Settings for Nikon D70 & 80-200 2.8

[rboucher]

I'm borrowing a buddies Nikon D70 and renting a Nikon 80-200 2.8 from a photo shop. I'm trying to shoot indoor girls high school ice hockey. I'm just wondering what the best settings are to produce good results. I tried about a week ago and the pictures were only so-so. I know I need to experiment but, the season is a game or two from being done. I was using the auto-focus. "M" manual setting on the dial. The f-stop was 2.8 and I was setting the shutter speed at about 1/200 give or take. The lighting isn't too bad. Certain not like outdoors. Any thoughts would be great!! Thanks

 

[nakedyak]

it might be easier to shoot in Aperture priority mode (Av) and use f2.8, and shoot at ISO 800 or 1600. Hopefully it wo'nt be too dark, and those settings will let you get action stopping shutter speeds

 

[JD in Socal]

I don't know the Nikon specifically, but here is what I would do with my Canon 30D. I would set it on Av (aperture priority, I think it is just "A" on a Nikon), open the aperture all the way (2.8 ) and leave it there. Check the shutter speed indicated. If it is slower than 1/640 or so (faster is better), dial up the ISO until you get 1/640 or better. Depending on the lighting you will probably be at ISO 800 at least, but go to 1200 or 1600 if you have to. A shutter speed of 1/1000 is even better to freeze the action. If you don't dial up the ISO you will probably see 1/125 or so shutter speed (maybe even 1/60 if the lights are bad) and the motion shots will be blurry. With that lens you will probably get decent shutter speed at ISO 800 and should get some great pictures.

Good luck out there.

JD

 

[cvjarrod]

Use auto ISO on the D70. You can set a minimum shutter speed and a maximum ISO with your custom settings. Start with something like a 1/250 minimum shutter speed and a max iso of 800. If available light is good, go even faster. If available light is low, bump up the max iso.

You could use either A or M mode. The auto-iso will be constantly bouncing around to get the right exposure and shutter speed combination. Since you are fairly new to the camera, you should probably throw it into A mode, set aperture at 2.8 and let auto iso do the rest.

When shooting tennis with the same lens and a D200, I try and keep it above 1/360 to try and freeze the action. Faster is better, but the indoors venue will probably make it really tough to use really high shutter speeds.

If you have a choice on the 80-200, try to get one with the AF-S. It autofocuses a lot faster than the screw driven models. I can see a big difference on the D200 and the difference will be even greater on the D70.