Looking For Tips

Nero

Senior Member
So, I was asked to shoot a couple of basketball games at a local college next month. I have no experience with sports photography so I was wondering if there are any shiny little pearls of wisdom that anybody can give me. It's indoor, but the lighting should still be decent.

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Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
So, I was asked to shoot a couple of basketball games at a local college next month. I have no experience with sports photography so I was wondering if there are any shiny little pearls of wisdom that anybody can give me. It's indoor, but the lighting should still be decent.
Set a custom white balance.
.....
 

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Nerver overestimate an indoor lighting. You will need a fast focusing large aperture lens and/or high iso.

Best advice is that you go and make trials in advance to make certain of your lens/iso/shutter speed setup.

What you don't want are blurred images, so sometimes a bit of grain (digital noise they call it nowadays) is better than a blurred out of focus shot.
 

Nero

Senior Member
Yeah, I'm thinking of using my 70-300mm. Fast autofocus, doesn't have the widest max aperture but I can bump up the ISO if I need to.

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Moab Man

Senior Member
If another lens is not an option then it's not an option, but the 70-300 is going to kill you for a number of reasons.
1. It's not a fast focusing lens
2. It's not a fast lens for low light such as f/2.8
3. On that crop sensor the zoom factor is going to be too much assuming you will be on the floor since you were asked to shoot.

Most of the action tends to take place at near or under the basket. I would want a 24-70 f/2.8 if that's an option.

In regards to white balance. The color of light will be terrible between the lights and reflected light from the floor. The Expodisc works amazing for correcting white balance.

Have really fast writing cards to clear the buffer that much quicker.

Finally, practice practice practice. Get to know how the athletes play. For example, when shooting softball or baseball, just before the ball comes into the frame the athletes will really tense up their arms. Some more than others. Because I have picked up on this I can pretty consistently capture the ball in flight while zoomed in on the athlete.

Best of luck to you.
 

singlerosa_RIP

Senior Member
If you have to use what you have, the 70-300 is what you'll have to use. You can crank the ISO up OK on it, so you might be able to satisfy the lighting end of things (maybe) understanding you'll need a shutter speed of at least 1/1000. There's also the DOF issue with the 70-300. You won't get the isolation with it that you'd get with a fast lens. If you have a couple of bucks, I suggest you rent a 24-70 2.8 or 70-200 2.8 VRII or something better.
 

aced19

Senior Member
Depending on where you set. I would use your 50 1.8 lens.
Try to set between 3pt line and lane line.
I don't know what the crop is on a 7200 but it should be around a 70mm with a 50mm lens. Thats perfect for setting in that area for around the basket shots.
That lens will allow you to use a f stop of 2.8.
Sorry to say but your 70-300 just wont work like you want it too. You can use it but it will be tough on you never shooting sports before.
I shoot a lot of basketball and no matter how bright it looks in there. You'll soon learn its not bright enough.
Heres what I would do.
use the 50 mm
f 2.8
Minimum SS 640
iso 3000 - 6400
Set custom white balance
AFC
turn on rapid shooting
setup back button focus

Number one thing thats overlooked is using back button focus.

I always use back button focus.

​I shoot a lot of sports and I would set my camera to shoot anything moving to these settings.
Servo mode AF-C.
39 pt dynamic area setting (I've tried the single, 9 and 21 pt. But the 39 gave me the sharpest pics.).
Also set your AE-L/AF-L button to AF-ON.
You set your AE-L/AF-L button this way to work with the AF-C.
When set up like this, you use your thumb to press and hold the AE-L/AF-L button and your index finger on the shutter(not pressed half down).
By pressing and holding the AE-L/AF-L button it will make the lens continually focus on your subject, all you have to do is push the shutter when
you want to take a picture. It's the same as holding the shutter half way down but sometimes its hard to do that for a long period of time.

This shot taken last Thursday. Used SS 640 and ISO 6400 at 2.8 on a 7000
PEF_34421.jpg
 
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Nero

Senior Member
Nifty-fifty it is then. Already decided to use back-button focus so I wasn't completely hopeless in planning out my settings. lol
 

TKC_D500

Senior Member
Since a $5700 200mm f/2G is probably out of the question lol, I think you made the right choice between those two lenses. I've shot a lot of indoor basketball and volleyball and I think you would have struggled a lot with the 70-300.


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Nero

Senior Member
I mainly chose it due to the reach and the fast auto-focus but I guess I don't really need the reach and to be honest the nifty-fifty has a fast auto-focus too so it makes sense.

Definitely glad I asked for advice. :p
 
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