More pics from my sons hockey game, was the ISO to high

brian87gt · Feb 22, 2009

In some of the pics the colors seem a little "washed out" I had the App set at 5.6, and I had the ISo aet at high, it's the next setting after 1600 on my camera. Shooting in a dark rink sucks, if I dropped the ISO, the FPS dropped with it.

NateWagner · Feb 22, 2009

well, the ISO is quite high... It would be interesting to see what these would look like with a bit of noise work.

Apex · Feb 22, 2009

I think in your situation you did very well. Had you not upped the ISO, they would be blurry beyond recognition.

brian87gt · Feb 22, 2009

How do you work with the noise? thanks

AlexColeman · Feb 22, 2009

Way too high, you are going to need a fast lens for acceptable quality under these condotions.

sultan · Feb 22, 2009

What lens and body did you use? What shutter speed did you get for each shot?

brian87gt · Feb 22, 2009

sultan said:
What lens and body did you use? What shutter speed did you get for each shot?

55-200 lens, f4-5.6. The shutter speed varied, 1/640, 1/800, all were over 1/500. The camera is a D60.

fiveoboy01 · Feb 22, 2009

Well they don't look too bad considering you're at 3200 ISO.

I have the same body as you... The D60 is not what I'd call a high-ISO performer :lol:

What was the focal length on the pictures?

I'd shoot in manual, try not to zoom in all the way if you can help it and open the aperture up all the way.... Try slower shutter speeds, of course too slow and you will end up with a blurry image....

Really what you need is a faster lens with a larger(numerically lower) aperture. Indoor sports are tough to shoot, due to the(usually) poor lighting.

There is noise reduction software out there, I'm not familliar with it.

Photoshop also does noise reduction, but I've never used it. I basically stay at 800 ISO or below with the D60... Otherwise the noise is just too much of a problem.

sultan · Feb 22, 2009

For shots #1, 3, 4, and 5, ISO 1600 would have sufficed I think. However yeah, the main problem is that an f/5.6 lens is too slow for indoor sports shooting. Really you need a 70-200 f/2.8 for sports, but they ere quite expensive. Maybe start saving up.

Now as for images you've got here, try running them through a program like Noise Ninja. I've found that NN gets rid of most of the noise without losing too much detail. It works much better than the camera's noise reduction.

Katier · Feb 22, 2009

whilst I agree that a faster lens would be nice given the fast paced nature of the sport I think it wouldn't be practical to close the aperture much more due to depth of field issues. This kind of shooting is allways going to be tricky and I feel you did a very good job all things considering.

sultan · Feb 22, 2009

Yeah, it's a dilemma whether you should stop down for focus insurance or shoot wide open for speed and low ISO. Unless you've got a D3 or 1D MkIII, with a 70-200 f/2.8, you'll have to make sacrifices. I think the OP did fairly well given the equipment he/she has. The timing and composition are fairly good (you can't get too picky with composition in sports because the subject keeps on moving).

For sports, I'll have to make a concession for my signature; the camera can be a problem for sports. But if you've got good equipment, and your photos still suck, than a better camera won't help. Example: If you suck with a D300 and 70-200, than a D3 and 600mm f/4 won't do anything to improve your photos. But you can certainly be excused with a little D60 and a slow lens.

mrodgers · Feb 22, 2009

So a question arises in my mind about Noise Ninja on fixing the noise on shots such as this....

What image types can be used in Noise Ninja and what image types can be outputted? I assume RAW can be opened and read, but what do you output to continue working on the file in another program? Does it export in TIFF or anything like that?

Village Idiot · Feb 23, 2009

Me said:
OP-Maybe you should do some reading and come back so you don't end up with a camera with an 18-55 f/4-5.6. You'd be quite pissed when you got home and found out all your shots were crap. I'm not saying that buying the correct equipment will make your shots any better, but it'll give you the tools to take great shots once you learn what you're doing.

from http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...to-gallery/155834-looking-first-camera-2.html

Village Idiot · Feb 23, 2009

sultan said:
For shots #1, 3, 4, and 5, ISO 1600 would have sufficed I think. However yeah, the main problem is that an f/5.6 lens is too slow for indoor sports shooting. Really you need a 70-200 f/2.8 for sports, but they ere quite expensive. Maybe start saving up.

Now as for images you've got here, try running them through a program like Noise Ninja. I've found that NN gets rid of most of the noise without losing too much detail. It works much better than the camera's noise reduction.

Used Sigma 70-200 f/2.8's are about $500. That was in my post in the other thread as well. :er: