Unitec basketball courts

[creepdontsleep]

Was at my mates basketball game at Unitec..

Here's a few shots from the night.


http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n117/kidtimmy/DSC00064.jpg
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n117/kidtimmy/DSC00065.jpg
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n117/kidtimmy/DSC00107.jpg

Feedback is welcome :)

[talan]

They are all blurry. It's hard to shoot due to low light and so much movement. Next time try shooting with apeture wide open, high ISO to get faster shutter speeds :)

[Moppie]

I shot quite a few BB games a couple of years ago at the ASB center and the North Shore Events center.

You need a minimum of 1/500th shutter speed if you want any hope of stopping the players movement, and even that sometimes isn't enough.
You also need to shoot between F2.8 and F4 to get enough DOF,
This means high ISO, I shot at either 1600 or 3200.
The only other option is flash, but you still need to let enough ambient light in unless you just want bright fashed snap shots.

A decent length lens helps as well, a 70-200 2.8 is ideal, as you need to get in tight on the players.

[Redal]

I like the panning shot in the third image.

To freeze the action what i would do is push your ISO to 1600, SS at 1/320 and F1.4.
And sit with your back to the wall , and as close to the hoop as you can safely get.
I find using CWB helps with the cycling lights.

50mm lens is a good starter lens for Basketball

http://redal.smugmug.com/photos/66213941_RS8ov-XL.jpg

Allan

[Moppie]

I can't think of a single 50mm lens that will reliably and consistantly focus fast enough for sports use.
If your happy to pre focus and let the action come to you it could work, but is going to be a lot of work, with a lot of hit and miss.

Shooting F1.4 is going to mean a VERY shallow DOF. IMO far to shallow to be useable on something as slow as a 50mm lens.

[Redal]

Moppie ,
looks like we have to agree to disagree about the 50mm for Basketball :)
I used the el cheapo Canon 50mmf1.8 II ( cost me about $90) for about a season and a half while covering the Hawks in Napier.
Had about 80% keepers , probably 10% were of umpires backsides who would like to stand in front of me.
I later went for the 85mmf1.8 , and used a 200mmf 1.8. Both have smaller DOF but i still got great results with both.

[talan]

I kind of have to agree with Moppie. A few months ago I was at a Pukekohe track day photographing cars racing with my 50mm f/1.8 II and found most of the photos were throwaway due to a lot of them being out of focus due to the super slow focusing of the 50mm. I have had better results shooting panning/movement shots with my kit 18-55mm EF-S kit lens. The 50mm f/1.8 is a great lens for the money, but just not great for anything moving IMHO.

[Redal]

Looks like we have to put it down to the bodies then, a 1 series Vs Other

[Moppie]

Moppie ,
looks like we have to agree to disagree about the 50mm for Basketball :)
I used the el cheapo Canon 50mmf1.8 II ( cost me about $90) for about a season and a half while covering the Hawks in Napier.
Had about 80% keepers , probably 10% were of umpires backsides who would like to stand in front of me.
I later went for the 85mmf1.8 , and used a 200mmf 1.8. Both have smaller DOF but i still got great results with both.


I did try my 50, for about 10 minutes.
I shot 4 or 5 of the Auckland games, but quite when told I would be paid if images were used and then wasn't when they were.

The 50 was just to slow to focus, and to inaccurate. A nice 1 series would help a lot, especially if your prepared to prefocus.
I notice you shot the example above at F2.2, and if you look closely there is only just enough DOF.

I shot most of the games with a 70-200 2.8, at F2.8-F4 depending on the light in the court. Some of the Auckland courts are well lite, some are not.

50mm is a nice lenghth for shooting under the hoop though, I can see why you would want to use one. The 70-200 was just a little to long, but it did let me get great down court shots that a 50 would be to short for.

To give you some idea how much better the 1 series cameras are at focusing, I was shooting to next someone who used a crappy old 75-300 Canon his 1D MKII. It worked quite well for him, and he got lots of keeps. On my 30D the same lens would not focus in the low light of the court.

[talan]

I always thought focusing was in the lens not the body.

I learned something today! :)

[Moppie]

I always thought focusing was in the lens not the body.

I learned something today! :)


Its a combination of both.

In the Canon and later model Nikon systems it is about 50/50 body and lens.
They both work together as the Lens does the physical focusing (it has the focus motor, and controls it) while the body has the focus points and tells the lens if something is in focus or not (big over simplification).

Some of the Nikon, and Pentax (now sony) stuff is completely body driven. The lens is dumb, and doesn't even have its own focus motor, instead a drive peg sticks out from the body.
It is why some Nikon and Pentax/Sony body will not work with older lenses, but soe bodys will. Generally the lower spec bodies do not have a built in focus motor for dumb lenses.