HELP-action shots with Nikon D80

My background: I spent 5 1/2 in college in the early 90s in film photography. So

I really only know film for the most part.And due to the convenience of digital,

I obviously needed to make that move....so I now have a Nikon D80 and so far I

still don't know how I feel about digital. But digital is necessary these days,

so...

The first problem I am having is with action shots---as in someone walking

towards me and capturing them in mid stride with NO blur and in SHARP focus. I

shot about 500 photos in an hour at a fashion show and am NOT happy with any of

the movement shots. The lighting is fine but I was not able to freeze motion.

I was shooting with a 24-70 f3.5. I tried using from 2.5 to 5. I used ISO 800

and 1600 and could not seem to get ANY difference between the two. I feel like

if I were using film at that high of an IOS it would have pulled it of at f3.5.

 

In short I have 3 questions here - and will GLADLY take ANY advice positive or

negative.

 

1) when I went from ISO 800 to 1600 at the fashion show, I didn't really seem

notice a difference - I would have thought it would have let me use a faster

shutter speed but it did not seem to matter. Whats up with that??? I needed to

be shooting around a shutter speed of 125(ish) to freeze the girls; but stopped

all the way down to 3.5 I was having to use a shutter around 60. The lighting in

the photos is GREAT, but the girls are all fuzzy in motion with tracers for arms

and legs. (and you can't use flash here, but even if you could you are in a well

lit room and up to 80 feet away so the flash wouldn't matter)

 

2) If I had a lens that would stop down to 2.8 would that have solved my

problem?? (and this is what I actually assume to be the main problem) if so, I

am curious about the Sigma 24-70 f2.8 b/c the cost is half that of Nikon and I

have alreads spent a ton so far.

 

3) I also shot some portraits with 3 pepole in front and 2 standing behind them

very close. I was shooting under 2 500W studio lights with umbrellas and 1 250W

hair light from above - ISO 400 and f stop around 3.5 and shutter average 125 -

the results for the color are fine but the 2 figures in the back are out of

focus - I realize that at those camera settings depth of field will be shallow,

but when I am shooting from 8 feet away they should have all been in focus.

 

my brain is stuck in what I could have done with film in these situations - and

I desperately need to be able to do these things in digital.

Not really much help but I can not see how digital capture rather than film, caused the problems you describe.

Beware, my thinking may be too simplistic.

 

I wonder about your D80, which has some metering issues. Have you tried using center weighted or spot metering? Many people seem to report overexposure with the D80 matrix metering. On the other hand you say lighting was great... I guess f/2.8 could get you to 1/125.

 

What focal length were you using for the portraits? According to http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html, if you use a D80, your DOF at 70mm is 0.55 ft (disatnce 8 ft and f/3.6) For a full sensor camera like the Canon 5D or 35 mm film, it would be 0.83 ft.

 

Hope that helps, a little...

Get the $100 50/1.8. That should help give you more shutter speed about 1/250. Since it's a fashion show, they probably walk around and 1/60 isn't really enough to freeze the action.

 

OR you can rent an 85/1.4 for $30 for the weekend and have GREAT bokeh with the lights in the show. or go to rentglass.com (not an endorsement) for cheaper weekly rates.

 

If you are shooting posed shots in ambient light, VR may help. 70-200 seems to fit the bill. Wish Nikon made a 17-55 VR.

The iso/f-stop/shutter speed would be the same regardless of format used. It's all calibrated to shoot about the same. (No two cameras are ever exactly the same.) Your eye was just fooled by your brain. The eye is very sensitive to light and once acclimated to your environment it just seems brighter than it really was. You could have underexposed a stop and brought the levels back up in editing.

I agree mostly with John but I have had the same experience with digital/film differences. However I wouldn't take a 3.5 lens indoors without a flash and expect every one of them to turn out. I only shoot with 2.8 lenses and they are not good enough for me sometimes. Like Jon Da La Cruz said, if you get a 50mm 1.8 film version then you are shooting with about a 75mm lens which makes it a pretty good portrait lens with plenty of light and great depth of field. I have the Sigma lens you mentioned and I love it. The resale value on most after market lenses are pretty poor so if I were going to purchase it again I would go with a used one and save even a little more money. It is a little slower focusing then the nikon version but that has never interfered with my kind of shooting, and my shots are more then exceptable. I wouldnt be affraid to buy another Sigma EX series lens.

Simple guess would be that you have auto iso switched on. If this is the case then you changing from 800 to 1600 iso would not make a difference. Infact your camera is deciding what film speed you shoot at.

Just check that this is off and then try manually altering your iso. Do you find a noticeable difference now??

 

Hope this proves to be of help