nighttime h.s. football shooting

Greetings All, Thanks for all the great info. My question. Has anyone used a Nikon 70-300 af-s if-ed f/4.5-5.6 model #2161 lens to shoot a night football game. Our stadium is very well lit. I know about the 200mm f/2.8 but it is not in the budget and probably won't be until my kids out of college. Also my dumb question, with a D7000 and a AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105, if the lens has a focus motor and the camera has a focus motor, do you set both pieces on auto, and for manual focus do you need to turn both switches to manual, I feel the book is unclear about this, and I really don't want to damage my equipment. Once again thank you for any and all help. Jim

I have the same lens, same camera. I will tell you that lens needs lots of light, but that also depends on the situation you have. You say very well lit, but that may not be enough for the lens. I actually switched to a 70-200 f4, shorter but its a true f4 through all focal lengths. The issue with the 70-300 is on the long side its a f5.6 which is another stop difference and will require that much more light to freeze the action. It can be done, but you will have to play with the settings.

Sports pictures you need to have your shutter speed above 500 usually to freeze action and as you loose light you look shutter speed unless you up your ISO. Upping the ISO creates another situation that for the most part can be dealt with in your post processing ( work on the computer), this issue is Grain ( Noise ) in the pictures.

I would highly suggest you get out before season and play with the settings, get really used the camera and the lens to see what it wont do. You will also want to get as close as you can to the action to improve your image quality. On the longer end of this lens pictures have a tendency to get soft and the low light will only compound this.

I love the 70-300 in the sun, but at night it wasnt my best friend and I have improved my pictures by simply changing to the 70-200 f4.

Now if you really want a great lens for night time shots then you need to save for the 70-200 f2.8.

I still have to up my ISO and keep the aperture as wide as I can, which is f4 in order to get decent shots but I still get grain. I have some very high ISO shots that I kept but for the most part I just know when its time to put the camera down or try and get closer to the action.

Sorry, but I dont have any examples that I can post to show this. But the best advice I can give is to get out and shoot, even if its football practice.

As far as the manual/auto question, leave all in auto. If you get a manual lens then lens will be manual and your camera body motor will take over. I have never heard of damage, only frustration with having one or the other because the user was unable to focus.

I will tell you that the 18-105 is a lens that surprised me with sports shots. If I am not shooting sports then its the lens that I leave on. If I am shooting sports then I use it for team pictures or complete field shots, its a very useful lens and the quality shocked me for a kit lens.

I honestly didn't have the knowledge of the camera last football season to really have pushed this camera so I am looking forward to this season but my go to lens will be the 70-200 f4. As a matter of fact my 70-300 sits on my desk and has for months because the lack of focal length hasn't been a huge issue because you can always crop on the computer. Although I might get slapped on here for saying that. You just really have to learn your camera and the limitations of both the equipment and photographer.

Also look at the sports section here, although not many shoot sports on here there are a few of lying in the brush waiting for questions.

Just get out and shoot in a situation that is similar to the games and try different settings till you get it down.

Sorry to be so long winded and hope you find it useful.

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Jim,

I shoot our local high school band at football games, and my opinion is that a fast lens is required. I rarely turn my attention and 80-200 f/2.8 to the field when the team is playing , and even at f/2.8, I have to crank the ISO level very high to get a good action shot without significant blur. A local reporter uses an 400 f/4 and does well, though.

As far as the lighting at the field, you will likely be surprised by how uneven and inconsistently your stadium lighting may be, especially at the high school level. In addition, if your game begins before and ends after sundown, your white balance is going to rapidly change as the game progresses.

Remember that an image in focus with high noise is typically more usable than one that is blurred and noise-free: so experiment to find and set a high shutter speed that will freeze the motion and change your ISO setting to get, or get close to, proper exposure.

For your camera, both the camera body and the lens switches must be set to auto to have auto-focus. If either the lens or the camera body are set to manual, you're oing to have to focus manually.

Good fortune to you.

WM

As mentioned above, you really need a wider aperture than what your 18-105 lens will allow. It's a nice lens with enough ambient light, but night shots are not among them.

What kind of budget are you looking at? While the latest and greatest 70-200mm VR II lens is $2400 new, the previous VR model is much less. On your crop sensor camera the long end has a pretty good range on it for a HS football field where the bleachers aren't half a mile away from the action. You can actually save even more money by going with the slightly older 80-200 AF f/2.8 as well. It was professional glass for its time and just because newer technology has come out doesn't mean it stopped being good. Since the D7000 has a built in AF motor you won't have to worry about manual focus.

Edit: I got ninja'd on the 80-200 2.8 suggestion! Regarding the 400mm f/4, I wonder if that reporter is using a full frame camera. Since those gather more light than our crop sensors he can probably get away with the extra stop.

If you can get on the field than that will help out a bunch with your current equipment. But like mentioned and what I failed to do if you are shooting from the bleachers, than its going to be even more challenging. Closer to the action the better.

The Nikon 70-300 af-s if-ed f/4.5-5.6 will work well during day time but not a great choice for night time games. Once you zoom in, your aperture will bump it up to f5.6, and that's at wide open. That lens gets softer past 270mm (normally). If you are going to do this religiously, switch to M mode, 1/320, ISO 3200 - 6400. Get a noise software later on.

You really need a fast lens such as the 70-200mm f2.8 or maybe a 300mm f4 depending on how close you can shoot. A monopod will be in order. My favorite spot is normally under the field goal.

kirbfucius said:

Regarding the 400mm f/4, I wonder if that reporter is using a full frame camera. Since those gather more light than our crop sensors he can probably get away with the extra stop.

Click to expand...

Yes, he was using a D3, and I'm sure he had the ISO cranked up.

gqtuazon said:

A monopod will be in order.

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Yes; absolutely so! A good, sturdy monopod is essential.

I already assumed that you were on the sidelines. And I forgot to mention, leave the flash in your bag. It won't do any good at the distances you're working at and the first time your flash gives a player an excuse for missing a play, you'll find your invitation to participate just got revoked.

WM

Yep, good point, mono pod is a must have and very true on the no flash. I even had to prove that I had no plans to use a flash.

​

•

All over Europe,
if you intend to work by the field, the instruction sheets say:

No tripod and no flash allowed!

Monopods are accepted… and they really control!

Not clear on whether you are thinking about a 70-300 to purchase for this or not. If this is the case I would tell you NOT to waste your money because the lens is not fast enough. Wishing it will do the job because it is what fits in your budget doesn't change the fact that it is too slow. If you are in doubt just take any of your lenses and set it at F5.6 and go shoot some shots under the same lighting and this will let you see if you have enough light. You know that the lens you have is not long enough but this will give you an answer how fast a lens you will need.

I have used this lens during night football games. Because the stadium was well lit the 70-300mm worked fine. No hunting for focusing at all. I believe this was the result of a well lit stadium. I was even able to zoom in and obtain shots of Floyd Mayweather attending a football game.

You should be fine if the stadium has good lighting. If you have not purchased the lens yet you may want to consider the new Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 DI USD VC. This will definitely get the job done with great images.

Not sure if renting is an option in your area. But I would definitely try to rent a fast aperture telephoto lense instead of buying one. But thats just me, since not everyone can afford a 2K $ lense.

jimthewelder said:

Our stadium is very well lit.

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What the eye sees as well lit, the camera may see different.
I shoot a lot of sports with my D7000 and I use a Nikon 80-200 2.8 two ring.
You can buy a used one for $700-800.
Also there is an older Nikon 80-200 2.8 push pull version you can get for $450-550 if you look.
But if you need to use the 70-300, crank up the ISO. You can shoot very high ISO if you have a good noise reduction program.

Here is a link to another thread on high ISO.
http://nikonites.com/d7000/8545-high-iso-sports.html#axzz2b8pNDCD1

​Here's a pic playing around at 12,800 ISO

Let me start by thanking all of you for your recommendations and advice. I believe I am going to purchase an older model Nikon AF-D 80-200 F/2.8 two ring version, any thoughts on this lens would be greatly appreciated. Thank You, Jim

There's nothing wrong with the lens. All these pics were shot with a D7000 and Nikon 80-200 2.8 two ring lens.

Jim check your private messages. I sent you one.