Am I going overboard or will this do the job?

[odiy33]

Ok, I have a nikon d3100, I'm aware that it's an entry level camera and plan on upgrading, but can't at the moment. I have had some successful wedding and engagement shoots with it thus far, but think I'm about to push it to the limit.

I recently got approved by a gymnastics gym to shoot action shots of all the classes for going on for a full week in November. More then anything. Now the gyms lighting isn't very good, I took some test shots yesterday with my nikon 200 mm lens (the cheap one), and at 1/60th at 800 iso, stills of equipment look fine, but know i would need faster shutter speed, so bumped it up to 1/130 and was just a tad too dim, pics of instructors looked a little too grainy as well.

I know i'm limited with my d3100, but have no choice in that matter, so i would like to rent a lens that will allow me to get more light into the lens as well as ability to zoom in atleast 200 mm.

So bottom line: "WHAT IS THE BEST LENS POSSIBLE THAT I CAN RENT THAT WILL WORK BEST IN THESE SITUATIONS AND BE COMPATIBLE (W/AUTOFOCUS AS WELL) ON A DX BODY.

Would this lens do the job?
[h=1]Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G AF-S ED VR II[/h]

 

[willis_927]

I don't think that even 1/130 will be fast enough. If you are shooting at 200mm you should be using atleast 1/200 of a shutter speed to prevent camera shake, plus the facts they will be moving fast.. My guess is that you will need to get a faster S.S speed yet. You are going to likely have to shoot wide open (at 2.8) and maybe even bump the ISO to 1600 to get your shutter speed high enough.

As far as the lens goes, that would proabably be a good choice.. depending on the size of the gym. Did your current 200mm give you the amount of reach you will need?

 

[odiy33]

Yes it did, 200mm was fine, another thing to note, i will be shoting mostly 4-8 yr olds, so they won't be moving too fast, hopefully i can find a way to not go higher then 800 iso. mostly balance beem, swinging from a rope, tumbles and what not. thanks for your help

 

[Infinite_Day]

I'd say the 70-200 2.8 is going to be your best bet. It has a larger max aperture and the VR will help you some as well. You might want to think about some flash as well if you're allowed to use it. I don't know if that would be possible though because it would be distracting to the gymnasts. You're probably going to need a faster shutter than you think with no flash.

 

[odiy33]

thanks , I think i'll try this lens out, probably my best shot from what i can see, and no I can't use a flash sadly. We'll see what happens, I would like them to be great, but I guess as long as they are decent, parents will be happy, seeing as they sit up in a little glass room where they can't shoot photos through the glass and don't have access to the floor, so none of them have any pictures of there little ones performing. Thanks again for the suggestions.

 

[Robin Usagani]

Do not underexpose no matter what. Raising your ISO up will always yield better result than under exposing shots. That is mostly where your noise is coming from, under exposed subject.

 

[Robin Usagani]

Your best bet is getting a fast prime like 85mm f/1.4.

 

[jaomul]

Would you be able to rent some gear. It seems you have been able to work with what you have so far without problems, if this one week thing is a once off you could probably rent a lens or body for this period for reasonable money

 

[tron]

70-300+flash

 

[shootermcgavin]

Yes it did, 200mm was fine, another thing to note, i will be shoting mostly 4-8 yr olds, so they won't be moving too fast, hopefully i can find a way to not go higher then 800 iso. mostly balance beem, swinging from a rope, tumbles and what not. thanks for your help

I don't think the age is going to matter much, those gyms are not that well lit. From first hand experience years ago with a similar camera it is incredibly hard to get what I consider good shots. 1/200th is going to be too slow to get crisp shots IMO. Anything under that and you're just relying on luck or still shots. The lens you mentioned would help greatly. I still think you'll be in the 800 ISO range at minimum but every gym is different I'm sure.

 

[Markw]

I'd say rent the 70-200/2.8VRII (or even the VRI would work if you can find one, really.), shoot at ISO800 and F/4 if possible. You may have to go down to F/3.5, or even 2.8 though, to get your shutter up past 1/200s. I find 1/500s to be efficient, even for fast-paced high school lacrosse games. So, try to get it as fast as possible. It's better to have a shallow DOF than to have a blurry, unusable, unfixable image.

Mark

 

[fotomanjack]

You might want to use a monopod to further reduce camera shake. Believe me, it wouldn't hurt!

 

[dakkon76]

Do you need a zoom? If 200mm is a good focal length for you, why not get a 200mm prime? Canon makes a 200mm f/2 ... not sure about Nikon, but surely they have an equivalent.