Indoor Swim Meet -

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dh photography

Senior Member
Had a looong day at our first summer session swim meet today. I was very excited about the prospect of getting some great action shots finally; now that we have the 3200. While they are worlds above what we took before, I'm fairly bummed that they aren't better. I tried tweaking the setting to get enough lighting, but it just wasn't happening with as fast as I had to keep the shutter speed. And without the proper editing, I'm ending up with some serious noise and other issues. One of the biggest factors today was the lack of a good lens for the job. While not total junk; the kit 55-200 just isn't up the the task. Every time I got far out in the focal length, the aperture got higher and the lighting suffered yet again. BIG learning experience today.

Here's a few of the decent shots I think I managed to pull out. Whatcha think?

DSC_0818.jpgDSC_0837.jpgDSC_1002.jpgDSC_1012.jpgDSC_1060.jpg
 
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dh photography

Senior Member
Blacktop said:
They're pretty good for what you had to work with.
Using Shutter priority?
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Thanks. I appreciate that. I can only imagine what a "real" dedicated telephoto could do!

Actually stayed in all Manual. I had to raise the ISO and set the WB back and forth between "incandescent" and "cloudy". Had the aperture set down to 4 when around the 55-75 focal length but any farther out than that it climbed up to the 5.6 real quick. With the shutter speed so fast, it was really hard to get enough light consistently in for a good shot.
 
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Moab Man

Senior Member
Noise is often inherent with indoor or late night sports shooting. Nik Tools "Dfine 2" is spectacular at cleaning up noise and keeping the quality up.
 
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Blacktop

Senior Member
Dhopper71 said:
Thanks. I appreciate that. I can only imagine what a "real" dedicated telephoto could do!

Actually stayed in all Manual. I had to raise the ISO and set the WB back and forth between "incandescent" and "cloudy". Had the aperture set down to 4 when around the 55-75 focal length but any farther out than that it climbed up to the 5.6 real quick. With the shutter speed so fast, it was really hard to get enough light consistently in for a good shot.
Click to expand...
Oh ok. The reason I thought you were in shutter priority is because the exif shows all the same shutter speed.
 
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dh photography

Senior Member
Thanks. Which Nik software package is that part of; or is it a stand alone? We're trying to decide which editing software to get. I put the old CS2 on my work comp, but I really need something here at home. Trying to figure out how to bite the bullet and get the latest PS and Lightroom. Started a lens fund jar, but the software will likely take precedence. Or maybe we can get away with the free older PS here for a while. I'm so much more an editing rookie than a photograph rookie.
 
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Blacktop

Senior Member
Dhopper71 said:
Thanks. Which Nik software package is that part of; or is it a stand alone? We're trying to decide which editing software to get. I put the old CS2 on my work comp, but I really need something here at home. Trying to figure out how to bite the bullet and get the latest PS and Lightroom. Started a lens fund jar, but the software will likely take precedence. Or maybe we can get away with the free older PS here for a while. I'm so much more an editing rookie than a photograph rookie.
Click to expand...

i think LR would be your best choice. I like Nik tools as well. Dfine2 is part of the Nik package, it is not a standalone program
 
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Blacktop

Senior Member
Dhopper71 said:
I did leave it the same most of the day. Any faster, and I lost light again; slower and I got action blur. Much tougher and humbling than I anticipated. :)
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Indoor action shots are tough. The 55-200 kit lens is a fine lens, but lets face it. It is an inexpensive starter lens with limitations.
If you're going to shoot these type of events, investment in a new lens would be wise, and it's not going to come cheap.
 
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Moab Man

Senior Member
Nik Tools is a package of tools. Within it is Dfine 2. They have a thirty day (I believe it's 30 days) free trial you might check out.
 
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dh photography

Senior Member
For now, I may be relegated to the outdoor meets. LoL. Misses Dh has many plans that will come before the $1K+ lens purchase. Heck .... so do I! :)

I think I have a LOT to learn before making too many purchases anyway.
 
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