Basketball Pictures with Nikon D50

I have a Nikon D50 with a AF Zoom 80-200mm f/2.8. I am new to taking pictures

and would really appreciate help with the settings. I still get way too many

blurry pictures and I don't know if it is just me or I don't have the settings

correct to take basketball pictures in a gym. I have read lots on the topic

but maybe one of you could tell me something I am doing wrong to fix the

problem. Thanks for your help.

Blurry pictures = moving subjects = shutter speed too slow = too little light = ISO settign too low = lens not fast enough = lens used as a tele lens where lateral motion becomes much more obvious = beginners error.

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00JYx9

Hi Judy, I'm going to assume you are shooting in a high school gym......Here's what I used to do and it work very well......Of course it was Tri-X rated at 1600 back in the 80s and early 90s when I was doing it.....set your iso at 1600, shutter at 1/125, set the lens at 2.8 and use that 80-200 at or around 80mm. That is a heck of a lens for basketball. Shoot from the corner or near it, concern yourself with getting shots on your end of the court, at halftime switch to the other end......auto focus may work fast enough, but I have my doubts, we always focused on the rim, that's where most good action is near....We almost always used a 35 or 50mm lenses, occasionally an 85..... At iso 1600 with an exposure of 1/125@f2.8 or 1/250@f2 is right for most high school gyms, experiment before the game during warmup time to see what is the best f-stop /shutter speed, heck you may be in a gym that is bright enough to shoot at 1/250@f2.8 or 1/500@2.8......My opinion is that auto focus might work ok, but I really have my doubts about auto exposure......Good Luck.....Jim

Judy, a little more while I'm at it........unless there is something wrong with the lights, the exposure should be the same all over the floor......1/125 is just fast enough alot of the time, and 1/250 is plenty fast most of the time.....if your camera will go to iso 3200 without being too grainy, I would use it.....Don't use a flash.....My personal choice of lenses at present for a zoom lens for basketball would be a 28-105 f2.8.......there are probably several people on here that can give you good advice on this and we probably wouldn't agree on all points I know what I'm telling you works......If you want to get some points clarified, email me.....Jim

Judy, that 28-105 was a 35mm camera lens, for your digital, you would probably want a 17-35 or a 28-70.....Jim

Thanks Jim for all the good advice, sorry I didn't reply sooner but your reply wasn't sent to my email address. I was also given advice to set to M and use 2.8 at 1/500 (I only could get 1/200 though)The pictures seem to be getting better but I was also wondering about the autofocus, should I set it to S or C or even A? I think I will be able to get better pictures as soon as I get the setting all correct.

thanks again

Hello Judy, I was just telling you how we used to do it with manual 35mm cameras about 20 years ago......I can't tell you how to set your Nikon equipment for auto focus. Reason #1.... I use Pentax. #2... I really have the feeling that that little time lag it takes for the lens to focus usually will cause you to miss the exact peak of the action in such a fast moving sport. Even a quarter of a second is a long time in basketball......What I've related about how we shot basketball is not only from my own experience what I learned from a couple professional sports photographer buddies, one worked for a newspaper and the other was the Indianapolis Pacer's photographer.....I'm not suggesting that you manually follow focus, a few are able to do it with varying degrees of success, but I always focused on the rim or net, that's where you'll get the best action shots......Are you shooting high school basketball? Or is it a case where you have a younger son or daughter coming up. I will be very interested in seeing some of your basketball shots here on PN.....Good Luck.....Jim

Hey Judy, I just found your post on here. I see in your last post you said someone (me?) told

you to use 1/500. I remember the email I sent you and I just told you to start at 1/500 and

go from there until you get the exposure that works for you. I didn't want you to shoot the

whole game at that shutter speed. ;-)

 

Post some of your stuff on here so we can see your improvement.