Nikon D50 Nightime Action Shots

mstneel

New member
Hello,
I have a Nikon D50 which I have had for several years. It still takes awesome pictures but I recently rented a AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm F2.8 G II ED so that I could take nighttime action shots at my daughters soccer games. The fields that she plays on are football fields with the stadium lights. She is a Senior this year and there has always been another parent taking pictures every year but her daughter graduated last year so it is up to me this year. I have taken pics at 2 games now and just feel like I am not getting the quality pics that I want. I have it set in the action mode, continuous shooting with auto focus on dynamic area but have also put it on single subject. Out of about 300 photos I usually get about 65 good pics but I do have to edit and crop quite a bit. I have had some people tell me to set the camera on Aperture mode instead of sports mode and adjust shutter speed and ISO, others say go to manual mode, but I thought my camera should do all the work and I shouldn't have to do all of that. Please give me some advice on what settings will is be easiest for me and will also give me great shots. I also have a son playing college baseball and want to take advantage of the lens and get good shots with him too.

I really appreciate any help! Thanks!
 

Bikerbrent

Senior Member
Welcome aboard. Enjoy the ride.
We look forward to seeing more posts and samples of your work.

If you post some pictures with EXIF data we would be better able to help you.

Keep in mind this camera is a well over 10 year old camera. It is only a 6 Megapixel camera which will greatly limit your cropping options. Also it's high ISO capabilities is also an issue since most school stadiums are pretty poorly lit. Finally, you might want to study some action and sports photography tutorials on the internet. As a general rule, camera preset modes, like action, will not produce top quality photos.
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
Why not tell us... of the 300 w/65 "good" shots... why you reject the the 235?

Are there focus issues?
Exposure issues?
Composition issues? Not close enough?

???????

What specific problems are you having... The D50 is kind of an old camera, relative to performance... and 6M RAW images don't really give you a lot of latitude in editing/cropping...
 

Texas

Senior Member
Based on my D50 (which I really liked), don't even think about 'dynamic area'. My use of that did not take long to reject, it focuses reliably but not on what I wanted it to.
 

Texas

Senior Member
Based on my D50 (which I really liked), don't even think about 'dynamic area'. My use of that mode was over quickly, it focuses reliably but not on what I wanted it to.
 

Texas

Senior Member
Based on my D50 (which I really liked), don't even think about 'dynamic area'. My use of that mode was over quickly, it focuses reliably but not on what I wanted it to.

I don't remember if the D50 allows BackButtonFocus, but that in conjunction with 'c'ontinuous focus and 'release' (not 'focus') on the shutter button might help you in certain situations.
 

Woodyg3

Senior Member
Contributor
65 out of 300 for action shots is not bad at all.

I would never use aperture prefered for action. Shutter speed needs to be high enough to avoid subject blur, and that needs to be the main consideration. Shutter priority of manual mode would be best, IMO.

As has been said, if you post some examples, we can give you some specific tips.
 

mstneel

New member
Can anyone give me directions on how to upload pics. I tried to do it 3 different times in the reply and the advanced reply and it lets me pick the files and I click the upload and it ran for over 3 hours without uploading the pics. I first tried it with 11 pics, then 8 then 4. I thought I might have too may files but that doesn't see the problem. Thanks!
 

Needa

Senior Member
Challenge Team
Welcome to the forum. Now let's see some photos.

Guidelines to adding a photo to your post.

1. Resize photo to 1000px on the long side.
2. Resolution set to 72ppi (Pixels Per Inch)

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








Try Dons instructions.
 

mstneel

New member
These photos were taken on the same night. The sun was going down and you can see how when it gets darker the pics get worse. It very well can be the camera because it is over 10 years old. These were all taken in sports mode, auto focus, single or dynamic area and continuous. I do think I may be taking my finger off as they get closer and trying to focus better which only ends up blurring the subject.
Any help will be greatly appreciated! I even think I will borrow a friends Nikon this week and see if that changes anything.

DSC_0047.jpgDSC_0090.jpgDSC_0108.jpgDSC_0144.jpgDSC_0166.jpgDSC_0162.jpgDSC_0166.jpgDSC_0131.jpgDSC_0152.jpg
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
Okay... Here's your problem... You're shooting in an auto mode... and the camera is using a wide-open aperture for that lens (f2.8)... that means the depth of field is very short and missing the focus on moving objects means blurry... in conjunction with the speeds, the auto is selecting a speed just barely acceptable for the focal length...

Your best shot is the first one... That was at 1/1250 fast for the 200mm, and f5... Not wide open..

Compare that shot's results with the other out of focus shots of <1/400 and F2.8

These is no ISO data, so we don't know what's happening there...

Learn to shoot manual mode, and use higher speeds, and not so wide an aperture...


The shots at 1/25th and 1/40th of a second are too slow... and need a tripod...and certainly isn't going to produce anything acceptable hand held at 200mm... even for a still shot...
 
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Bikerbrent

Senior Member
According to your EXIF data, your shutter speed in the last several shots is 1/40 (10/400) of a second. This is far too slow to freeze action. Yes, your Nikon 70-200mm lens can be hand held at this speed, thanks to the VR feature of the lens, but VR does nothing to freeze action. Note how some of the players are sharp in the photos, that is because they are not moving fast. Now we come to the heart of your blurry photos. The only way to freeze action is to increase shutter speed. And since your lens is already wide open at F2.8, the only way to do this is to increase your ISO. Since your EXIF data does not show your ISO, I would guess it is a lower value since I don't see a massive amount of noise. Also, I hope your are NOT trying to use auto ISO as you really need to lock ISO as high as possible without significant noise. As you increase your ISO, your noise also increases. I have never shot a D50, but I would guess its high ISO noise level is similar to my D70. I tried to avoid shooting anything higher than ISO 400 due to noise with this camera. Heck, I even got significant levels of noise at ISO 800 on my D200. However, on my D7200 the noise level at ISO 6400 is noticeable, but still better than the D200 at ISO 800.

About the best you will be able to do is set your ISO to the highest value you can without objectionable noise (probably about ISO 400), Aperture priority at F2.8 and hope for decent shots. If this fails to provide the photos you want, you will need to consider upgrading your camera.
 

nikonpup

Senior Member
shot in (m) manual mode - you control the camera. Auto is not your friend in fast action low light.
Set iso higher, try 800 try different f stops 2.8 - 8
set autofocus to af-c set af-area mode to single point
recommend you shoot in nef (raw) have good software for processing.
Practice - practice - practice shot your daughter in the evening running in the yard
 

mstneel

New member
Thank you all for your help! I have borrowed a Nikon D5200 and hope this helps me get better pics. Any other advice with this camera would be greatly appreciated. Game tonight and hoping to get some awesome shots. I have never shot in manual so I am praying for NO USER ERROR!
 

Bikerbrent

Senior Member
Thank you all for your help! I have borrowed a Nikon D5200 and hope this helps me get better pics. Any other advice with this camera would be greatly appreciated. Game tonight and hoping to get some awesome shots. I have never shot in manual so I am praying for NO USER ERROR!

You might want to check out these links;

https://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-a...ues/photographing-sports-indoors-and-out.html

How to Photograph Your Kid's Sports Without Motion Blur - Corel Discovery Center
 

Woodyg3

Senior Member
Contributor
Lots of sports photographers, myself included, shoot in shutter priority at times. Don't feel that you are "less of a photographer" for doing that. Some of your pictures are back focused, which was probably because the focus point was a bit off of subject and the focus went to something farther away behind the main subject. This happens less and less the more practice you have. I am quite sure that nobody has attained perfection in this area, though. :)

For soccer, I would try to be at 1/250th minimum. Faster is better if you have enough light.

Have fun with this, sports photography is really gratifying when you get some good shots!
 

nikonpup

Senior Member
thank you all for your help! I have borrowed a nikon d5200 and hope this helps me get better pics. Any other advice with this camera would be greatly appreciated. Game tonight and hoping to get some awesome shots. I have never shot in manual so i am praying for no user error!
did the d5200 help?
 
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