Baseball night game

[mike_salvucci1]

I was wodnering if anyone has any experiance shooting a major league baseball

night game. I'm goign to a sox game tomorrow and I busted out my older Canon

AE-1..which although old, still takes WAY better pictures than my 3 mpixel

digital. I'll be using a 35-105mm zoom lense. It's an older FD lense but it's

pretty high quality. I went out today and bought some high speed 1600 film.

What do ya think, I know the lights at Fenway put out a shit load of light,

but will it be enough?

 

Thanks a bunch!

Hope to hear soon!

 

Mike

[jcmellen]

I think your going to be really really disappointed at your focal length when you get there. Especially from the stands. Might be able to get some pretty wide angle shots of stadium of lens is fast enough.

 

If you want any action, you won't be happy with anything less than a 300mm...and thats if your on the field. I've never shot pro-baseball, but have shot countless HS baseball games...200mm is short even for that.

 

Good luck though.

[mike_salvucci1]

I'm not really concerned about the zoom, I was just planning on using the zoom so that I can get a little bit closer than just my plain non zoom lense. What I am concerned about is lighting, do you think I can take a picture at 1600ISO at around 1/500 with the 35-105mm lense (wide open at 3.5) under those lighting conditions?

[Jerry_]

Night baseball = you see white light (the human eye is great for changing colors) __ but the film will pick up whatever 'hue' the stadium lights generate...greenish is my guess. If you have a 4th layer film like Fuji makes, the color prints should be OK with correction. Also be prepared for lots of grain in your prints.

 

 

 

 

As noted above, you have a lens that will be OK for general shots of the crowd. For any type of action shot, you'd have to be on top of the dugout for a decent image.

[jcmellen]

Pro-ball is lighted for TV, so lighting should be more or less ample. I don't really think you'll be able to squeeze out 1/500 @ 3.5 with iso1600...but you may. I'm thinking you'll have better luck at 1/250@3.5...but you'll have to see what your meter says.

[randrew1]

Shoot away. You will get something. Wide angle shots of the stadium will work well. As others have said, action will be tough with the limited telephoto. If you get there early, you may be able to get close to the field during batting practice. That is the best time to catch close-up shots of players.

 

I'm attaching a shot I took at PNC park in Pittsburgh a few years ago. This used a 210mm f/5.6 lens with Kodak 800 speed film. I'm guessing the shutter speed was approaching 1/500. In Pittsburgh, the crowds are small enough that I could get seats 3 rows back from the dugout. I doubt you will have that much luck at Comiskey.

[randrew1]

I looked at the date of your post and realized that you had already been there. Let us know how the pictures turn out.

[2yellowdogs]

Evidently the game has come and gone, but 1600 should be more than enough for a major league park at night. This shot was taken with 800 speed film at, I think, 1/250 (this was 6 or 7 years ago).

 

It's a pretty bad jpeg of a decent scan, but you'll get the idea. In most major league venues, you can in the infield at between 400 and 800 ISO at sufficient speeds to stop action. You usually need another stop of exposure in the outfield.<div></div>

[piotr_panne]

Baseball no longer forms an image on silver film since it sold it\'s soul to infield wall advertising. Digital works fine with the Steinbrenner filter, (available by license).

[robbie_caswell]

For the record... For my minor league park, I use a 300mm AIS f/2.8 and even then at night it can be a struggle. Shooting from the dugout is nice but if you are able to move around you can get some interesting angles.<div></div>

[robbie_caswell]

Actually that was very slightly cropped.

 

Part of the fun is understanding the game, anticipating, knowing the manager and player tendancies, and even listening to the fans call where the action is headed.

 

I shoot for a weekly newspaper, and in this photo I previsualized what the newspaper submission would be for that week. I knew this player would reach base and there would be multiple attempts to pick him off. I was sitting in the first base dugout and he leads off and gets on first base. Within a few attempts I had my image.

 

I shoot with a D200 and a manual focus lense. Not the best for some sports but for baseball and golf it is sufficient. Once owned the 200mm F/2 and regret selling it. 200mm is enough for baseball.

 

Go to www.rcaswellphotography.com for some more of my sports images. Haven't been doing it long, but with careful shopping a killer setup can be had for peanuts. My lense is Bargain grade from KEH and is super!!<div></div>

[robbie_caswell]

One more from a different angle...

 

Offer your services to a weekly newspaper. Gain access to alot of events is really cool. Seeing your images in print is cooler! Plus you can earn some money back to buy more gear!

 

Pitchers are fun to shoot as well...<div></div>