Indoor Sports Photography

I plan to use my 70-200mm lens quite a bit in the gym photographing volleyball and basketball. Having some difficulty freezing the action when not using the flash. I tried A to control DOF but couldn't get clarity like I want. What sort of shutter speeds should I be going for? This is new territory for me. Thanks in advance.

Shooting telephoto in a gym with out flash is a lighting problem. Trying to control DOF won't work because of the f/stop you have to shoot with. (Also please complete your profile with your camera and lens information. It will make it easier for people on the forum to answer your questions.) I would use the maximum f/stop opening on the lens, f/2.8 or f/4 or f/4.5? I would also increase the ISO to a level where you can live with the grain. I don't know what camera you are using and that makes a difference as well. I don't think you will have much luck in getting stop action in natural light in a gym at 200mm. You would have to have a lens with an f/stop of f/1.4 and you would not want to pay for it as well as not want to carry it around. The best shooting technique I have been able to use is a 50mm lens, f/1.4, ISO 1250 plus and shoot from the side lines. Flash is your best bet if they will let you use it.

Ahhh, the venerable D80!
While a pleasant mid-level body, it doesn't shoot above ISO 400 very well.
Lotsa noise/grain above that; even at 400 in low light...ehhh.
At least for me.
I've never shot in a high school gym; I would start around ISO 250, f2.8, ss ~1/250 and move it from there.
There will probably be a bunch of shots you don't like, but you'll learn what NOT to set your camera at.

Thanks for the advice. I'll try my 50prime with the flash and continue with experimenting with the 70-200.

Yeah, the 50 1.4 will also do well in low light.
You MAY not need to use the flash.
Depends on the gym and it's lighting, yes/no on flash use, blah blah blah.

The D80's kinda notorious for not doing so well with low light noise...
Hehehe...I'd look at the first batch of volleyball shots as 'practice/warm up' shots.
Try out different iso's with all your lenses and run the pics through a post process edit to see how the noise factor shows up when you blow up a shot to 50% or more.
The darker areas of your shots will tell the tale.
That should give you an idea of your iso limits and how you want to set your camera up to compensate for noise.
(one more reason to get the jones goin' for the D7000...)

Had a real go at this last Friday night. Used the monopod for stability and used SS 1/1250 on the 50 prime which was ok but the auto ISO meant that most of the photos were pretty grainy as was mentioned earlier. Next time will try with the auto ISO off.

I don't know that turning off the auto ISO will help. With the D80 in this case the only way to get less grain try reducing the SS to 1/125. You should still get decent stop motion but you will reduce the ISO by at least one stop and help with the grain.

Joseph Bautsch said:

I don't know that turning off the auto ISO will help. With the D80 in this case the only way to get less grain try reducing the SS to 1/125. You should still get decent stop motion but you will reduce the ISO by at least one stop and help with the grain.

Click to expand...

Great - thanks for that. Will give it a try, and I'll turn the Auto ISO back on.

Good subject...Most of my pictures I take are in the gym. I have a D60 and have tried everything with it. I swtched to shoot in Shutter Mode and have been able to get very decent pics. I am helping out a local repoter with pictures for his on-line newspaper and have recieved good reviews for my pictures. I have been able to shoot at 1/250-1/400 (with a little help of the d-lighting). The grain is not too bad, if you are looking for it. Our high school gym has good light and have been able to freeze motion. Using the 55-300 lens. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for the feedback. I have the 70-200 2.8 lens that I might try after reading what you have been doing. All good fun and thanks for taking the time to reply

I am interested in photographing basketball as well. Struggling with my Pentax k2000 I have gotten some decent shots at rather high ISO's, but recently borrowed one of the other parents D5000 (she received it as a gift, but only knows how to set it to AUTO). I set the ISO to 800, shutter priority set at 1/200-250. In looking at what I took, the majority were at 4.5, around 85mm and were much better than with my Pentax. Out of the 100 or so that I took, the only noticeably dark or grainy ones were of the boys on the bench clear across the court at 200 mm or so at 5.6. THAT is why I am researching the Nikon cameras!