photography without added lighting. Here is an example of what I am suggesting - http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=211091 and here again - http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=210857

If you read the threads in the Sports forum you will find several excellent BBall shooters, but most of them are shooting faster lenses and higher ISOs I believe.

I own a GF1 and like it, but I do not think it is a good camera for high speed sports shooting - the AF is just too slow, the noise gets bad above ISO 400, and there are no f2.0 telephotos. I think the ideal basketball lenses are the 85mm f1.8s, the 135 f2.0, and the 200 f2.0 or f2.8s. For a lot of basketball shooters, the 50 1.4 on a crop body, or an 85 f1.4 or 85 f1.8 are their day to day workhorses.

The micro4/3s systems offer long lenses that are significantly more inexpensive than for Canon or Nikon super teles, but they do not handle and AF like the Nikon and Canon systems. I have practically given up trying to use the Panasonic 100-300 f4-5.6 Mega OIS or my 45-200 f4-5.6 Mega OIS for wildlife. Just too slow optically, and too slow focusing. They are sharp, but really require a good tripod mount to use, and that is not suitable for basketball I feel.

You may find other folks who are more encouraging. With the right dedication, you will get some good frames, but you will have to work harder at it, than a fellow who can shoot at ISO 3200 without significant image noise, and has an f2.0 lens, and an AF system that will grab focus instantly in that low light.

brad21 · December 20, 2011

Thanks a bunch Pathfinder, great info! I appreciate it!

aktse · December 20, 2011

I wish that I could be more positive, but you're not going to get results that you like with your current gear. Even without the restriction of limiting the camera to the G2, shooting available light indoor sports is very expensive since fast glass isn't cheap. Going a strobe route isn't cheap either because your'e paying for the lights, mounts or stands and need to factor in the cost of liability insurance + permission.

Here's a dgrin tutorial on basketball

Basketball woes

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