Drew - Suggestions for Sports Shooting

[morganfam7]

I don't know what happened to this post by Drew, but here it is again:

 

I have a Nikon D70 and almost purchased a Nikkor AF-S 70-300 mm VR lens

yesterday, but thought I should get some pro advice first.

 

I want if for shooting kids sports, flag football outside and basketball

inside.

 

My main questions are:

1) Is 300mm long enough or should I look at the 400mm?

2) Will the f/4.5 allow for adequate results in a basketball gym or for the

occasional night football game? (Or would a good flash attachment compensate for

lower gym lighting?)

 

3) I assume that the VR is worth the additional $, but should I consider

something else... i.e. Sigma?

 

Thanks,

 

Drew

 

--------------------------------

 

Drew, I'm a newbie shooting jr. high and high school sports with an old Canon

dslr (3 fps)and 50 mm f/1.8. I have to use an aperture of 2 or below with ISO

in the 800 or 1600 range in order to get my shutter speed high enough to stop

motion. My gym and the ones that we play in at other schools are that dark. I

don't see any way that f/4.5 is going to get you the photos you want. I may be

wrong, but it hardly seems possible. If I remember right, each move up on the f

stop numbers is one half of the light of the number below. I don't know about

flash, so I'm sure someone else will make a suggestion about that. I don't know

where you will be shooting from, but it seems that 300mm would be difficult to

get the angles you need. Could you go to the home gym and see just how far from

the basket you will be and whether you can get their facial expressions as they

jump for a shot near the basket? For 50mm and 85mm lenses, I need to be right

on the line at the corners or under the basket. Sometimes the first seat within

about 5 feet of the sidline works.

 

Friday night football, for the most part, was about the same as basketball in a

dark gym except that I needed more focal length. The 300mm focal length will be

great for football as long as you are on a really well lit field or it is a

daytime game. I think the lens of choice for sports is the 70-200 f/2.something L

 

Again, I'm a newbie, so take that into account. Now the real pros can give you

their advice.

 

Happy shooting!

[daverhaas]

Drew -

 

With the D70 any ISO above 400 is going to be somewhat noisy. Given that you're going to be shooting both indoors and outdoors I'd recommend the following:

 

1. Indoor basketball - f1.4 50mm Nikon (about $200.00) or f1.8 50 mm Nikon (about $100.00) (US Dollars) - Remember that you've got a 1.5 x factor - so your digital 50mm in effect becomes a 75mm. You might be able to use the 70-300 VR if you are allowed to use off camera flash in the gym. (There's a whole series of posts in this forum about that. )

 

2. Outdoor Football - 70-200 f2.8 VR zoom. The 2.8 should be fast enough to allow you to stop the action in either day or night / lighted games. Cost - $1300-$1700.00

 

3. VR - VR helps primarily when you are trying to use slow shutter speeds (1/60 or lower) to counter camera movement. I have found it to be usable at other speeds as well to counter unintended movement. However, it will not allow you to shoot at 1/500 at f/5.6 in a dim gymnasium. It doesn't alter the basic laws of photography (light is necessary for photo, shutter speed or flash is necessary to stop action)

 

Dave

[trunfio]

OK. Can I chime in here. Last night I shot 2 basketball games in a middle school gym. I

brought my fast zooms (70-200/2.8 and 17-55/2.8) on 2 cameras. Light was so bad that I

had to shoot my D300 at ISO 3200 and I got 1/200 at f/2.8. Not fast enough in my opinion.

In retrospect, I should have used my 85/1.4 and 50/1.4 only. I worked with flash for a while

but didn't like the harsh light.

[trunfio]

sportsshooter.com is a good resource.

[wilsontsoi]

Drew will most likely be fine with 70-300 f4.5-5.6 VR on D70 for outdoor daylight football. A 400mm is great for outdoor field sports like football, baseball, soccer, etc. in which a slow aperture of f5.6 is still doable in daytime. For night games, you'll most likely at least need f2.8 (f2 will be sweet,) crank up ISO, and may even still need help of a flash.

<p>

Indoor sports like basketball, volleyball, hockey, etc. are quite different in that light level is much, much lower that the former scenario, but fortunately you can get a lot closer to action (therefore longer focal lengths are not a necessity.) 2 routes I see you can go about which are to shoot available light with faster lenses (50 f1.4, 85 f1.4, etc.) & high ISO, or shoot with strobes (a f2.8 zoom is good for framing flexibility.) Which route you'll take depends on gyms' light level and permission to use flash.

<p>

As for VR/IS, it does not stopping motion. Faster shutter speed will. For sports, you can be frugal by skipping VR/IS, IMHO.

<p>

Lastly, indeed <a href="http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=4637">sportsshooter.com</a> is another good resource.<div></div>

[wilsontsoi]

...available light indoor...<div></div>

[wilsontsoi]

...off camera strobes...<div></div>

[chriscoscia]

You need F1.4 for indoor shots, but you can probably get close so 50mm should work well.

If you increase ISO too high the pics will be noisy.