I am an amateur photographer and own a Canon 20D camera. I have successfully taken numerous outdoor sports photography shots and am trying to take indoor shots. I have purchased a Sigma 70-200mm lens and tried taking indoor shots on the sports setting unsuccessfully. I would appreciate any advice on how to achieve this. The lighting in the gym is poor.
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shooting indoor sports photo with no flash
- Thread starter terimac
- Start date
Hi there, I dont know much about the 20D, i have a 50 myself but I do take pictures of indoor horse sport and use a sigma 70-200mm lens as often as not but it is a 2.8 version which was as fast as I could afford. to be honest if i couldnt get the aperture that wide I would have real trouble I think. Anyway I keep mine set to tv generally and tend to play with the shutter speed because on my mine if i put the ISO up to high the images get quite noisy.
but here are a couple
but here are a couple
IainD
Senior Member
I agree that the problem is most likely that the lens is too slow for your needs. f2.8 is a good plan, and probable essential if you can't use a flash. How hight will the 20D ISO go? Noise will be the problem then.
You won't want to hear this, but a good really high ISO body might be the answer, but even then will need top glass.
I don't know Canon well, but the Nikon D700 is great for low light, and if money is no object, the Nikon D3s.
Sorry to sound like a Nikon junkie!!
Cheers,
IainD
You won't want to hear this, but a good really high ISO body might be the answer, but even then will need top glass.
I don't know Canon well, but the Nikon D700 is great for low light, and if money is no object, the Nikon D3s.
Sorry to sound like a Nikon junkie!!
Cheers,
IainD
NetMage
Senior Member
You should probably post some samples or at least what you see as wrong with the pictures you have taken. Also, what sport, and how far away are you?
Generally, you want the best high ISO camera you can get, but with high speed as well - so Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 7D, Canon 50D are probably what you need, followed by 70-200/2.8 lens.
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Generally, you want the best high ISO camera you can get, but with high speed as well - so Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 7D, Canon 50D are probably what you need, followed by 70-200/2.8 lens.
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EOS 50D, 20D, 10D, 630, A-1, FZ28, SD1000
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What you are trying to do is just about the most difficult type photography!
Your lens is as good as you can get, unless it's a sport where you can get really close to the "action" and then you might find that a 50mm f/1.4 or 85mm f/1.8 will give you a bit more brightness.
I agree that you should tell us what sport(s) you are trying to get pix of...and post a few examples of your failed efforts so that we can see what settings you used (be sure to not strip the EXIF data).
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Charlie Davis
Nikon 5700, Sony R1, Nikon D50, Nikon D300
HomePage: http://www.1derful.info
"If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin."
-Samuel Adams, 1776
Cailean Gallimore
Veteran Member
It's not going to work with your current setup. New camera, new lens.
Guidenet
Forum Pro
I assume you don't really want to buy a new camera and lens. Besides that Sigma is f/2.8 and fine.
The 20D isn't that bad at high ISO. Here's what I'd do. I'd shoot RAW to give yourself some overhead. I'd try it at ISO 1600. I'd get a monopod.
I'd take a few test shots and see what the fastest shutter speed I could get was at f/2.8. Even underexposing a couple of stops, I'd keep edging that shutter speed up looking for a compromise between just fast enough and underexposure. Let it underexpose.
If all that works out, I'd put the camera on the monopod and set this all manually. I'd set frame rates at the fastest level. I'd try to time things so the ball is at the point of impact and I'd machine gun the frame rates.
I'd go through and pull the keepers and trash all the losers. With the keepers shot in RAW, I'd bring them out during the processing part. Memory is cheap. Shoot tons. Shoot RAW. Bring them back in the RAW editor. Judiciously use dodge to lighten key things like the faces, hands and the ball. The contrast with the underexposed background might look good. Push saturation a bit because you lose a lot underexposing that much.
This would be twice as hard if you shoot JPeg. It's going to take some experimentation, but I think I could be successful with that kit of yours.
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Cheers, Craig
Equipment in Plan via Profile
ARShutterbug
Veteran Member
What exactly is the problem? Focusing? Shutter speed blur? Image noise?
Are you using an Idiot Mode? If you have the camera in the Sports Idiot Mode, that can cause several problems. Use the manual exposure mode.
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http://www.alexanderrogge.net/arshutterbug.html
Are you using an Idiot Mode? If you have the camera in the Sports Idiot Mode, that can cause several problems. Use the manual exposure mode.
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http://www.alexanderrogge.net/arshutterbug.html
With your 70-200mm lens, you're going to be mostly at the wide end at that distance. A good 2nd lens, if you can afford it, would be a bright 50mm lens (f/1.4)...that will allow shorter exposure times.
You got good advice from Craig and Alexander. I'll add that you should get a good NR program and learn to use it...you'll find it amazing and will be able to squelch the noise at high sensitivity (ISO) settings.
Absolutely, get a monopod!
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Charlie Davis
Nikon 5700, Sony R1, Nikon D50, Nikon D300
HomePage: http://www.1derful.info
"If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin."
-Samuel Adams, 1776
Well,
You've got some good advice and some so-so advice.
I shot volleyball with the 20d for a few years before upgrading the body. You're going to have a tough go of it with a 2.8 lens though. You'll have to max the ISO out at 3200 ("H" setting on the 20d) - if lighting is good that will get you 1/400. If it's really poor, you're SOL.
I would never shoot monopod indoors - it's too restrictive because of the arc you need to cover. Definitely hand-hold.
Here are the settings:
1) Set custom WB - manual will tell you how
2) set to manual exposure
3) set aperture to 2.8, ISO to 3200 ("H"), shutter to 1/400
4) set focus point to center point only
5) set focus mode to ai-servo and burst mode on
6) take some test shots - if the FACES (not uniforms) are underexposed, drop shutter speed until they look good.
Ideally I'd recommend the 85mm 1.8 - it's the lens I used with the 20d. Shooting with a crop body is tough - 85mm can be very tight but the challenge with 50mm lenses is focus accuracy. After 15 feet you'll get a lot of missed focus - then when you crop down the shot won't be very sharp. And at iso 3200 on the 20d you don't want to crop much at all.
As mentioned you'll need noise reduction software. I use Noiseware.
You've got some good advice and some so-so advice.
I shot volleyball with the 20d for a few years before upgrading the body. You're going to have a tough go of it with a 2.8 lens though. You'll have to max the ISO out at 3200 ("H" setting on the 20d) - if lighting is good that will get you 1/400. If it's really poor, you're SOL.
I would never shoot monopod indoors - it's too restrictive because of the arc you need to cover. Definitely hand-hold.
Here are the settings:
1) Set custom WB - manual will tell you how
2) set to manual exposure
3) set aperture to 2.8, ISO to 3200 ("H"), shutter to 1/400
4) set focus point to center point only
5) set focus mode to ai-servo and burst mode on
6) take some test shots - if the FACES (not uniforms) are underexposed, drop shutter speed until they look good.
Ideally I'd recommend the 85mm 1.8 - it's the lens I used with the 20d. Shooting with a crop body is tough - 85mm can be very tight but the challenge with 50mm lenses is focus accuracy. After 15 feet you'll get a lot of missed focus - then when you crop down the shot won't be very sharp. And at iso 3200 on the 20d you don't want to crop much at all.
As mentioned you'll need noise reduction software. I use Noiseware.
most lighting in gyms is poor, that's why they invented f1.2 f1.4, f1.8 lens !
you are going to need a larger aperture lens for indoor sports
Conrad Birdie
Veteran Member
You are going to have to kick your ISO way up to be able to increase your shutter speeds. That will interject some noise, but that can be removed in post processing.
The only other way I know of, is a faster lens. Indoor sports photography without a strobe or flash is tough to say the least, unless you are willing to pay for a very fast lens.
Good luck.
Conrad
'Aspire to inspire before you expire'.
The only other way I know of, is a faster lens. Indoor sports photography without a strobe or flash is tough to say the least, unless you are willing to pay for a very fast lens.
Good luck.
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Conrad
'Aspire to inspire before you expire'.
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