What is the best setting for hockey pictures

(Edited by moderator. Please use punctuation and, you know, sentences.)

 

I just got a Canon EOS Rebel T2. I've never used film before.I also got a 75-300mm lens. I'm taking hockey pictures tomorrow and I've been told not to use manual focus and to use AI Servo AF. But I can't figure out how to put my camera in that mode. I followed all the instructions but it's not working. I was also told to change the aperture to 1600 but thats not changing either. Any advice will help. Thanks.

I have two lenses: one that came with the camera, and a 70-300 mm 1:4-5.6 autofocus zoom. (Edited by moderator)

The one that came with the camera is a EF28-90mm f/4-5.6II. (Edited by moderator.)

as i did mention on he last thread.... 2.8 at 1600ISO will only get you 1/500s shots... anything slower will most likely not get you good results!

 

http://www.photographiesurlevif.com/hockey/

I guess you should shoot with the 70-300 then. The problem is, is that the aperture goes from f/4 to f/5.6 as you zoom from 70 to 300. Meaning at 70mm your aperture will be f/4 (the lower the "f" number the more light the lens lets in), at about 90mm it changes to 4.5....then around 135mm it again changes to 4.5. Truthfully you need a lens with an aperture better than f/4 but you can do somewhat ok at f/4 or f/4.5. So dont zoom out past 135mm. Unfortunately that means that if you are standing at the goal line, and shooting the goalie, he/she will be maybe half the height of the shortest dimension of the picture area. Another unfortunate is that at f/4.5 with a film speed of 800 ISO (or ASA) you will probably be shooting at 1/160th of a second shutterspeed. I say ISO of 800 because that is the highest color film goes. That means if the people are in action, they will be blurred. so try to time your shot for that moment they tend to slow down or stop.......or reach the peak of the action....like RIGHT at the slap shot........or right when the goalie drops to the ice.

 

Now my guess of an aperture of 4.5 and shutterspeed of 160th might be off a little, but regardless your meter is going to tell you different. that is because all that white from the ice is going to fool your meter into thinking that there is more light than there really is.....in otherwords it will make the hockey players too dark. So, put you camera on the "Manual" exposure setting......the "M" setting on your exposure dial.....and just set the aperture and shutterspeed to what I said.

 

Now this assumes a decently lit non PRO ice rink. If it is pro hockey I think you umight get away with an aperture of 4.6 and 1/250 shutterspeed (but that is a guess)

 

you could also set your exposure dial to "Av", set the aperture to 4 or 4.5 and then use your exposure compensation set to +2....that might, maybe, take the guess work out of the shutterspeed setting......regardless, that (the +2 setting on the exposure compensation) will also adjust the meter being fooled by all the ice (white)

 

that's as simple as I can make it. Your gonna have to look up all of what I said in your cam manual..

...sounds like you just got your drivers license and are trying to drive an F1... sports photo is not easy... and requires good gear.

...135mm it again changes to 4.5...........sorry, meant 5.0

If I were you, knowing the questions you've asked, I'd load ISO-1600 film in the camera, keep the 75-300 lens on, set exposure "mode" to "A" (aperture priority,) set the "aperture" setting at its maximum of f4 (or f5.6 at 300mm,) and use continuous auto-focus ("ai-servo" in Canon lingo, I guess.) Even that, you will most likely not have enough stopping speed, so try shooting an image with less movement (goal keeper waiting, player near box, etc.) and if you try to stop motion, then pan (moving camera side to side) the action.

 

Good luck.

Always the gentleman Wilson ;-)

Jesica,

 

<p>This post is confusing me, so what its like for you I can only imagine! Here goes my answer: </P>

 

<P> Locate sports mode on your camera. It's on the main dial as a picture of a man running, this will sent up everything for you.

 

<p> Practice with this mode before you load a film into the camera. Point the camera out of a window and hold down the taking button half way, now move around the view looking at different objects. Notice how the camera keeps adjusting the focus? Press down fully to take a shot, if you want to, keep the button pressed and it will fire off shot after shot.

 

<p> Go and buy some Fuji 1600 Superia Color print film. Any decent camera shop should have this. A fast speed film like this one is more sensitive to light, and is better for indoor sports.</P>

 

<p> Go to the rink and start shooting! Use the 70-300 lens. Position yourself down by the boards, and shoot through the plexiglass, dont shoot from the stands the pictures look very flat. Remember, press the button half way and follow action. Watch how the camera focuses and tracks the players. Press fully down to take a shot when you want.</P>

 

<P> Remember when shooting to try and fill the viewfinder with a player, and wait unit s/he is facing the camera before shooting... Photos of the back of a players head from a distance are not worth the film. </P>

 

Give that a try, and dont forget to post some results on here!

With a Rebel T2 Sports mode sets the camera up perfectly (this wouldn't be true if you were using a Rebel XT DSLR). Use 1600 ISO Fuji film, and you'll get the best you can with your current equipment. If you find that you are still getting too much motion blur in your pictures, the solution is to get a faster lens. I'd pick a Canon 85mm f/1.8, which lets in more than 4 times as much light as your 75-300 does at the same focal length, and so will give you correspondingly shorter shutter speeds. It's a good compromise between cost and capability. Be prepared to crop your prints.

hmmm...didnt know fuji made a 1600 speed film........yeah, of course, use that instead.....that would make my shutterspeed recomendation in the manual exposure mode 1/320th of a second instead, but still at f/4.5.

 

The rest of you are still forgetting to tell her to adjust the exposure for all that white ice. If you are going to use Av and set the lens to f/4 you need to use a +2 on the exposure compensation to get the exposure correct.

Setting "Matrix," exposure comp will not have effect on exposure when doing exposure comp, which, where Jessica is, I'd strongly recommend leaving her exposure setting in "Matrix" (or evaluative) there. If she choses to center-weight meter, (highly doubtful at this stage,) then exposure comp will make the difference, as you had suggested. Just my 2 cents.

Evaluative metering with 35 zones on a Rebel T2 will largely ignore the ice provided that a player is an obvious subject in the frame - it certainly won't be necessary to apply 2 stops of exposure compensation. I think Jessica should try the Sports mode which will probably be pretty effective. Sure, if you really want to optimise you'd pick AI Servo, and manual exposure settings having metered off a mid tone using the widest aperture. Even then (and even with a rather faster lens) you could easily be thrown by the rink lighting, which may cause a whole bunch of problems that aren't soluble without powerful strobes or accepting a low success rate.

I shot one of my friends hockey games using my XT with 75-300 f/4-5.6 and got decent results. I used ISO 1600 with shutter speed 1/200s and the lowest aperture I could get for different focal lengths. For the most part everything came out well, I just stayed away from the very fast action and everything stayed sharp for the most part.

okay so i just got done shooting my brothers game for today and when i was done w/ the first role of film i felt pretty good i didnt shoot too many where he was in fast action the only one i did was when he got in the fight! it was awesome by the way he kicked that guys butt! well anyways as i took out the film i forgot that i had only used an 800spd film for the first 2 games. so i loaded a 1600 spd but then realized the game was over in 5 min! so i took a few shots im going to wait till tomorrow to finish the film . and i also was wondering if when i get the film developed if they could put it on a cd for me instead of me haveing to scan all of my film.

Jessica, Here I like ccm 952 and 1152's. Jofa JDP 5500 pads, Koho pants,. :) Gloves are abit a pickle; never seem to really really like any pair too well, am "tolerating" a pair of Eastons Airs.

LOL Kelly! that's the best answer on the thread.

Jessica: I just shot a game with a Canon 20D and a 28-300mm L series lens. I had to shoot at ISO800 and use a flash just to get decent action shots at 1/250 sec. Noise became a big issue. The lens you have is fine for outdoors but just isn't going to cut it indoors, especially with hockey. I'd invest in a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens if you really want some good sharp shots.