EOS Rebel XSI settings for taking sports photos at night

[vwill]

I am using a Canon EOS Rebel XSI with a EFS 55-255 lens, photos I take of my son's high school football games in sport mode are great until the sun goes completly down, the photos after the sun goes down are blury. I am not sure what I need to configure, the ISO speed, the AF settings or both? Someone suggested I use a mono-pod and be sure to use the auto focus button for each shot.

 

[shadowlands]

ISO needs to be bumped up, after dark... ISO 1600, 3200, etc... digital noise will come into play.
The mentioned lens may be f5.6 on the long end? If so, that's pushing it.
If you can mess with something f1.8 or f2.8, it would be a great start.

 

[JerryLove]

Cameras capture light.

To take shots without blur, the shutter has to move fast (less light).
In the day: there's plenty so it's not a problem. But at night it is harder.

So the camera responds by slowing the shutter, to let in more light. But that results in motion blur.

The most effective way to improve this is to switch to a lens that collects more light. f/2.8 (which is the lowest I've seen for zooms), or even see if you can work with a prime lens and move down to f/1.4 or f/1.2.

 

[Bobby Ironsights]

You're using a slow camera with a slow lens.

Everything Jerrylove said, plus, you need more light from the field lights or a better lens, or a camera that's more sensitive to light. A better lens would help, but cost a fair bit of money, a new camera would be even better than a new lens (but would still cost a fair bit of money)., as the camera you have only goes up to ISO 1600 That's not very sensitive to low light.. A new canon rebel T5i goes up to ISO 25,600 for comparison

You may want to try a tripod or monopod first, and see if that doesn't help a bit by reducing the blur from camera shake, and can be gotten for 30 bucks or so. I suspect it won't help alot, but it's worth a try.

If you can't afford a new camera or lens, you might be out of luck, and have to just put the camera away after it gets too dark.

 

[Derrel]

Well, if you can get reasonably close to the field, at ISO 1600 you could probably manage a shutter speed of 1/350 to 1/500 second at f/1.8 with a fast, short telephoto lens like the Canon 85mm f/1.8 EF lens. It is a lightweight, SHARP, fast-focusing moderately long telephoto lens. Not sure what position he plays; receiver, running back often "come open" pretty close to the sidelines and end-zone areas so if you are say, right down by where the track meets the corner of the endzone, with an 85mm lens, you can get shots of TD passes and TD runs clear over to the OTHER side of the field. At one time, an f/1.8 lens was considered extraordinarily fast; even today, it is the second-fastest telephoto lens most people will ever own.

The real problem is the limited ISO of 1600 AND the slow f/5.6 limit of the lens you have. The 85mm f/1.8 is my recommendation for all beginner and intermediates who want a lens for LOW-light, distance work. It is the ***best*** overall value you can get in terms of what it brings to the table for the money spent. Your camera cannot be cropped a lot, so the 85mm length makes it worth the $400 or so to buy an 85/1.8. It is also NOT too long, so you can "find the action", and at longer distances of say 50 to 150 feet it is SHARP, and the focusing is good, and fast. It's not a 300/2.8 or 400/2.8, but you're not a pro sports shooter. A lot of hardcore, experienced shooters suggest longer, $7,999 lenses, but they forget how impossible that kind of lens is to use for a beginner or intermediate shooter used to a 20-ounce lens.

 

[imagemaker46]

All the suggestions made are accurate. Trying to shoot night games is a challenge even with good light. I typically shoot football under the lights between 2500-4000iso 800th 3.2 I am also using gear that can handle the higher iso well. It will always be difficult for you to work with the slower gear at night, not even a monopod will help the end product, which is stopping the action. While I understand it would be tough not shooting pictures of your son, if you just shoot until you have no more light, do that, and then just sit back and enjoy the game.