Setting an XT for sports photography?

[doc_nickel]

Let me preface this by saying I'm hardly what you'd call new to

photography in general, but I am very new to digital SLRs, and my high

school photography classes were a very long time ago.

 

At the moment, I'm interested in getting some good sports images, with

a firm effort towards sales and/or publication.

 

Five years ago I "upgraded", if that is the term :) from a low-end

Minolta 35mm with a decent set of lenses, to an Olympus

point-and-shoot digital. At the time, the majority of my photos were

intended for web use, so resolution was basically an nonissue.

Everything got crushed down to an 80kb compressed .jpg anyway. The P&S

simply saved me the steps of having film developed, then scanning the

photo.

 

With an eye toward taking "real" photos again, I switched to the Rebel

XT several months ago, and I'm quite happy with it. I've already taken

over 10K photos, a few of them even vaguely interesting to look at.

 

So far, I've been using the included 18-55mm, and a cheap Canon

75-300mm zoom. Functional and decent, but I had the chance to try a

Canon L-series 300mm IS, and was stunned at the improvement in image

quality. So for this weekends' event, I have arranged to use a shiny

new Canon 28-300 L-series with IS, with the possibility of buying if I

like it.

 

As an aside, how well does an IS lens work for sports? Fairly close

and quick action, like a tennis match.

 

Now, at this point I have predominantly used only the canned settings-

"no flash" and "sports" mainly. They've worked well, but I suspect

that I think that way simply because I don't yet know how much better

they could be.

 

I've been reading the manual, and trying a few things, but I tend to

work better when someone more knowledgeable just says to me "No, you

idiot. Do it *this* way!" So with that in mind, could someone suggest

a few useful tips? Or perhaps a "setting your EOS for Dummies"

tutorial? :)

 

I'm outdoors, so I've set the ISO low, and tried some white balance

settings according to the manual. I would prefer to have minimal blur

to the (fairly fast) action, so I've been leaning on shutter-priority.

AI-servo, RGB, pretty much the rest is as-default. I'm shooting

full-res JPEG, simply because I'd rather do less tweaking afterward,

and because I'm a total noob with regards to RAW.

 

Should I just stick with the canned settings?

Doc.

[zacker]

try posting your question here... there are a few pro sports shooteres here who'd be glad to help!

http://photography-on-the.net

 

-zacker-

[scott_milso]

I would set it Av and select the widest ap. this will give the fastest possible shutter speed for your lens, if you use shutter priority it will underexpose if the lens can't meet the ap that would be required for that shutter speed.

If the al servo focusing is fast enough then go with it.

The IS won't stop motion blur by the object only camera shake by you, still though if you need to handhold 300mm at 1/100 shutter then it would help.

Lastly, for sports, I'd imagine the 70-200mm or the 100-400 would be better than the 28-300.

[andrew_carlson]

I have a 20D so some of the buttons and things may be different but here's what I do for sports. I use a 70-200 f/2.8 L IS lens. I'm not a big fan of large zoom range lenses, I question a 28-300 as an extremely long zoom range. Most pro sports photogs I've talked to or seen use either a prime - the 300L or the 70-200L/IS L is definately worth it. I bought my L lens 'cause too many people said I'd make money with it and I have. I haven't broken even but I have made money with it. (Does $2 count? j/k)

 

For camera settings I only shoot manual settings. Raw+jpg/sm but thats a personal choice and only to make sure the camera doesn't do anything I wouldn't do. Image adjustment settings are basically 0. No + or - contrast, brightness, sharpness. I do that so the raw & jpg match. Otherwise DSLRs can blow out the highlights too easily.

 

I shoot ice hockey and for exposure I usually shot Tv and selected a 1/200 or faster shutter speed at ISO 800 with Servo-AF (not AI it forces the camera to think and thats bad) center focus point only selected. I said usually as I screwed up last time and shot icehockey on ISO 800 with Av of f/2.8 and was hitting shutter speeds 1/400 or faster. IS was off. Oops! Mistakes can be so educational!

 

JPG/Raw can be a non issue shoot what you're comfortable with, I only do it "just in case" really. DSLRs can, if set improperly, blow the highlights with post processing. Blown highlights are bad in ice hockey. For ice hockey I could probably get away with a 85mm prime rather than the zoom, and IS isn't required but an extra stop here or there can be helpful. For outdoor sports like football, soccer, and baseball 300mm is necessary just to reach from the side of the field to the players. If its little kids playing then filling the frame is even more difficult.

 

Good luck.

[mark u]

There's a lot of useful advice in this article:

 

http://www.photo.net/learn/sports/overview

 

You will need to adjust comments about focal length to use for the crop factor on your Rebel. You should also bear in mind that AF systems have improved since that was written, so AI Servo will work reasonably well. However, in situations where the article recommends MF, you will probably do better with focus set to One Shot to achieve pre-focus, and then switching the lens to MF if you can't conveniently hold the shutter release at half press - manual focus is quite tricky on a Rebel DSLR. Another alternative that takes a little practice is to adjust custom function 4 so that the * button controls focus - set the focus mode to AI Servo, and you can control whether the camera attempts to follow focus or holds the focus you've set by the use of the * button, independent of the shutter release. It's also well worth reading this explanation of how AI Servo works:

 

http://photonotes.org/other/ai-servo.html

 

I'd add a few other thoughts: you will get much better shots if you learn to time your shot with the peak of the action. If you see it in the viewfinder, it's not in the picture. For this reason, avoid the temptation to shoot bursts of shots in continuous mode. Your chances of capturing the peak of the action are sharply reduced - and would be still pretty low even if you were using a 1D Mk II at 8.5 fps. It requires practice, but then players practice timing their shots too...

 

Secondly, work out the critical speeds for the sport you're covering. 88 ft/sec is 60 mph, or almost exactly 1 inch per 1/1000th sec. A 150mph tennis serve therefore is moving at 2.5 in/thousandth. These calculations allow you to work out what shutter speeds you need to freeze action, or capture a desired amount of blur.

 

I'd re-emphasize the advice about faster lenses - they allow faster shutter speeds, and used wide open they make the player stand out from a distracting background by blurring the background.

 

So far as exposure is concerned, provided lighting is constant, you should aim to use M mode. That way you don't have the camera second guessing when your subject is dressed in all white one moment, and then next you're capturing a member of the opposition side wearing a dark strip, or when the background illumination changes dramatically because you're aiming in a different direction from shot to shot. Meter the exposure from a partial reading off a mid tone in the playing area, and leave it there. A quick check for blown highlights is all you otherwise need to do - reduce exposure if needed. You should be working with the lens wide open in most circumstances, and set the ISO to achieve the shutter speed you need.

 

Things get more tricky if the light is variable - part of the play area in deep shadow, or clouds moving across the sun. In those circumstances you'll have to choose between not shooting when the light drops, or using Av mode with the lens wide open (this will always give you the fastest shutter speed you can get at the ISO in use), with maybe a touch of exposure compensation reflecting the predominant colour of the players' clothing. You may need to use a higher ISO to get fast enough shutter speeds in the lower light levels.

 

Auto white balance is probably quite good, unless you're shooting indoors or under artificial light, when custom white balance will be best. Try to find something white under stadium playing area lighting to set the custom balance. Some stadium lighting can actually exhibit varying white balance over the 50/60Hz cycle of AC power. If white balance or exposure are going to be tricky, it is probably worth shooting in RAW and adjusting later on your PC.

 

So far as IS is concerned, if the shutter speeds you are using are some way above your handholding limit, the benefit will be marginal in terms of image sharpness. However, it can make things a little easier on your viewfinder image if you are holding a heavy lens for long periods. Obviously, handholding speeds are higher with longer focal lengths, so it tends to be more useful with those. You may find a monopod helps to reduce shake and helps by taking some of the weight, but you won't always be able to take one with you. If lens budget is an issue, pick a faster lens over one with IS. Be prepared to increase ISO to reduce camera shake and freeze motion.

 

If you are concentrating on a particular sport, it may be worth getting a fast prime lens or two with suitable focal lengths, rather than a slower zoom. For instance, the 85mm f/1.8 or 135mm f/2 will give you better results than a 70-200 f/2.8 if you don't need 200mm.

[g.richardson]

I would echo Scott?s comments to avoid shutter priority... I prefer to set my 20D (or any other camera) to Av mode and use the widest aperture when shooting ice hockey, this gives me the benefit of the fastest possible shutter speed that the lighting conditions will allow and a nice out-of-focus, hopefully distraction free background.

 

So try setting your camera to Av, widest aperture (which will still give excellent performance on the 28-300L) and AI-Servo AF. Have a play with the focusing points, I find for a distance subject not filling the frame the centre point works best but for close up action having all 9 working helps the camera to track.<div></div>