correct Sports settings HELP......

hey guys and gals, just signed up and need your help.

i have a D3100 with a 55-200 lens which i use for shooting all my sports photos, at the moment its mainly cricket. Im having a right issue at the moment.

i need someone to tell me the BEST settings to have so when im on full zoom with action shots the pictures are NOT blurry when i download them to the PC from the memory card.

i have no idea what ive done reference the settings this has occoured within the last 4 weeks.

at present i have RESET all my settings ready for an answer on here to change them.

thank you so much
dave

You're going to need to keep your shutter speed up around 1/250 or thereabouts. To this end, I'd set the Mode Dial to "S"hutter Priority, and dial in the 1/250 shutter speed. For aperture, you're probably going to want to use something around f/4 or f/5; that's just a guesstimate. Now, what you're going to find, is that in order to maintain that shutter speed the camera is going to need to boost the ISO, the sensors sensitivity to light. This means your shots may show some digital "noise". Exposure is a constant, never ending juggling act of ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture but that's just photography for you. You might be able to get away with a 1/125 shutter speed but you'll have to experiment and find what works best under the exact circumstances you're shooting in.

Now, another thing that needs to be considered is that as you focal length increases, everything else increases with it, including camera shake and the blurriness that can come with it. The rule of thumb for DX cameras like yours is to shoot at a shutter speed 1.5x as fast as your focal length. So, if you're shooting at 200mm, you want your shutter speed up around 1/350 or so. I actually prefer to double things so I'd want my shutter speed up around 1/400 or close it. Again, I'd have to balance that out against what ISO and aperture I'd have to use to maintain that shutter speed. Unfortunately, there are no cut-and-dried answers to these questions you have to learn to adjust and adapt to the circumstances as they present themselves.
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right, the circumstance will always be the same, outdoor shooting, good light, same action shots, bowler, batsman and fielding. ill be shooting from 50 to 70rds ish away most of the time unless im at a 1st class county game.

if possible id like to keep the settings the same for all, as long as the pictures are not blurr when dowloaded im happy. any chance please of a step by step guide to change these settings?

Use Shutter Priority
Dial in a shutter speed of 1/250
Turn on "Auto ISO"; 100 ISO minimum, 6400 ISO maximum
Set the aperture to f/4 and adjust as needed when shooting

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ok thanks, i normally always keep it on sports

DaveNewman said:

ok thanks, i normally always keep it on sports

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I'm thinking the problem you're going to have is that your 55-200mm zoom is a little on the slow side; a wider aperture would help you keep your shutter speeds up and generally make this a little easier to deal with. Still, the options I've outlined are your best bet for using what you have.

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brilliant, ill try and set these tonight as im cricketing tomorrow and will see if that makes a difference....

Another big help will be to check your AF (Auto Focus) mode. I'm not familiar with how the D3100 performs, and all DSLRs are a bit different when it comes to the best option for shooting sports. You two best options are probably going to be Dynamic or 3D. Single Point is for still subjects and Auto lets the camera decide...which is usually not a good choice:

brilliant guys, thank you, i changed to the settings above, tested on the dog in and out the sea etc etc , nice moving shots, perfect...

next test will be at cricket from a distance to make 100% sure

thanks
dave

Guys can you please check my album on FB its public so you can view them and see what i need to do know to improve the pictures, the setting i did "as above" have worked, but i think they can do with a little more fiddling, but unsure what to do.. again using my 55-200 lens and shooting from about 60/70 yards.

https://www.facebook.com/dave.newma...4806.1073741847.500614805&type=1&notif_t=like

thanks
dave

DaveNewman said:

Guys can you please check my album on FB its public so you can view them and see what i need to do know to improve the pictures, the setting i did "as above" have worked, but i think they can do with a little more fiddling, but unsure what to do.. again using my 55-200 lens and shooting from about 60/70 yards.

https://www.facebook.com/dave.newma...4806.1073741847.500614805&type=1&notif_t=like

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I've looked at your photos and overall they don't look bad but to my eye they look do look a little soft. Are you shooting JPG? If so, I wonder if you don't need to adjust the in-camera Sharpness setting.

To find out, go into your camera menus and go into the "Shooting" menu (green camera tab). Using the four-way button go into the "Picture Control" menu and then into "Set Picture Control". I suggest using "Standard" here but "Landscape" is a good second choice. Choose the one you want to use and then click left once to enter the settings menu for that Picture Control. See the "Sharpness" setting? Adjust it to +6 and press "OK" and exit the menus. This one setting will have a very big impact on the overall sharpness of your JPG photos and for reasons I do not even begin to understand, this setting is set very, very low on all Nikon cameras as they come from the factory.

Since you're not posting photos here, we can't see the EXIF data which would tell us important things like what focal length vs. shutter speed you were using, or what ISO you were at when you took the shot. These factors can also have a very big impact on sharpness. One last thing to consider would be a monopod. A monopod will give you a huge amount of stability when shooting (and stability is crucial to good focus and overall sharpness), but they have almost no footprint, unlike a tripod. Monopods are also signifcantly cheaper and easier to tote around than tripods.

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brilliant reply.... i have been advised from a friend who has a nikon also, to up the ISO to 1600, agree?? i will defo, tonight look at the picture setting. Once ive cracked that, all good

DaveNewman said:

brilliant reply.... i have been advised from a friend who has a nikon also, to up the ISO to 1600, agree?? i will defo, tonight look at the picture setting. Once ive cracked that, all good.

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I really think what you need to do is gain a thorough understanding of the relationship between Aperture, ISO and Shutter Speed. Photographers refer to these concepts, as a group, as The Exposure Triangle. These three principles are, and forever will be, the foundation of every single shot you take. Never will you successfully photograph anything that you have not considered these three aspects.

This being the case, I really don't think it can be stressed too strongly just how important it is to have a *complete* understanding of these concepts and their relationship with one another. Once you have that, you won't need anyone suggesting you use ISO this or ISO that and your photography will improve dramatically.

Here are a couple articles to help get you started but don't stop with these...

Understanding ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture
Camera Exposure Explained

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. You need to up the shooting speed, to 1/500 or more.
. For more depth of field you can go upto F11.
That means the ISO will have to go up.

adjust and adapt to the circumstances as they present themselves.

aroy said:

. You need to up the shooting speed, to 1/500 or more.
. For more depth of field you can go upto F11.
That means the ISO will have to go up.

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Agree. 1/250 as suggested before on a full 200mm zoom is okay for a bird sitting on a branch, but is not enough for the amount cricketers move around.

cheers guys.. 1 question, how do i change the F's ?? as you suggested i could go up to F11, i can change the ISO and the shooting speed, but unsure on the F's

thanks

DaveNewman said:

cheers guys.. 1 question, how do i change the F's ?? as you suggested i could go up to F11, i can change the ISO and the shooting speed, but unsure on the F's...

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First of all, you're asking how you change the aperture, not the "F's"; and you do so by putting the Mode Dial in "A"perture Priority mode and then turning the Command Wheel on the back of the camera body to the desired f-stop.

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brilliant thank you and then when ive done that, do i then put the dial back on 'S' and continue as normal? or will the aperture change back? (not sounding thick)

DaveNewman said:

brilliant thank you and then when ive done that, do i then put the dial back on 'S' and continue as normal? or will the aperture change back? (not sounding thick)

Click to expand...

If you shoot in "S"hutter Priority mode you have decided to let the camera choose the aperture for you, while you control the shutter speed.

If you shoot in "A"perture Priority mode you have decided to let the camera choose the shutter speed for you, while you control the aperture.

If you want to control both at all times, you need to shoot in "M"anual mode.

I think what you need to do is turn on Auto ISO and set the minimum shutter speed you think you will need for the lens you are using while allowing the ISO to go as high as the D3100 allows for. This will allow you to keep your shutter speed at, say, 1/500 (or whatever speed you choose) and the ISO will adjust to keep the exposure correct for the aperture you dial in yourself.

Bonus Edit: Here's how you do what I'm talking about.

I'm suggesting the following settings:

Minimum ISO: 100
Maximum ISO: H2
Minimum Shutter Speed: 1/250 or 1/500

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