kickboxing fight tomorrow....advice!!

[shawnxstl]

Ok...I'm a little confused as to what I should do here.

Here's the situation:

Lighting *should* be decent...but maybe very low light. (take both into account).

I don't want a lot of motion blur. The last fight, i took 250 pictures. Not one was a keeper because of my settings...(low iso + low shutter speed = bad/noob mistake).
EXAMPLES BELOW****


Equipment:
Nikon D50
-----18-250mm 3.5-6.4
-----70-300mm 4-5.6
-----Speedlight SB-600

Canon 40D
-----28-135mm 3.5-5.6

*tripod*


Now, I've heard I can up the ISO to 3200 on the canon...but I don't really want to resort to that due to the noise that would most likely be there. I want ISO to stay relatively low. I'm thinking about just using the nikon...Although it's lesser quality than the 40D, I think the flash will make up for it (i don't think the canon is going to do very well...maybe im wrong.)

Rough idea for now: (using the nikon)
ISO- Wouldn't like to be TOO high...I'm thinking 800 or less?
SS- Will decide when I actually see the lighting in the place.
AP- Wide open
Flash - Yes

Suggestions?

****EXAMPLES OF PREVIOUS FIGHT:

Rebel / kit lens / no flash / forgot exact settings.


EDIT: maybe shooting in RAW+JPEG?

 

[SrBiscuit]

im sure more/better advice will be along shortly, but def up that shutter speed (as you've already stated), and maybe open the ap?
i've recently shot an MMA event, and the next one i go to im going to try doing some shot with burst mode...this might allow for not only getting the throw of the punch, but the contact and follow through as well.

post results, im a big fan of mma and kb'ing.

biscuit

 

[RyanLilly]

I think that you should use the 40D.
Reasons:
1.Very good High ISO performance, A grainy photo is better than no photo.
2. 6.5 fps, you wont use it a lot but its really nice when you do.

You need much faster shutter speeds, so don't worry about the ISO, I commonly shoot at 1600, on my 20D, and with the 40D, its even better. 1600, over 800 could make the difference between 1/200th and 1/400th, which is significant in your situation.

Hopefully Keith will pop in on this thread, He shoots MMA cage fight, and should be able to give you specific pointers.

 

[RyanLilly]

Well now that I think about it the D50 does have a max sync speed of 1/500, so it would be a good choice for using flash. I would bring both, you never know what will come up.

 

[passerby]

Your 1st picture has blurry spectators so visible therefore you yourself moved. The 2nd one is a bit better, firmer holding the camera. I think a light monopod would be a great addition here. Without flash ISO 1600 is probably a must since your lenses are slow.

 

[RubyMagic]

The lighting there doesnt look bad enough to use 1600...

I still reccommend using the canon though. It is geared more for action photography than the D50.

 

[shawnxstl]

I plan on bringing both anyway.
The first fight i went to was reeeeallly dark. The second (the ones in the pictures) was lighter. So you just never really know until you get there.

I'm going to bring the tripod with me and during the first few fights, test out both cameras and different settings to see what comes out.

And biscuit, i already said that ap is going to be open as much as possible

 

[JerryPH]

For action, you need a shutter speed of 1/500th or faster. Your exact ISO setting should be... as high as you need to get it to go to get the pic. If that means 1600, it means 1600.

You cannot unblur a pic, but you can remove quite a lot of noise. Shoot RAW, it will give you the most latitude fro adjusting exposure and white balance as well. Of course a nice 30-50 or 85MM lens that could do F/1.4 would be the kicker.

 

[shawnxstl]

Just got back.
Shot with the 40D most of the time at ISO 1600 and 1/80 or 1/100 for the shutter speed. I really like the way they were looking on camera. I'll upload some soon.

On a side note:
-Both the friends I was there for won their fights.
-Quite a few knockouts throughout the night.
-No fights in the audience.

all in all, it was a good night.

 

[iriairi]

Look forward to seeing the pix when you post them.

 

[anett]

first... sorry for my bad english. hope you understand.
i have 40D with the 17-85mm lens.

here you can see some pictures from the kickbox-fight-night in hanau (germany)

exif-datas: 1/60 sek, f/5.0, ISO 400, 44mm

maybe the datas can help you for the next time... ?

 

[shawnxstl]

Here are some of them resized....

IF ANYONE IS GOOD IN PHOTOSHOP, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS. Some of them look flat but i think some adjustments in photoshop could really help these.

EDIT: I guess it'd help to post the pictures...haha. They're thumbnails because there is a lot of them.

 

[Alfred D.]

If you want 'm to be edited this size is far too small.

Better stick the full-size versions in a folder and upload that via podmailing.com/ (FREE; unlimited file size) to your own eMail address, open the eMail, copy the link, and post it here.