Best way to take indoor volleyball pictures??

<p>What is the best way to take indoor volleyball pictures. I have a Canon EOS Rebel T1i. Canon EF70-200mm F2.8 L (non-is). Can't use flash for the volleyball games. Do I use the auto setting, sports setting or manual? Do I change auto white balance setting? <br />Also, should I get a light meter and walk on the area of the court where the players are to determine the iso, shutter and aperature and then set it manual and walk back to the bleachers for the shot. I understand that the first thing about sports photos is to get physically as close as possilbe to the action. <br />In addition, which focus set up should I use? Sometimes the pictures are not clear where I aimed but other objects that I did not intend to focus on are clear. <br />I have polarizer. I heard that the polarizer will reduce the fstop by 2. Do I take it off? Also should I use the lense hood?<br />Thank you.</p>

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Follow up on identical thread here: http://www.photo.net/sports-photography-forum/00Y6ii<br>

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<p>You should not use the polarizer, because it will reduce the amount of light that reaches the sensor. Going onto the court will not be necessary. You will likely need to bump the ISO up to 800 (perhaps more) depending on the available lighting in the gym. Regarding what setting on the camera to use, I would probably put it on Tv (shutter priority) and set the shutter speed around 1/200 so that it will freeze motion. The blurry/unclear pictures could be a results of too slow a shutter speed; focus may or may not be the problem. JR</p>

<p>Shooting indoor sports under poor lighting is always challenging despite what sport it might be, but the big advantage here is that you have the proper lens for it. Definitely do not use a polarizer, it has no purpose in this situation and will only rob light. While Jeremy is correct that shutter speed is an issue, you don't have much choice here on exposure assuming you're talking about the usual poorly lit high school type gym. I would set the camera at aperture priority, the lens wide open at 2.8 and the ISO at 1600. The camera will then choose the shutter speed for you. Check and see what you're getting. If it's around 1/200 and up you're probably fine. If it's slower, then you may need to crank up the ISO to 3200 if you can get a good image without excessive noise at that level. The reason I don't agree with Jeremy on using shutter priority (Tv) is that I doubt there is enough light in the gym to let you use anything less than the full 2.8 aperture. The next step is to do as you mention and shoot from as close as possible, but light metering isn't the issue. By shooting closer you can use your lens at its shorter focal lengths more often. The longer the focal length the more any camera shake is magnified. So if you're shooting at 70mm up close rather than 200mm far away, any shutter speed above about 1/70 will eliminate camera shake as opposed to 1/200 (assuming you have a reasonably stead hand to start with). Even better use a monopod if you have one. Movement from the players is a different question for shutter speed. I'm not familiar with Canon AF systems to say which AF setting to use but bottom line is no AF is going to nail it on every shot when you have fast moving subjects and low light. You just have to shoot lots and lots of images and when you get home sit down and delete, delete, delete on the ones that are no good.</p>

<p>I WOULD NOT USE AV priority if I were you. What will happen is you will be zoomed in...yoour pic will be underexposed....lets say you have your ISO at 800 & yours ap at 2.8 but the camera wants to make the pic brighter & it slows your Shutter Speed down to 1/50 of a sec...now all your pictures are blurry beyond recognition! I would use TV priority if you have to choose between the two AV or TV becuase your Shutter Speed is more important for Sports than your focal length. What are you trying to capture? the whole team or are you focusing in on a single person? Maybe switch between the two depending on what shot you are trying to capture? If your taking an action shot of someone a shallower depth of field (& a the smaller ap) is fine but if your trying to get the whole team your going to need it at 5-8 depending on how in focus you want each player. I always shoot in Manual but I have a lot of practice of switching between settings so I dont miss a shot if I have to change something. It offers you the best control & no surprises later when you find out your camera picked a bad setting for your image you were taking. I shoot sports for Dorian which has been around FOREVER : ) & they do all school sports (the posed pics mostly but some action shots)<br>

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You have an awesome lens but if you dont want a ton of noise in your images I would consider upgrading your camera. If I remember right the T1i has good but not great noise control at high ISO's. I was Camera hunting about 6 months ago & I went in to Best Buy (thats all we have where I live for a camera store) & I picked up the T1i & that was the camera I originally wanted to buy...but then I picked up the 5D & then the 7D & I was sold on the 7D in the end. I shot each at high speed & then at high ISO & the noise control for the 7D is far superior to the T1i....if you do a lot of sports it might be worthwhile to make the switch.<br>

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You could go meter the court but its pretty easy to take to a picture & see if its properly exposed or not and then adjust your settings....so thats up to you. If you dont have a light meter I wouldnt go get one. I think light meters end up being a lot more helpful when you are doing studio or strobe shots. Just my opinion though. Also you said you end up with blurry images....Im going to guess that what your doing is THINKING you have your focus on a player but what you focused on was something in the background....whatever is coming out clear is where you actually focused your camera. Becuase there's a lot of movement & it can be hard to focus in the low light situations...I suggest going into your camera setting & doing a Manual Zone select & select the area where you want your camera to focus...(dont forget to switch it later for different shots though! Ive gotten in a hurry and done this)...but this will help ensure you focus where you intend to & will help the camera figure out where you want it to look!</p>

<p>Welcome to Photonet.<br>

Mark Sanderson pretty much nailed it100%. I endorse his advice.<br>

I have added further in your other thread: <a href="../sports-photography-forum/00Y6ii">http://www.photo.net/sports-photography-forum/00Y6ii</a><br>

BTW, and FYI, you should not double post.</p>

<p>WW</p>

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