Basketball tournament with out strobing

BLD_007

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So my team plays today at the NAIA mens basketball national tournament. If you don't know, NAIA is NCAA but for smaller schools.

Anyway, I went yesterday for the opening. They improved the court lighting but I could not find a single AC plug. The arena uses these industrial strength power plugs. You know, the ones that you push in and twist.

Since I have a press pass "yep me, a press pass lol" I went on the court during halftime and sat next to the other photographers, one being from ESPN =P. He of course was using strobes mounted in the ceiling via pocket wizard.

For todays game I will go without strobes. For my 50d, what is the best best for ISO to SS ratio?

I'm guessing no more than 1600 so I can prevent motion blur with a higher SS.


I want to keep my noise down, like we all do.
 
We can't really tell you that, it will depend on the light that you have and the speed of the action you are shooting.

Maybe ISO 1600 will get you 1/250 and maybe that will be enough. Or maybe not.
 
I bet you will have to shot at ISO3200 noise is better than blur get your exposure right and you will not have that much noise, i had to shoot dog agility indoors a few months ago and they can shift i was at ISO3200 F2.8 and only got 1/320
 
someone on here told me that if you shoot in RAW and over expose your image by like a 1/3 stop then that really helps with noise ... Do you really need 1/320 for basketball? I shot some hockey the other night and I was at 1/400 and had a touch of blur ... is basketball as fast? I think that 1/250 should be more than plenty ... but then again what do I know, I'm a short white guy. :lmao:
 
someone on here told me that if you shoot in RAW and over expose your image by like a 1/3 stop then that really helps with noise ... Do you really need 1/320 for basketball? I shot some hockey the other night and I was at 1/400 and had a touch of blur ... is basketball as fast? I think that 1/250 should be more than plenty ... but then again what do I know, I'm a short white guy. :lmao:

He will have to be above 1/250 that is only just fast enough for hand holding a stationary object at 200mm, i would want 1/500 minimum with no flash
 
GENERAL RULE -

Don't use a shutter speed slower than the longest focal length on your lens. In this case you'll be using a 200mm lens and don't want a shutter speed slower than 1/200 of a second - in this case, 1/250
 
GENERAL RULE -

Don't use a shutter speed slower than the longest focal length on your lens. In this case you'll be using a 200mm lens and don't want a shutter speed slower than 1/200 of a second - in this case, 1/250

Is that to prevent blur?

So if I use my 24-70 I should not use anything less than 70?
 
What's the other guy shooting with....see if you can use some PW transmitters and tap into his!

~Michael~
 
GENERAL RULE -

Don't use a shutter speed slower than the longest focal length on your lens. In this case you'll be using a 200mm lens and don't want a shutter speed slower than 1/200 of a second - in this case, 1/250

Is that to prevent blur?

So if I use my 24-70 I should not use anything less than 70?

Yes but your subject will be running and turning fast so i would be trying for 1/640
 
"the rule" has nothing to do with the subject it has to do with avoiding camera shake and user movement. the longer lenses are heavy and to ensure as much stability as possible one uses a fast shutter speed. In fact the faster the shutter the sharper the image.

Then subject movement becomes involved and that will depend on the direction they are moving with regarding to the placement of the camera. Something coming directly at the camera can be "stop" with a slower shutter than something moving across the plane of the shutter.
 
GENERAL RULE -

Don't use a shutter speed slower than the longest focal length on your lens. In this case you'll be using a 200mm lens and don't want a shutter speed slower than 1/200 of a second - in this case, 1/250

Is that to prevent blur?

So if I use my 24-70 I should not use anything less than 70?

It's to prevent blur form handshake as you hold the lens and camera and its onyl a rough guide number. For moving subject, as said, you need to be a lot faster still to freeze the motion.
 
GENERAL RULE -

Don't use a shutter speed slower than the longest focal length on your lens. In this case you'll be using a 200mm lens and don't want a shutter speed slower than 1/200 of a second - in this case, 1/250

Is that to prevent blur?

So if I use my 24-70 I should not use anything less than 70?
+1 to what Overread said. That general rule is to prevent camera shake and you'll need even more shutter speed to stop player and ball motion.

Shooting sports requires some of the most capable (and costly) camera equipment made.

You will likely have to deeply crop any images you make at the 70 mm focal length to get any subject scale, unless the action you're shooting is right in front of you.
 
someone on here told me that if you shoot in RAW and over expose your image by like a 1/3 stop then that really helps with noise ... Do you really need 1/320 for basketball? I shot some hockey the other night and I was at 1/400 and had a touch of blur ... is basketball as fast? I think that 1/250 should be more than plenty ... but then again what do I know, I'm a short white guy. :lmao:

I've shot a lot of youth basketball (9 and 10 year olds) under the net, and even at 1/500 and 1/640 the fastest action is not frozen. I'm sure the action is more intense at the collegiate level.

The season is over now, but I shot at no lower than ISO 1600 regardless of the gym. One gym had excellent lighting (relatively speaking), and I was able to use ISO 1600, 1/640 @ f/2 consistently, which stopped about 95% of the action. Another gym I was forced to shoot at ISO 3200, and with the inconsistent lighting in that gym sometimes the fastest shutter speed I could get was 1/250, other times I could get 1/500 to 1/1000.

Bottom line: I wouldn't shoot below 1/500 for any sport if possible. If it means more noise in the photo (higher ISO) then do it. It's either that or blurry shots.
 

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