filter for indoor swim meet photos

<p>For those of you who have taken photos at indoor HS or collegiate swim meets, I would like to know if it is necessary/useful to use a circular polarizing filter? I know I would lose an f-stop, but would it help with any glare off the water? Since it's indoors, is glare not that big a deal as when shooting at an outdoor event?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>I really does depend on the lighting situation. The odds are that - unlike shooting in daylight at something like the surface of a lake, where the sun is doing the work - that you'll be looking a scene lit from multiple sources, coming from different directions. The CP filter will probably just cost you light. But if there is strong window light coming from one direction (and generally coming right at you, off the water), it <em>might</em> make a difference.<br /><br />But in a setting like that, every stop of light really counts - because freezing motion in dimly lit venues (as almost all HS athletic venues are) is rough going no matter what.</p>

I shoot swim meets throughout the year, both indoors and out. I will shoot a large one at Boston U. this weekend. This pool is relatively new and indoors. High contrast is a major issue with very strong back light from large north facing windows while swimmers are finishing south. I have never used filters except for a UV to protect from splash as I shoot from the deck. It gets dark early in December and I will use a 70-200 2.8L to capture as much light as I can as the light dims starting about 4PM. I like to get at least 1/500th and will need the 2.8. With 2.8 and wider DOF becomes an issue. I do shoot pictures at 1/250th to blur arm motion. There is a picture in my PN gallery where I used ISO 3200 and a slower shutter speed to show water trailing off a moving arm. I would much rather shoot at a 2000th but that is not always possible. I will use a 5D if I need ISO 3200 because I get usable pictures from that body at that ISO. If the backlight is too bad on finishing swimmers I will use flash to cut the contrast. I have never been particularly bothered by glare off the water and it doesn't look bad in pictures IMO. Shoot a lot of pictures as it is hard to capture just the right instant with a swimmer in constant motion. With Fly and breastroke try and sync with the swimmers stroke so you can catch the head just coming out of the water. I use center focus and single shot. I think I get more keepers that way. Shooting multiple exposures gets gets a lot of pictures of submerged swimmers.

<p>I would not use one. As you mentioned it will cut your light by one stop, and light is too precious for indoor sports. Lights shouldn't cause too much of a glare, and sports are too fast paced to try to dial in a polarizer. I have shot some college swim meets, and even at the college level, the lights can be dim, meaning you may have to shoot at ISO 1600 or 3200, with a polarizer you're at 3200 or 6400. I could go on, but I think the advantages of going filterless far outweigh the advantages of using the polarizer. You may want to slap a clear protective filter on to shield from all the water splashing, but that's your call, I don't use those either.</p>

<p>Everything Dick says is right on, but the one thing I do different is I use al servo and not one shot focus. That is for Canon. If you use something else, al servo would be whatever the continuous focusing mode is.</p>

<p>Over about 35years, I have only used a CPF once for indoor swimming, when I was forced to shoot into the light at the far end of this pool and the doors (left and back) were rolled up to open the pool into the outdoor quadrangle and the glare on the water (at the Starting Blocks) was severe:<br /><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/10291472-md.jpg" alt="" width="678" height="315" /></p>

<p>***<br />On the other hand I have shot into windows and doors before and since - here for example - and never again had the need for a CPF - I think the gleam on the water looks quite pretty:<br /><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/11906810-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="486" /><br>

<em> "I have never been particularly bothered by glare off the water and it doesn't look bad in pictures IMO." </em>Dick Arnold"<br>

- I agree. (Best to you, Happy Christmas)</p>

<p>***</p>

<p>I find I am always after as much lens speed as possible for local, school and district meets as the lighting banks are never turned on much more than quarter power, so any filter which will cost me a stop of light, is a very important call and would avoid doing that, if I could.</p>

<p>I don't think you will find a need for a CPF and if the light is really problematic then it is best to change your shooting position as the first step to fix.</p>

<p>WW</p>

<p>Most of the HS and even some college pools are tombs. You will need every bit of light that you can get - the only time that there is an exception to this is if you are outdoors in the summer. </p>

<p>Like the others - I've never had a complaint about glare from the lights or windows on the water. But I have had numerous splashes - so the UV is a good idea to protect the front lens from water. </p>