Help with indoor, no flash, high speed settings

[KW Ladner]

My daughter competes in Winter Guard and it is always in a high school gymnasium. The situation / problem is that I am not allowed to use flash and in order to stop frame the twirling sabers, rifles and flags, I have to increase the shutter speed. Now, in order to achieve the correct exposure, I need to increase ISO to around 3200, but then I have to much noise. Also this is with a Pentax DAL 55-200 lens.
Any ideas would great.

 

[tirediron]

Three options: Use a flash and hope you don't get tossed out, buy a faster lens (f2.8 or faster), or get a body with better high-ISO ability. Sorry, but that's all you can do. You need 'X' amount of light on your sensor, and since you need a minimum shutter speed of (I'm estimating) 1/125, than you have to approach by either supplying more light (flash), admitting more light (faster lens) or making better use of the light that is there (higher ISO). Have you tried making a specific request to be allowed to use flash?

 

[Overread]

You don't always have to buy - remember you can rent gear. It's not dirt cheap, but it is a lot cheaper than buying brand new gear for the event (though I'd advise at least a day or two extra before the event to get used to the new gear - glass and/or camera body it takes a little time to get used to and you don't want to be experimenting on the night).

 

[tirediron]

You don't always have to buy - remember you can rent gear. It's not dirt cheap, but it is a lot cheaper than buying brand new gear for the event (though I'd advise at least a day or two extra before the event to get used to the new gear - glass and/or camera body it takes a little time to get used to and you don't want to be experimenting on the night).

Excellent point; as well, consider used lenses. Especially the older Pentax stuff which can be found dirt-cheap. They used to make some really sweet glass which you can now pick up for a song, often with a free ME Super or K1000 thrown in!