Help!! Indoor Action shots -

My daughter is a dancer and ever since I got my new camera, I can not figure out the setting and I am getting a ton of motion blur.

Can someone give me the settings for dummy versions of the Nikon D7000 to take indoor action shots? Yes, I know that lenses matter but I don't have a fancy shmancy lens so I have to set the camera as best I can for indoor action shots.

Please help!!

My current settings are as follows and I don't know what half of them mean.

AWB is a square with a dot in it
AF-S DX VR Nikkor 55-300mm 4.5-5.6G ED
ISO 320, 5EV f/5 1/30

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Thanks

It would help us if you would post one of the pictures. Use the guide below to resize and upload a picture

Guidelines to adding a photo to your post.

1. Resize photo to 1000px on the long side.
2. Resolution set to 72px

These guidelines will be good for viewing on a computer but will not be good for printing. This will help safeguard your copyright.

1/30 is way too slow. Set your camera to S mode at around 300 to start. Crank the ISO up to 800- 1000 and your aperture will adjust. Pictures will be grainy. The lighting may be too low to get fast speeds. Might have to break down and get a 35mm or a 50mm f/1.8

Here is an example. As you can see there is motion blur in the papers, feet and edges. I can't get a fixed lens, because in the big auditoriums I can get close enough to use something like a 35 or 50mm. This picture is at 125mm and I was fairly close. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I don't want blur but I don't want grainy photo's either. Not sure what to do. I know people who use the D7000 and don't have really expensive lenses that are getting much better shots than I am.

bayamandal said:

View attachment 39692
Here is an example. As you can see there is motion blur in the papers, feet and edges. I can't get a fixed lens, because in the big auditoriums I can get close enough to use something like a 35 or 50mm. This picture is at 125mm and I was fairly close. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I don't want blur but I don't want grainy photo's either. Not sure what to do. I know people who use the D7000 and don't have really expensive lenses that are getting much better shots than I am.

Click to expand...

You are going to have to up the ISO high enough to shoot at a faster shutter speed. With the lens you are shooting you probably need to be at 1/250 sec anyway unless you are really VERY steady with holding the camera. You can go up to 1000 or even 1250 ISO and still get good photos. Whatever you have to do to get the motion out of the shot. YOu have a really great camera. It can handle it.

Ok, I went ahead and set it so S mode and adjusted the ISO to 1000. Do I just roll the thumb dial until I see 250 in the upper left hand of the display?

bayamandal said:

Ok, I went ahead and set it so S mode and adjusted the ISO to 1000. Do I just roll the thumb dial until I see 250 in the upper left hand of the display?

Click to expand...

You know, unless you understand your camera really well, I wouldn't start using the S mode quite yet. Instead, I would put it on A or P mode and set the minimum shutter speed to 200. That way it will adjust everything for you.

P would be better. That way the flash does not go off.

I'm just making sure that by adjusting the shutter speed you are referring to rolling the command dial and setting it to the number in the upper left hand side of the information screen? Or is there a setting under the menu I should be using?

bayamandal said:

I'm just making sure that by adjusting the shutter speed you are referring to rolling the command dial and setting it to the number in the upper left hand side of the information screen? Or is there a setting under the menu I should be using?

Click to expand...

In the menu where you set ISO you can set it to Auto. Set the minimum to 400 and the max at 1600 or higher if you need to. In the same place you can set the minimum shutter speed. Set it at 1/250sec. Set the camera on P and shoot. You will be able to see what the camera picks

OK, I am going to give it a whirl. We have another recital tomorrow night, so now I have a couple of different things I can play with! Thanks so much!!

bayamandal said:

OK, I am going to give it a whirl. We have another recital tomorrow night, so now I have a couple of different things I can play with! Thanks so much!!

Click to expand...

Be sure and upload a few so we can see how well you did.

This might help. It covers various types of picture taking, but I like it because it flows just like the menus. It might help find in the menu the advice u have been given.

http://www.outthereimages.com/images/D7000_Setup_Guide.pdf

It's a PDF and I keep it in m bag for those times I can't find what I am looking for. It's a great start for various types of photography and it applies to the d7000

Kevin,

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

This should help in understanding the concept of shutter speed,aperture and iso speed.

Ciao,
​Lou Cioccio

I don't know your budget.
But I would buy a 50mm 1.8 ($100 used), 85mm 1.8 ($400-$500 used ), 80-200 2.8 two ring ($700-$800 used ) any one of those. That would help a lot with what your wanting to do.
But not everyone can do that.
I would set the camera in manual mode and have the shutter speed set to min of 250 (preferred 500). Aperture to the largest you can set (smallest number) at the focal length you choose. Have auto ISO set min 200- max 6400.
Now you said you don't want grainy photos. The D7000 does very well at high ISO. Don't be afraid to use it. Just use a noise reduction program and you should get the results you want.
But this is where everyone has there own opinion on grainy photos.
Here is a few examples of high ISO that I've shot.

ISO 5000


ISO 4500


ISO 12,800

aced19 said:

I don't know your budget.
But I would buy a 50mm 1.8 ($100 used), 85mm 1.8 ($400-$500 used ), 80-200 2.8 two ring ($700-$800 used ) any one of those. That would help a lot with what your wanting to do.
But not everyone can do that.
I would set the camera in manual mode and have the shutter speed set to min of 250 (preferred 500). Aperture to the largest you can set (smallest number) at the focal length you choose. Have auto ISO set min 200- max 6400.
Now you said you don't want grainy photos. The D7000 does very well at high ISO. Don't be afraid to use it. Just use a noise reduction program and you should get the results you want.
But this is where everyone has there own opinion on grainy photos.
Here is a few examples of high ISO that I've shot.


ISO 12,800
View attachment 39713

Click to expand...

Here is the EXIF Data from his last shot. This really is a good example of how good this camera is.

Camera Maker: NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model: NIKON D7000
Image Date: 2012-10-19 21:02:40 (no TZ)
Focal Length: 170mm (35mm equivalent: 255mm)
Aperture: f/4.0
Exposure Time: 0.0010 s (1/1000)
ISO equiv: 12800
Exposure Bias: -0.67 EV
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: No (enforced)
Orientation: Normal
Color Space: sRGB
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined
Copyright: Paul Fimpel Jr
Software: Adobe Photoshop 7.0

As aced12 has pointed out, the D7000 is a great high ISO camera. His shots prove what can be done at high ISO settings. I have shot at 6400 and with some tweaking in PP, have printed images at A2 and they look great with no noise evident. Those who think you shouldn't go above 1600 should try it and find a decent noise reduction software. Opens up a whole new low light world

What about focus settings when shooting in P or S for indoor action shots? Should I be concerned with the focus settings?

My current focus settings
AF-C priority selection - focus
AF-S priority selection - focus
Focus Tracking with lock on - AF 3 (should I set this higher since I am using a longer lens?)
AF Point illumination : On
Focus point wrap around: Off

bayamandal said:

What about focus settings when shooting in P or S for indoor action shots? Should I be concerned with the focus settings?

My current focus settings
AF-C priority selection - focus
AF-S priority selection - focus
Focus Tracking with lock on - AF 3 (should I set this higher since I am using a longer lens?)
AF Point illumination : On
Focus point wrap around: Off

Click to expand...

I have mine set to
AF-C priority selection - release
AF-S priority selection - focus
Focus Tracking A3- Off
AF Point illumination : On
Focus point wrap around: Off

I shoot a lot of sports and I would set my camera to shoot anything moving to these settings.
Servo mode AF-C.
39 pt dynamic area setting (I've tried the single, 9 and 21 pt. But the 39 gave me the sharpest pics.).
Also set your AE-L/AF-L button to AF-ON.
You set your AE-L/AF-L button this way to work with the AF-C.
When set up like this, you use your thumb to press and hold the AE-L/AF-L button and your index finger on the shutter(not pressed half down).
By pressing and holding the AE-L/AF-L button it will make the lens continually focus on your subject, all you have to do is push the shutter when
you want to take a picture. It's the same as holding the shutter half way down but sometimes its hard to do that for a long period of time.

that's the main reason I bought the 35mm 1.8 for my camera, we are not allowed to use flash at her dance recitals, hers is next weekend so I will see how it goes

heres one I was practicing with in her Taekwondo testing last Friday, not a picture of her lol, this room really sucks for lighting, f1.8 1/800 iso 1600.