Need help with lens and settings for basketball

deeky · Dec 13, 2015

Fulda! - Been in the area a lot, but I think actually through Fulda only once. Don't have much more to add other than howdy neighbor and yeah, gym lighting generally sucks, especially when half of the tubes aren't on, like in your shot.

One trick I have used (not a great option, but may help) is to shoot in RAW and then set my exposure comp to -1 stop. Then bring it back up in post. It will keep your shutter speeds a little faster. But then again, my old camera tops out at 1600 ISO, so I sometimes have to be a little creative to get ok results.

charchri4 · Dec 14, 2015

Thanks guys! Desert what do you mean by " And remember to catch the peak action if you go below 1/200." ?

beagle100 · Dec 16, 2015

yes, like others have indicated a 50-500 lens may not be the best "basketball" lens
look at something like the 85mm 1.8 - around $300 used for Canon, I don't know about Pentax

charchri4 · Dec 16, 2015

Copy that. I'm working on a deal on a 70-200 f2.8 so I may give it another go at some point. I don't actually care about basketball photos or have any kids that play I just wanted to learn how to shoot it and used my drumline kids as guinea pigs...

jcdeboever · Dec 16, 2015

If your not doing it in the future, don't waste money.

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charchri4 · Dec 17, 2015

Copy that but after last weekend I think I would get a lot of use out of it. I used the f1.7, 50mm on these with a lot of crop...

I didn't quite have the focus right on the top one but love the brother coming up and just had to use it. Wonderful lens by the way!!!

jcdeboever · Dec 17, 2015

charchri4 said:
Copy that but after last weekend I think I would get a lot of use out of it. I used the f1.7, 50mm on these with a lot of crop...

I didn't quite have the focus right on the top one but love the brother coming up and just had to use it. Wonderful lens by the way!!!

Is that the lens I gave you?

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charchri4 · Dec 17, 2015

Yep. When I got the 16-85mm f3.5 to f5.6 I thought that would be on the camera most of the time. But after dealing with this basket ball stuff in far better light than our sanctuary I knew what f5.6 would look like. So with what is in the bag and only one chance at a critical shot the 1.7 was the only thing I dared try.

What I didn't know until 20 seconds before they got in the tub was they turned on a couple of overhead work lights and I easily could have gone with more zoom. And of course my bag was on the other side of the room on stage behind my drum set ... and another lesson learned!

jcdeboever · Dec 17, 2015

I would like to see what that lens could do on your rig under normal, good lighting conditions. I am curious if it's sharper on a DSLR vs K1000.

charchri4 · Dec 17, 2015

Oh I think I can work that out!

BTW there is a method to my madness here I probably should have spelled out. I coach our drumline and we usually play at a couple basket ball games over the winter. With it in the same gym I figured it would not be much different than shooting a bb game except I know exactly how the play will unfold. LOL and it's a bit louder!

222630_8443162290_8838_n by Jim Stainer, on Flickr

216654_5108952290_8145_n by Jim Stainer, on Flickr

227774_6820092290_2190_n by Jim Stainer, on Flickr

beagle100 · Dec 19, 2015

charchri4 said:
Oh I think I can work that out!

BTW there is a method to my madness here I probably should have spelled out. I coach our drumline and we usually play at a couple basket ball games over the winter. With it in the same gym I figured it would not be much different than shooting a bb game except I know exactly how the play will unfold. LOL and it's a bit louder!
lickr

OK, .... but I would still get rid of the that old 50-500 lens !

charchri4 · Dec 29, 2015

I posted it for sale and we'll see what happens. I love the lens for wildlife but it's not very useful in the dead of winter in doors. I picked up a 70-200 2.8 cheap and we'll see how it does in these low light situations. The wife is starting to get impatient at the pile of lens boxes so selling the big guy would help!

Ornello · Jan 21, 2016

charchri4 said:
I took my Pentax K-3 and Sigma 50-500 to a highschool basket ball game last night got 100 wasted shutter auctions. In TAv and wide open even as slow as 1/250 my ISO bounced around 12500 and the photos looked more like sand paper than photos.

I tried my other lens - Pentax 16-85mm f3.5/5.6 and it was no better. No reach either. I have a 1.4 converter I tried that helped the reach a bit but obviously no better shots.

I didn't have it with me but I also have a Pentax 50mm f1.8 AF and a couple of manual 50mm primes.

I love the reach of the Sigma but there is no point pushing the button with the results. I was thinking the 50mm f1.8 and the converter might move the ISO down enough to be useful but do you have any suggestions for fast moving targets under far too few florescent lights with what I have?

An 85mm f/1.4 or faster lens is worth looking for. I'm fairly sure Pentax or some other lens company makes something like that.

Bower 85mm F/1.4

Rokinon 85mm F/1.4