Sports photography under Floodlights

[SimpleSimonC]

I have a D500 and are currently using a Nikon 70-200 f2.8 lens. I am having massive iso issues creating far to much noise on the images rendering them totally useless. I use manaul mode, with the lens wide open at f2.8 at 1/800

Obviously and upgrade in equipment would help, but the cost of a D5 is a step too far to the moment.

Could anyone help or advise any camera settings that might improve my images enough to make them usable after using Lightroom and Photoshop.

I have absolutely no problems in normal light, and use a Nikon 70-400 f3.5 in manual mode.

 

[greenmanphoto]

Simon,

Without seeing examples of exactly what the problem(s) is/are, it's very hard to say how to help you. Without knowing more about the exact lighting conditions, it's very hard to say, as well. Just saying "sports under floodlights" isn't really enough to go by.

Sam

 

[JeffryZ]

Are you having to crop the images a lot? Are you using any noise reduction software on your images? What ISO are you using?

--
You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Wayne Gretzky.
http://www.pbase.com/jeffryz/galleries

 

[n057]

I have a D500 and are currently using a Nikon 70-200 f2.8 lens. I am having massive iso issues creating far to much noise on the images rendering them totally useless. I use manaul mode, with the lens wide open at f2.8 at 1/800

Let's see: D500, 70-200/2.8 @ f/2.8, 1/800s. "Massive ISO issues". Any number for those massive ISO issues?

Obviously and upgrade in equipment would help, but the cost of a D5 is a step too far to the moment.

Could anyone help or advise any camera settings that might improve my images enough to make them usable after using Lightroom and Photoshop.

I have absolutely no problems in normal light, and use a Nikon 70-400 f3.5 in manual mode.

"Normal light"? Do you mean daylight, sunlight?

Better yet, show us by posting an exemple image with full EXIF.


JC
Some cameras, some lenses, some computers

 

[LensOnSport]

Simon, this is tough to hear. I'm sorry for your situation. I'm a retired pro sports shooter and it's the one thing that kept me from pulling the trigger on a D500 - the low light in dark venues.

I assume you are f2.8 and nailing the exposure in-camera (so you’re definitely not lifting shadows in post, a big no-no for noise). And, you don't want to go to any slower on the shutter than you mentioned.

I understand noise reduction software differs greatly from program to program. You may find it more economical to investigate them and download a few trial versions to see how they fare. This could do the trick.

If a D5 is too much, consider a move to a D750. This would absolutely solve the problem. D750 can see in the dark. I have sold sports prints taken at ISO 12800 on a D750, it’s so good. After all, you have the lens for it already, (same one I had) the 70-200 f/2.8.

 

[Bill Ferris]

Sample images with EXIF intact?

 

[shipdriver]

Simon, this is tough to hear. I'm sorry for your situation. I'm a retired pro sports shooter and it's the one thing that kept me from pulling the trigger on a D500 - the low light in dark venues.

I assume you are f2.8 and nailing the exposure in-camera (so you’re definitely not lifting shadows in post, a big no-no for noise). And, you don't want to go to any slower on the shutter than you mentioned.

I understand noise reduction software differs greatly from program to program. You may find it more economical to investigate them and download a few trial versions to see how they fare. This could do the trick.

If a D5 is too much, consider a move to a D750. This would absolutely solve the problem. D750 can see in the dark. I have sold sports prints taken at ISO 12800 on a D750, it’s so good. After all, you have the lens for it already, (same one I had) the 70-200 f/2.8.

Right now is the indoor racing season (with attendant crappy lighting) and I am selling more images than ever running D500s with ISOs averaging around 13-14K using the 70-200/2.8 and 300/2.8. My workflow for indoor does involve DxO Prime Denoise for nearly every customer and publicly posted image, so it is more time consuming than the outdoor season workflow, although at those ISOs, I would be running D750 images through a denoiser as well. I think DxO synergizes particularly well and it works better than the other denoisers I've tried (Nik, Topaz, C1P, Lightroom) with the D500 because the noise grain is very fine to my eye. I seem to lose more detail denoising D750 images and I think the difference maybe the LPF on the D750, but I may be wrong.

 

[SimpleSimonC]

When I brought the D500, I was also given the option of a D750. Having looked at the camera reviews the D500 was the better sports camera.

I have my 70-200mm lens set wide open at f2.8 in manual mode for the whole of the tme it's being used. I dare not drop below 1/800 otherwise I will get action blur.

I wondered if there were any tricks on the camera settings I was missing.

Yesterday's game was great for the first half. But the second half's photos were at the usual shocking standard. I usually post between 100 and 150 shots of each game on the club website, yesterday I managed 91.

Since my post I have been looking at second hand D4's which might appear to help solve the problem, your opinion on this would be valued.

Also what noise reduction software would you suggest.

 

[SimpleSimonC]

Some of the images are cropped but not all. No noise reduction software is being used at all.

I am only trying to remove the noise by using Photoshop and/or Lightroom.

What noise reduction software would you suggest?

 

[SimpleSimonC]

I am more than willing to upload a RAW image with metadata attached can I do this if so how.

 

[SimpleSimonC]

When I brought the D500, I was also given the option of a D750. Having looked at the camera reviews the D500 was the better sports camera.

I have my 70-200mm lens set wide open at f2.8 in manual mode for the whole of the tme it's being used. I dare not drop below 1/800 otherwise I will get action blur.

I wondered if there were any tricks on the camera settings I was missing.

Yesterday's game was great for the first half. But the second half's photos were at the usual shocking standard. I usually post between 100 and 150 shots of each game on the club website, yesterday I managed 91.

Since my post I have been looking at second hand D4's which might appear to help solve the problem, your opinion on this would be valued.

Also what noise reduction software would you suggest.

 

[SimpleSimonC]

So in your opinion would a step up to a low shutter count D4 be an advantage or not.

To be honest I don't see any alternative, because I am assuming the D4 will handle the high ISO better than the newer D500, plus I wouldn't lose anything on the speed 10 FPS.

 

[shipdriver]

Some of the images are cropped but not all. No noise reduction software is being used at all.

I am only trying to remove the noise by using Photoshop and/or Lightroom.

What noise reduction software would you suggest?

I use DxO Photolab with Prime Denoise for denoising. I may have missed but what ISOs are you shooting at? That is a pretty critical piece of information when you are concerned with noise. Also, are you raising exposure in post at all?

 

[TN Args]

So in your opinion would a step up to a low shutter count D4 be an advantage or not.

To be honest I don't see any alternative, because I am assuming the D4 will handle the high ISO better than the newer D500, plus I wouldn't lose anything on the speed 10 FPS.

You will get about a 1 stop improvement.




Low light, High ISO

If you are getting 'shocking' results with a D500, a D4 will be '1 stop less shocking'. Is that the amount of improvement you are after?

A bit more info on your shooting settings would be useful. Try shooting in manual exposure 1/800 f/2.8 ISO 400 (or auto ISO with max 400 setting), and if the resultant images are dark, brighten them in post. You can brighten selectively if needed.

 

[n057]

I am more than willing to upload a RAW image with metadata attached can I do this if so how.

DPReview does not accept NEF (RAW) files, just GIF, JPG or PNG. I don't believe you can upload NEF to your club website either. You mention that some of the images are cropped, some not. I assume that you are getting straight uncropped JPG from the camera, can you try uploading one of them? You can later at least tell us what shutter speed, aperture and ISO you have used for that particular image.

To do so, look at this line that appears as you type a post:



Click on the next to last icon and you get this dropdown:



Click on "Insert image from your computer"

Follow the dialogs to grab a file on your disk.


JC
Some cameras, some lenses, some computers

 

[Bill Ferris]

I am more than willing to upload a RAW image with metadata attached can I do this if so how.

There is no need to upload a NEF. Use your image editing app to export a JPEG with EXIF and upload that.

 

[mgonda]

I routinely shoot my kids soccer games under the lights with D500 and 80-200/2.8 and 300/4 PF. I rarely go below 1/800 but will do so when using 300/4 down to 1/640 in attempt to keep the ISO at below 12800. If I'm panning the shot, then obviously the shutter speed is much lower and ISO a non issue.

Usually I set the auto ISO limit to 12800, if the field/event lighting has dark spots, and if all well lit to 6400. Shutter priority to 1/1000 down to 1/800.

I process all raw images using Capture 1 and do not use LR. That said, once done in raw, I often export to Nik Collections Define to reduce noise beyond C1. Nik plug ins are available for LR and PS so something to consider. Their sharpening tool is exceptional.

Hope this helps....

 

[Nikon33]

So in your opinion would a step up to a low shutter count D4 be an advantage or not.

To be honest I don't see any alternative, because I am assuming the D4 will handle the high ISO better than the newer D500, plus I wouldn't lose anything on the speed 10 FPS.

I have a D4, and I have had usable files at ISO 25600 and 51200. But it is an older camera.