Trying to take Sports pic w/Canon S2 IS

[mattr2]

Hi Everyone,
I have been trying to take Sports(Basketball games) w/my S2 IS. I know I prob need a faster shutterspeed. I have pics that turned out nice but a few were a little blurred. How can I post them to show every 1? It's prob a DOF problem or fstop for indoor. The players are about ten feet or so away. I turn the fstop down then my then the cam gets darker. Same w/shutter speed if I want to go 1/3200 it's like pitch black for indoors. My flash is limited distancewise. Any other ideas?? That'd B great. Thanks
Matt

[ktixx]

Hi Everyone,
I have been trying to take Sports(Basketball games) w/my S2 IS. I know I prob need a faster shutterspeed. I have pics that turned out nice but a few were a little blurred. How can I post them to show every 1? It's prob a DOF problem or fstop for indoor. The players are about ten feet or so away. I turn the fstop down then my then the cam gets darker. Same w/shutter speed if I want to go 1/3200 it's like pitch black for indoors. My flash is limited distancewise. Any other ideas?? That'd B great. Thanks
Matt
It is virually impossible to shoot 1/3200 inside. That shutter speed for outdoor, high noon shooting with very wide apertures and will definitely not work for indoors. What I would suggest is setting your camera to AV (aperture priority) then set your camera to the lowest possible f/stop (because of the smaller sensor size you will still get a lot of DOF) and of course turn your ISO up pretty high - you will want shutter speeds of 1/180 or faster to really stop motion. IS will not be useful in this situation because of motion.
To post pics on this site use an online photo storage site then click the image link in your post http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b255/Ktixx/DC%20Resource/icon.jpg and paste the URL.
Good Luck
Ken

[roxydog]

Hi Matt
A guy at Steves Forums had some luck using Tv mode-shutter set to 1/1600 with safety shift set to ON,ISO200,and probably f3.5(as most of his shots were zoomed)for indoor basketball.
He also mentions using the EVF not the LCD

http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=78183&forum_id=15
Cheers Dom

[Vich]

IS is helpful for action shots at high telephoto since vibration is magnified. In any case, it doesn't usually harm the shot, particularly short shutter speed shots.

The S2 doesn't manage higher ISO very well (ISO 200 is about tops without getting serious degradation). The normal wisdom for indoor sports is:

- Flash (if possible). External flash is desirable.
- Close-up if possible
- Wide aperture
- High ISO (whatever your camera will handle)
- Fast shutter (at least 1/500th)
- IS or tripod/monopod for telephoto use
- fast shutter release camera, pre-focus (half depress) for non-SLR cameras
- anticipation
- multiple frames
- panning is sometimes appropriate

Color balancing can be very difficult for basketball because of all the varied lighting. Black-n-White is a sure cure, but if you want color shots, learn about how to take consistant color balanced shots. If it's your kid, you may be able to get correct color readings for their uniform under controlled circumstances and go from there.

Sounded like blur was your main concern. If you only had a few blurry shots then you're doing very well already.