20D at night

I am shooting a 20 with a 70-200 2.8, I can stop sports action in the

day, but cannot at night. Any suggestions?

 

Thank You

Hi Allan, You're just up against physics there. Not enough light = longer shutter speeds. Suggestions? Crank up the ISO as high as it'll go and buy something like Noise Ninja or ask the owners of the sports venue to put up more lights. Good luck!

do you shoot curling or motorcross? not having any details, here are some possibilities off the top of my head:

 

1. get the 70-200 IS version, or

 

2. a 200mm 1.8, or

 

3. bump up your ISO and noise ninja it later (or try a less expensive fredmiranda plugin).

 

cheers.

The IS version isn't going to help you stop sports action.

Post a couple examples so we can see what your doing or not doing. Also post the settings used. From that we may be able to help.

Sure they can guess at whats going on but without actually seeing examples and settings used it won't help you a bit.

 

JS

jamie's right about IS not helping to stop action. strike that first option, allan; brain flatulence. cheers.

Depends on what sports you are shooting. A faster (prime) lens is a good starting place (choice depends on the sport). Maybe flash might be workable, depending on the sport and shooting distances (possibly aided with a Better Beamer that concentrates the flash if shooting at 200mm). Did I say it depends on the sport?

Thanks for the responses. I am shooting youth sports: Soccer and football. I use the sportds mode during the day. I couldnt get the sports mode to work at night, so I tried ISO 16oo( I wasn't aware it could go any Higher) AV 2.8. I have deleted all of the night time images. They were terrible. They were taken in High School Stadiums with Bright lighting. I am posting a daytime image, and will capture a night time one tomorrow and post it.

 

Thanks

Allan

People are correct about IS not helping. <br><br>What you need is faster shutter speed. There are only three ways (off the top of my head to get that....<p>

1) opening up the aperture (maybe use a fast prime lens)<br>

2) bumping up the ISO <br>

3) throwing more light on the scene<br>

<br>

Depending on the type of action you're shooting you might also consider panning shots (tracking the subject, while blurring the background). Takes some practice but can be very cool if done well.<p>

Also consider your perspective or angle to the action. Again, I don't know what sport you're shooting, but things will obviously be more blurred if they are moving completely perpendicular to the camera/lens direction (for example, left to right across your field of vision). If you position yourself where the action is moving more in a direction coming towards or moving away from you, the movement that the camera needs to capture/freeze won't be quite as dramatic.<p>

You might also consider a tripod or monopod if you're not already using one.

Larger image of Daytime Action

Okay, soccer & football. I'd definately try a monopod. Even with IS. The 70-200mm f/2.8 can be used on a tripod/support with IS enabled. Aperture priority (Av) is definately the mode I would use with the aperture all the way open and the ISO as high as you need it. Sounds like you're already there. Not much else, except for the panning thing I mentioned or maybe using a flash, which doesn't seem like a very viable option. Note that there's a switch on your lens for using IS while panning.

get off of 'sports' mode. The creative modes are limiting. I shoot night time sports with ISO 800-1600 with the 70-200 2.8. I shoot on Av or Tv mode only and force aperture f2.8 to freeze the action better. I find the camera's sensors may choose an aperture higher than 2.8 which slows the shutter speed down. The camera doesn't know football from turkey. Automatic modes are very very limiting.

 

ISO - 800-1600 (3200 is available but not necessary and not avail in creative modes

Aperture - f/2.8 (if you can go lower like someone recommended a faster prime thats good too)

Shutter - needs to be about 1/250 or faster to stop the action

multi-shot & Servo-AF for focus.

 

Finally - a little bit of blur is ok, it suggests that it wasn't a posed shot or a standing still shot. Depending on what you're shooting you may also need to pan the camera a bit while shooting. I find I shoot in 3 frame bursts, the 1st frame is usually the worst and the 2nd and 3rd frames are the clearest.<div></div>

The only other thing I suggest (beyond ALL of the above) is simple deliberately underexposing by 1 stop. . . and fixing it in PS later.

 

I am generally successful in pushing 1 stop in night/low light photos. 2 stops (maybe 3) if I convert to B&W.

And if you do try the panning thing, you may actually want to "slow" the shutter speed down to make the effect more dramatic and intentional looking. If it's too subtle, it'll look a bit like just another blurry photo. And panning doesn't have to be just left to right or right to left... it can be in any direction. Alright, enough from me about panning.

Jamie Nicholson , nov 13, 2005; 05:37 p.m.

The IS version isn't going to help you stop sports action.

 

WHAT! Obviously SOME people either don't understand IS or are jealous because they don't have it.

 

IS does help night action sports, if you use the correct mode on the dual mode lenses.

 

Anyway, back to the original question. I shoot all sports (day and night) in M manual mode. Normally at night I am setting the shutter between 250-160, Iso between 800 and 1600, f2.8, IS mode 1. Spot Metering mode.

In really bad lighting situations I use a Canon 580EX flash, in manual mode set between 1/4 and 1/8 which gives a nice fill for football.

You may want to check on regulations as some do not allow flash for soccer. We can use it but it cannot be aimed towards the goalies so it's kind of useless.

 

JS

Image Stabilization can help for shooting sports/action by 'keeping the camera steady' - so to speak. <p>But purely for freezing action, which I think is the main goal here, it won't help. IS will keep the lens/camera steady at slower shutter speeds, helping prevent/reduce camera shake. It doesn't do anything to help freeze the subject. The main benefit is to let you shoot (handheld, or otherwise) at a slower shutter speed than the typically recommended 1-over-focal-length rule. To freeze action, that won't help. Unless the problem is camera shake, the only solution here is a faster shutter speed.

Hey John, try reading the question again before throwing a bunch of petty upper case at me. Allan asked specifically about stopping action. Now, tell me how IS is going to help stop the action of the swinging leg of a soccer player. Who is it that doesn't understand IS?

go to school meeting or local city/town meeting and request to add more lighting to the

stadium, for them half a million project, nothing serious. Then you can have fun with

sports action in the day. I dont see any other solution.

Allan,

 

The below will ensure the best possible results:

 

1. Use fast lenses with f1.4 or 1.8 max. apertures

2. Shoot from a tripod or monopod whilst using 800 and above ISO speeds.

3. Shoot a max. apertures as dof is usually not an issue at sports events

4. If you can't use autofocus, try to determine your distance to the subject and set it manually (if your lenses allow you to).

5. You will need high shutterspeeds to freeze action so it's obligatory you shoot wide open.

6. At many events you will have constant light. Use it! I.e. : use an incident meter to read the light and then re- calculate that exposure to ensure high shutterspeeds.

7. Always use predicitve or AI servo tracking to follow and nail down the subject if you have enough light.

8. Shoot jpeg. This will ensure faster writing times to the memorycard.

9. Don't expect each shot to be tack sharp. Shooting sports requieres good technique which comes with the years.

 

Good luck!

One word - monopod.

 

That certainly won't help if you don't have all the other things lined up - lenses, aperture

and shutter settings, ISO, etc. But when you've got everything else working as hard as

possible, using a monopod can give you just that extra bit of sharpness when you're trying

to shoot at a shutter speed that's a bit slower than you'd prefer.

 

I shoot a lot of performances using available light with the 70-200 IS and the monopod

gives me noticeably sharper shots (and noticeably less sore arms at the end of the night).

Image stabilization may help in some situations if the lens has panning mode IS available, but obviously it does not fit all cases.

 

Panning a moving car, thrown spear or something that keeps the same shape and is moving mostly sideways with Mode 2 IS might be useful at low light. But it's true that a running human with plenty of body parts flailing around is will still look somewhat psychedelic with or without IS, if the exposure is growing long.

"I can stop sports action in the day, but cannot at night."

 

You are absolutely right.

 

There is nothing you can do. Everyone above told you, Low light = long shutter speeds.

 

but there is one thing you can try.

 

Get the biggest opening lens you can, say 50 1.4

 

Use the highest ISO 3200

 

set the camera on manual, 1/125 sec , F 1.4

 

And shoot away.

 

When you get home, load up all the dark images, and using levels to bring up the light.

 

Stop action you will have. Quality you wont, it will be grainy, noisy, ugly, but stop action you will have.