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Basketball Upgrade

CansportswritingCansportswriting Registered Users Posts: 2 Beginner grinner
edited April 17, 2012 in Sports
I'm the communications coordinator for a youth basketball club (volunteer). Responsible for a digital newsletter and hard copy posters , yearbooks. I am presently on a tight budget using a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT / 350D with Canon EF 50mm f1.8 II Lens. I am thinking of an upgrade to a CANON REBEL T2I W/18-55 EF-S IS and same lens as the 350D. Is it worth the upgrade or do I ave to jump up alot to make it worth my while?

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    DreadnoteDreadnote Registered Users Posts: 634 Major grins
    edited April 15, 2012
    I think your money is better spent on off camera lighting equipment rather than on a new camera. It will definitely give you more options for the same or less money.
    Sports, Dance, Portraits, Events... www.jasonhowardking.com
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    CansportswritingCansportswriting Registered Users Posts: 2 Beginner grinner
    edited April 15, 2012
    Software
    as my camera still has a great deal of noise what anti-noise software would you recommend for a Mac? Also you mentioned lighting. What lighting (ie strobes) are good for basketball?
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    Gary752Gary752 Registered Users Posts: 934 Major grins
    edited April 15, 2012
    I don't remember if that camera shoots raw, if it does, do so. For software to remove noise, there is several out there, but I recommend Lightroom version 4. Not only does it do a great job of processing RAW files and converting to JPG's, it also does a real good job of removing noise as well. I also use it as my library manager, for all my photos.

    GaryB
    GaryB
    “The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it!” - Ansel Adams
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    73Rocks73Rocks Registered Users Posts: 147 Major grins
    edited April 17, 2012
    Cansportswriting wrote: »
    I'm the communications coordinator for a youth basketball club (volunteer). Responsible for a digital newsletter and hard copy posters , yearbooks. I am presently on a tight budget using a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT / 350D with Canon EF 50mm f1.8 II Lens. I am thinking of an upgrade to a CANON REBEL T2I W/18-55 EF-S IS and same lens as the 350D. Is it worth the upgrade or do I ave to jump up alot to make it worth my while?

    Over the past 10 years I have found that no matter what camera I had (I’ve owned an EOS Rebel, a 50D, and now a 7D) for basketball I get the best results when I combine the camera with a shoe mounted flash (MUST have High Speed Sync . . . explained here - http://www.pocketwizard.com/inspirations/tutorials/pocketwizard_controltl_optimiz/ ) and a low light prime lens . . . either a 50mm or 85mm f1.8 or lower. I used a 50mm f1.8 (bought used on eBay for $75 for years . . . I now use a 50mm f1.4).

    Here are a couple of links to threads that I contributed to:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>[/FONT]
    http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=1736159#post1736159

    http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=1740636#post1740636

    For more results of my work using my set up visit any of my basketball galleries at this link:
    http://73rocks.smugmug.com/High-School-Sports

    Hope this helps out.
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    JimKarczewskiJimKarczewski Registered Users Posts: 969 Major grins
    edited April 17, 2012
    You could probably keep whatever camera you currently have, just invest in lighting. Seriously. No disrespect for those that don't use it or those that shoot with on camera flash (assuming that on camera is allowed by your local officials, where some parts on the baseline it's STRICTLY forbidden..)

    But for around $250, you could easily purchase lights and triggers that would allow you to shoot off camera lighting and by far surpass what most people consider "good" basketball photos.

    If you want to start cheap, here you go. The Canon 540EZ. It can be found for well under $75 and it has the same power output (or very damn close) to the latest 580EXII. The only gotcha, no E-TTL, strictly for use OFF CAMERA
    540EZ @ KEH.COM

    Next, a simple trigger. You can find them all over ebay. I've only used 2 triggers in my life, Pocketwizards and Cactus V5's. Here is the main catch with Cactus though, you have to buy a set of them. Which if you go here:

    Cactus @ MPEX they'll cost you $65 for 2.

    If you could get 3, you'd be looking @ about $100. Add that to the $150 for 2 540EZ's and you have a lighting solution for just about $250. But since you have to buy 4, you're going to be closer to $300.


    I'm sorry, but you can't get anywhere near the same quality of light from on camera as you can off... If you could, you wouldn't see the pro's taking 3 hours to set lights in the rafters of every major NBA game, they's have them all on camera.
    IMG2314-L.jpg

    IMG2056-L.jpg

    IMG9592-L.jpg

    Sorry for the big ass watermark, not much I can do about that!
    Jim Karczewski - http://www.jimkarczewski.com
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