Canon 40D sports help - night football & gym sports

[chrisl]

AV 500
AP 2.8
ISO 1600
Bump the exposure up by 2 in PP

I do it all the time.
Your long lens won't cut it for speed and your short lens is too short except for basketball.

[pblv]

Hi,

I have the same problem. I've been taking pictures of soccer at day, and the pictures turned out quite good, i think. My equipment is:

Canon EO 350D with a Sigma 70-300mm 4-5,6 lense.

I'm new to this stuff, and normally, i'm just using the sports mode on the camera, which so far has given me som good pictures.

Last night, I was out taking pictures of a soccergame in the evening, only lightet by the stadiumlights.

The pictures where useless and totally blurry. I switched to the Manual mode on the camera, and set the ISO to 1/1600 or 1/800 (tried both), which gave me decent pictures, but not as good as in daylight.

Is there any other settings i should change, or is the camera just not good enough?

The pictures i like, are the ones where the person in focus is clear, and the background is extremly blurry/faded out.

Thanks

[Ray Schnoor]

Hi,

I have the same problem. I've been taking pictures of soccer at day, and the pictures turned out quite good, i think. My equipment is:

Canon EO 350D with a Sigma 70-300mm 4-5,6 lense.

I'm new to this stuff, and normally, i'm just using the sports mode on the camera, which so far has given me som good pictures.

Last night, I was out taking pictures of a soccergame in the evening, only lightet by the stadiumlights.

The pictures where useless and totally blurry. I switched to the Manual mode on the camera, and set the ISO to 1/1600 or 1/800 (tried both), which gave me decent pictures, but not as good as in daylight.

Is there any other settings i should change, or is the camera just not good enough?

The pictures i like, are the ones where the person in focus is clear, and the background is extremly blurry/faded out.

Thanks

The camera is fine, the lens is too slow. You need a faster lens(f/2.8) to take those photos at night under the lights.

Ray.

[adam75south]

The OP didn't ask "How do I get cool motion effects?"

It's when settings don't get the job done that "technique" takes over...but that's an entirely different subject...

yea you're right. lets just tell him it's impossible and NOT give any other suggestions in fear of going off topic. good thinkin.

the guy needs to take what he can get. as i stated earlier, crank up ISO, open up the aperture, and take what you can get. in most places you'll be lucky to squeeze out 1/250s even with f/2.8. working on pan technique with tripod or monopod would come in handy.... but then again, that's not his original question is it?

[pblv]

Hi Ray,

Thanks for the quick reply.

So, a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM would do the trick for me?

200 is maybe a bit to short for soccer, would a Canon Extender EF 2x II be ok, or would it make the lens to slow?

Thanks

[JTL]

yea you're right. lets just tell him it's impossible and NOT give any other suggestions in fear of going off topic. good thinkin.

Now you're just being silly. Silly, silly, silly.

I was just responding to your slow shutter speed blah blah which did not address the question and wouldn't work for the OPs situation, so excuse me for trying to keep some clarity...I'm sorry if that makes you uncomfortable. I agree that's it's a cool technique. Irrelevant and probably (and purposefully?) confusing to the OP, no doubt...based on the original question. But it sounded real cool. And, I'm well aware that the Internet sometimes brings out the need to offer contrarian opinions for some. Most say fast, so it's inevitable that some have to say slow. That's a real cool "technique" too.

And, specificaly addressing your last post, partially quoted above (which, BTW, was a little too much like a personal attack for my tastes and borderline inappropriate...this is this most civil site around, so why act with incivility which only elicits an uncivil response...maybe you felt defensive and feel the need to lash out at me...but that's O.K...as long as we keep it above board and try to show a little restraint...FYI, I'm sorry if I'm taking it the wrong way), unless you are isolating a single player, panning is useless for field/gym sports, unless the players all happen to moving in the same direction at the same speed...so unless you want to give the OP an entire (and accurate) description of when panning is appropriate and how to accomplish it, then how are you doing anything but providing a confusing set of answers for what is a very simple question? But, hey, it's the internet! What was I thinking?

But, do me a favor, would you? Next time someone asks you for directions, tell them about all of the cool ways they could travel...but don't tell them how to actually get there. That would be an example of real good thinkin'!

[Ray Schnoor]

Hi Ray,

Thanks for the quick reply.

So, a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM would do the trick for me?

200 is maybe a bit to short for soccer, would a Canon Extender EF 2x II be ok, or would it make the lens to slow?

Thanks

Not knowing how much light you will actually have, I can't say for sure if the 70-200 f/2.8 will fix it completely. It will, however, do a much better job than your 70-300 f/4-5.6 lens.

As to the 2x extender, you will lose 2 f-stops on your lens, effectively making your 70-200 f/2.8 lens a f/5.6 lens, which is just as slow as your current lens. You will just have to do a little more zooming with your feet.

Ray.

[D Thompson]

I knew you had a keen sense of humor! .

Thanks, it's probably the only sense I haven't lost half of thru the years!

Yeah, the white wine bit was just to be extra pretentious on my part! . I'm a big cranky PITA, I know...sorry...I know it comes across bad sometimes...but if people get a chuckle, well at least I can rationalize my behavior!

I know, you can't help it, after all - you're from NYC and don't even start about where I'm from

I don't think I've had a Miller Lite...this is a Bud Lite house...but if Miller Lite it is, then I'm buying (next time you're in NYC ).

Hey, Bud Lite ain't my first choice, but I'd have one as long as somebody else buys it!! If I do get back there I'll let you buy the first one as long as I can buy the 2nd one - deal? I got to go there in '95 & '97 when my daughter was still in dance school and the National Competition was there. Unfortunately that kept us busy most of the time, but did get to sightsee a little. Interesting place!

[RichNY]

JTL- Good to have another New Yorker watching my back while I was away

[JTL]

JTL- Good to have another New Yorker watching my back while I was away

Tru dat, my bro!