Taking sports shot with my Pentax K1000

[christopher_morris1]

I have been taking point and shoot pictures of hockey players at the

game with my Kodak 4800 digicam. I snap a few pics rinkside during

warmups. It's slow obviously and I'm getting frustrated with it even

with the burst mode. I can't afford an expensive digicam and can't

really justify something like a Canon Elan or Nikon N80/90 either.

But, I have this K1000 that we used to use before the digicam. What

would enable me to use it to get a few good sport photos? What kind

of lenses would I need? I'm thinking used and cost effective. I

don't really have any good lenses for it right now. I'm not a pro, I

just want to snap a few good pictures before the games of our

favorite players. A few good selections of the type of lenses I

should generally have would be good too. I've already got a 50mm.

Thanks.

[stephen hazelton]

The two factors that will control lens/ camera requirements are distance to the skaters and brightness of the arena, and you don't give any information on either.

 

First off, try the 50mm lens. Are you too far away with it? Too close? That should give you a good starting point.

 

How are the exposure times for it? Say, if you can shoot 400 speed film at f/2.8 or so, with 1/125 second, you should be in pretty good shape. If it's darker than that, it will take some work to get decent pictures.

 

If the focal length is about right, the 50mm would be the way to go. If lighting is limited, use the 50 f/1.4. If you're too close for it, then most of your lens choices will drop to f/2.8 speed. If you're too far way to use it, then your lenses will either drop to f/2.8 or slower, or get expensive.

 

If it will help, holding the camera in a normal horizontal position, to photograph a standing man, you'd need to be about 15' away with a 50mm lens, and can more or less scale that to other focal lengths. Turning the camera for vertical format, that would be about 10' away.

 

If the place is well lit, as for television broadcasts, it shouldn't be too hard to take photos there. If it's not so well lit, like maybe a school, then you could be in for a challenge.

[Jochen_S]

Tamron 70-210 f3.5, monopod, cheap 400 f6.3 -35$?, very fast film, patience and experience. If you can't afford the zoom go for a 135 f2.8 and maybe a teleconverter - 40$?-together.

[christopher_morris1]

It's really bright during warmups and I'm right along the glass. Distance to players would be 5 feet to maybe 100 feet at the most. I don't know if I will be able to swing a monopod to the NHL games but I could practice taking pictures of my daughter's hockey practice using one. Her practice wouldn't be as bright as the arena so there would be more of a challenge. Thanks for the advice.

[garver]

If you can't swing a monopod, I'd recommend not getting any long lenses (longer than 100mm or so..maybe 135), since you won't be able to get any good shots with them. Use your 50, or get something in the vicinity of a 100/2.8 (I got a K-mount 90/2.8 macro lens for $55, so I'm sure you can get a non-macro for half that if you're patient). Then just take the shots you can get when the players are close enough.

 

If something great happens on the other side of the rink, you're out of luck, but you would've been out of luck if you had been handholding a 300mm lens at f6.7 too. (I have a Pentax 200 f4, and they're cheap and nice, but I don't think I could handhold one at a hockey game and get any decent pictures - maybe someone can correct this impression).

[escu]

For long distances I would buy a Vivitar Series-1 70-210mm f/3.5 or Vivitar (not S-1) 75-205mm f/3.8 or even a Kiron 70-210mm f/4, used on eBay, for about $40 to $80 (K-mount for your K 1000). These are heavy and big lenses (large optical elements and a filter size of 67mm for the S-1, and 62mm for the other two), but because of this you will be able to shoot excellent pictures in f/3.5-4.5 at 200mm. This makes a big difference compared to shooting in f/8 as with most of 200mm zooms and single-focal lenses.

 

Put a 400ISO film in the camera and this is it. I recommend you the Konica Centuria 400, that will give you both saturated colors and beautifully skin tones for both white and black skins. This film is made only in Japan, and was EISA awarded last year for its quality. Just that's difficult to find it in the US. Still B&H has it and this is not the only seller for Konica films. Anyway, don't expect to find it in Wall Mart.

 

Finally, instead of a monopod (if still needed) I would use other systems, based on shoulder or left arm resting, or even on neck hanging, etc. I use such an alternative system with a 300mm zoom, for wildlife shoots, and it works just perfectly and is very quick to use too.

[Julio Fernandez]

Lens depends on distance. With an 80-200 you are in the ballpark. Use 800 or 1600 ASA film, holding the camera by hand (no tripod). Remember ice is very bright so maybe open up one diaphragm, or bracket up from the middle point exposure. You want the ice to look white, not 18 % gray. Use at least 1/250 exposure. Good luck.

[paul_quirk]

I'd load it up with some 800 film. The 50mm lens should work just fine. Take a reading off a player up close, and set your shutter speed and aperature with that and leave it (lighting's not likely to change in an arena). If they're action shots, go with a larger aperature, and set your shutter speed faster. I recommend taking the reading off the player up close first because the white ice will probably throw the meter off otherwise, making the players look too dark. You may wish to get a cheap, used 35-70mm zoom lens later to give you more control over how your subject is framed (though it won't be as bright as your 50mm, but you should be okay if you stick with 800 film).

[ivo_miesen]

Lot's depends on your knowledge of the play and the players. If you can predict where the action will be, prefocus on that area, and wait untill the action comes to your chosen spot.

Are you allowed to use a flash? If so, you can use fairly long lenses, since the flash will freeze the motion.

I've made quite a lot of pictures of speedskating (mainly packstyle).

 

Ivo