Hoping for some suggestions!

[gingerlynn3]

This is my first time ever photographing any type of sports. My brothers just started playing basketball and I was really hoping to get some really great pictures. I was using my Nikon D40 with a 55-200mm lens and manual settings. The shutter speed was somewhere around 125-150. I was in a gym so I had to make due with the lighting that was there. I set my ISO on HI 1. I seen a lot of digital noise in my pictures and I would like to see what settings would be best to use when photographing inside a gym. Thanks!

 

[fsquare]

It's going to be hard with that lens. You will need faster glass and a lower ISO setting. With that camera i wouldn't go above an 800 ISO...you might be pushing it with 1600 but you might be able to work some magic in post.

 

[gsgary]

Sorry but you have very little chance with the equipment you have, this is why sports photography is very expensive

 

[jwbryson1]

^^^^ + 1,000,000

Good luck shooting indoor sports with that equipment. For the type of photos you describe, you need a better camera body (not that there is anything wrong with a D40--I own one myself, in addition to other cameras), and much better glass.

Something like this to get really good indoor shots of sports:

2139 Nikon 70-200 2.8 Edif Afs-g Vr Lens

 

[Ryan L]

What you did is pretty much the best you are going to get with the current setup. High ISO even on professional equipment is to be expected when shooting low light situations. The difference is how well the camera, and you process it. You can use NR software, Lightroom fr example has NR features that work very well. My suggestion would be to get a 50mm 1.8 for now if you are going to continue shooting indoors. Shoot at 1.8, and adjust your ISO accordingly. BTW I saw you say you were at 1/125-1/150, I dont know what age you are shooting but am guessing middle school, I wouldnt shoot below 1/250-1/320. For most high school I try not to shoot below 1/400th.

 

[Kerbouchard]

Just to Parot onto what other's have said, you have chosen one of the more difficult/expensive things to try to photograph. Unfortunately, most Junior High and Highschool sports are very poorly lit and a kit lens with a D40 is going to struggle in those circumstances.

Without buying a better camera body and better lenses, you might have one option that would be a bit cheaper. Many times, sports at that level don't have the same restrictions as others. Is it possible for you to get on the floor? If so, a 50mm 1.8 might be all you need. Can you use flash? If so, you might even be able to get away with your kit lens.

There are relatively cheap options, but none of them involve taking pictures from the stands. If you can't get floor access, you are going to have a tough time indeed, even with pro gear.

 

[KmH]

Unfortunately, using a 'fast' f/1.8 50 mm lens with a wide open aperture entails having a shallow DOF.

I too will mention that shooting action sports inside generally requires camera and lens gear from the Prosumer gear level rather than the Consumer gear level, like the D40 and the 55-200 mm kit lens.

On a D40 and at a focal point distance of 20 feet the total DoF is only about 3.5 feet, with 1.59 ft (46%) of the DoF in front of the focus point and 1.89 ft (54%) behind the focus point, making it very difficult to nail the focus on moving action. DoF that shallow works ok for a unmoving subject, but unless the photographer has a fair amount of experience, forget about it.

At 40 feet to the point of focus it improves quite a bit to a total DoF of about 14.25 feet, with 5.9 ft (41%) of the DoF in front of the focus point and 8.4 ft (59%) behind the focus point.

But using a 50 mm lens, at 40 feet the subject scale in the image would be pretty small. That can be addressed post process by cropping to increase image scale if one doesn't mind spending the time.

If you have court side access, and they allow it, the least expensive solution is to use strobed light so you can use faster shutter speeds while also reducing the ISO value.