Dan's recently had a free class on indoor sports photography, which I unfortunately missed. As I look online for information on most subjects, I found a number of forum or review posts discussing shooting action indoors. I''m posting the following, a number of varied posts of the topic. While some of them appear to provide conflicting info, and some are related to Canon lens choices, perhaps you might find something that will help you as well. Note: none of these ideas are mine.
Please add any comments on the ideas provided. I know it's a lot to sort through, but I will attempt to first consolidate the information into one simple list. At least I think this is the basic information from what I'm reading...
Light quality can vary (ex: pro sports venues usually better lit than high schools)
Shutter speed - preferably minimum of 1/400th to freeze the action, 1/1000ths if possible. Slower only if the sport being shot allows for it.
Shooting mode - Not automatic and NOT sports mode (ISO will be set to 400). Preferably shoot in M, AV (set to largest aperture) or P.
Increase the ISO to achieve minimum shutter speed to the maximum ISO which will produce good results (400, but more often 800 or 1600 for large sensor dslr's to achieve fast speeds)
You'll need a wide aperture. f2.8 is about as small as you can go in most situations; the lower the better. As a result, a prime lens is often the better choice, though a zoom gives you more options with the action at various distances. If you can sit close enough, even a 50mm 1.8 works. Of course, the ability to roam would be even better.
Shoot in continuous burst mode. Eventually, try for one shot by becoming one with the athlete and the action (Remember Greg Crisp?).
Set the focus mode to AI Servo.
Use the Center Focus Point only and use Focus and Recompose when necessary.
AWB (unless you want to set white balance...see below)
Spot metering
Consider shooting both in JPEG & RAW.
So, shoot rapid fire, AI Servo, and try for the highest shutter speeds available by going with the highest acceptable ISO, AV mode, and at the widest aperture (f/2.8 or f/2 or better)
Here we go with the info copied from various sources on the Net.
One of the things we enjoy about working here is helping less experienced photographers choose the equipment that will get them the shots that they want. This time of year one of the most common things people ask about is also one of the more difficult tasks in photography: shooting indoor sports. There are so many variables that go into choosing the right lens for basketball, hockey, volleyball, etc. that we thought it might be helpful to put a brief summary up. (OK, it ended up not being all that brief, but we’re putting it up anyway.)
The primary goal for indoor sports shooting is to get a shutter speed fast enough to “freeze” action. How fast the athletes are moving can affect how fast a shutter speed you need. Generally, 1/250 second is the slowest shutter speed acceptable for shooting action sports, but you’d prefer 1/500 and really like 1/1000. We have two ways to reduce the shutter speed: increase the ISO in the camera, or increase the aperture of the lens. We refer to a change that cuts the shutter speed in half as “one stop”. Doubling the ISO (from 400 to 800 or 800 to 1600 for example) will reduce the shutter speed by one-half. The maximum ISO your camera will handle depends on the model and how you’re going to use the photographs. Some newer cameras can get decent images at ISO 6400. Most are struggling at ISO 1600. Of course, a large print will show noise a lot more than a web graphic: if you’re only going to post your photos on the web you can tolerate a higher ISO than if you’re trying to make an 8 X 10 print.
Increasing the aperture of the lens by one stop also reduces the shutter speed in half. Aperture is a mathematical formula that is expressed as “f-stop”. The aperture numbers aren’t linear, so in case you aren’t familiar with them, here are the aperture numbers for each ‘f-stop’: f1.4, f2, f2.8, f4, f5.6, f8, etc. Increasing the aperture (reducing the ‘f’ number) one stop doubles the amount of light hitting the camera sensor and therefore reduces the shutter speed by on half. If your original shutter speed was 1/100 second and you changed the aperture from f5.6 to f2.8 you would reduce the shutter speed in half two times, resulting in a new shutter speed of 1/400 second.
Indoor sports lighting ranges from acceptable (major college basketball arenas) to barely adequate (better high school gyms) to awful (most high school gyms and most rinks). So in order to get a fast shutter speed, even with the ISO maximized, you’ll need a wide aperture lens to let in lots of light. An f2.8 lens is the widest aperture available on most zoom lenses, and is often wide enough if the light is good. That’s why our most common recommendation is to shoot indoor sports with a 70-200 f2.8 lens. In badly lit gyms though, f2.8 may not be a wide enough aperture. When this is the case, the only option is to move to a “fast prime” lens – meaning a fixed focal length lens with very wide aperture.
Which ‘fast prime’ you’ll use depends largely on the focal length most appropriate for where you’re located. If you’ll sit courtside or on the first row, an 85mm f1.8 lens is often a good choice. If you need a bit more length, most brands offer a 135mm f2.0 lens that gives a little more magnification. The lens also needs to focus quickly, which is why we don’t recommend the Canon 85 f1.2 or Zeiss ZF 85 f1.4 for sports work: the first is slow to autofocus, the latter is manual focus only. Cost also becomes an issue: The Canon and Nikon 200 f2.0 lenses are the gold standard for indoor sports work, but their price is out of the range of most non-professionals.
Basketball, volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, wrestling ... At these events, the indoor available light action sports photographer encounters some really tough photography situations. The lighting at best is usually dim. The photographer is often committed to be at one location - and the participants move around. And they usually don't move slowly.
An indoor sports lens needs to have a very wide aperture and it often needs to focus very quickly. A fixed focal length (or prime) lens is often a good choice.
Select between the recommended fixed focal length lenses based on the focal length you need and your available budget. The 85 f/1.2 L II does not focus as fast as the rest, but it has a wider aperture than the others. It is one of my favorite lenses. And if you can use 200mm of focal length, the Canon EF 200mm f/2.0 L IS USM Lens is simply awesome.
A fixed focal length lens has the obvious disadvantage of not being able to change focal lengths. Even if the photographer knows where their position will be or is able to adjust to the optimal location, the participants are often moving over a large area. For this reason, a zoom lens has a big advantage. The results will require less cropping - leaving more resolution in the final image.
The disadvantage a zoom lens has in an indoor action situation is the maximum aperture - f/2.8 is the widest Canon zoom lens currently made. Because of the typically-poor indoor gym light levels, expect to need ISO 1600 or 3200 to get minimally acceptable shutter speeds (1/500 or higher) in all but the best-lit venues. High ISO of course means more noise in your results. The higher price tag is another frequent disadvantage for the zoom. Of course, versatility cannot be ignored.
The Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens and the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L USM Lens are two of the best indoor sports lenses available. They make excellent general purpose telephoto zoom lenses and can be used for outdoor sports as well.
The Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM Lens and Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens (EF-S mount only) are excellent indoor sports lens choices when shorter focal lengths are needed. If you have court-side access, you may need these wider angle focal lengths.
In some gyms I am in, f/2.8 is not fast enough.
Don’t shoot in Action Mode: When you shoot in "action-mode", your camera will set the ISO to 400. You will have to shoot in aperture-mode, where you can set the ISO to 1600.
Don't use action mode. in fact, stay away from all of the modes below the P, and you will be a better photographer for it.
if you are in a photography class, you should start with M mode first and work from there. Work on understanding the relationship between aperture, shutter speed, camera shake and the rest, and you will do fine. you probably need to have shutter speeds of 1/100th or so to freeze motion well.
If you have very little money as a student and are always shooting with your canon dslr. buy the canon 50/1.8 for 80 dollars, shoot in manual, always get the shutter to at least 1/250th by going to f.1.8 and whatever iso you need to. YOU MUST GET A LENS WITH AN APERTURE OF AT LEAST f.2.8 AND PREFERABLY f.1.8 to shoot indoor sports because you have to get the shutter up in low light. Kit lenses are relatively useless.
If you have more money, also consider the canon 85/1.8. you can buy one for about 350 dollars.
If the lighting is decent, consider a tamron 28-75/f.2.8 and living at iso 1600. it will give you some versatility, but the images will not be as sharp as a lens with f.1.8.
Once you have a fast lens, shoot in Tv or Av mode. In Av, use the jog wheel to shoot at 1.8 or 2.0 and bump the ISO up to 800 or 1600 depending on the available light. See what kind of results you yield. If you find that you're not stopping the action fast enough (i.e., the ball is still kind of blurry), switch to Tv mode and select the shutter speed of at least 1/250 or faster. You'll notice that if you select 1/640 or something too quick, your camera will start blinking at you, telling you that your pics will be underexposed. Moreover, if you're shooting at 800 ISO, bump the ISO up to 1600 and you can gain faster shutter speeds, same thing goes with if you're shooting at 2.0, if you bump it down to 1.8, you can gain a slightly faster shutter speed. With most things, if you change one setting, it affects another.
Finally, make sure that you have the continuous burst [triple box] setting enabled.
What lenses do you have to choose from? Most find that the 85 f/1.8 and 50 f/1.8 or 50 f/1.4 are best for indoor hoops. Leave the big guns at home.
Shoot rapid fire, AI Servo, and trying for the highest shutter speeds available. I'd go with ISO 1600 on your 20D, AV mode, and be at f/2.8 or f/2
Shooting manual with AI servo and the "*" as focus,(after getting the hang of it I love it) I also do not shoot with flash at the moment, the photos are turning out pretty dang good in my opinion. I am getting shutter speeds anywhere from high 300's to 200.. I wish you lots of luck but am affraid you wont get the shutter speeds you need to freeze the action with your f/4.0 unless you have LOTS of nice light or use strobes / flash. You mentioned shooting RAW and having photoshop to edit the photos BUT nothing can fix a photo that has lots of motion blurr / out of focus ect.
The 30D is an excellent camera for sports. Remember to multiply by 1.6 to calculate the effective focal length on your 30D.
Three prime lenses that are affordable and well suited to your purpose are:
Canon 85mm/f1.8; Canon 100mm/f2; Canon 135mm/f2L.
If you can get quite close, the Canon 50mm/f1.4 is also good. If you can't get close, the Canon 200mm/f2.8 and the Canon 70-200mm/f2.8L are both excellent, although slower than the primes. Going from an f2.8 aperture setting to f2 doubles your shutter speed (1/250 sec. becomes 1/500 sec., etc.).
Shooting wide open in aperture priority (Av) with these lenses should enable you to achieve a shutter speed of 1/500 sec., the absolute minimum for freezing sports action. Faster speeds are even better, and 1/1000 sec. will freeze almost anything a human can do. You can also use shutter-priority (Tv) set to the speed you want. Program mode won't give you the control you need for your purpose.
If the lighting is too low to achieve 1/500 sec. at 800 ISO (the highest noise-free speed on a 30D), go to 1600 ISO, or use the fastest shutter speed you can and wait for those instants when the athlete is relatively still (top of a jump, holding a pose, sticking a landing, etc.).
Also, consider using Custom Function 4 to put the autofocus on the * button instead of the shutter release button, and use centre point focusing in Servo focus mode at 5 frames per second.
This enables you to lock the focus point onto an athlete, hold down the * button for continuous refocusing, and fire short bursts of shots. Later you can choose the best ones.
Canon 50/1.8 is an excellent lens, very sharp, great value. Highly recommended. Set the iso to 800, camera to AV, select 1.8, and away you go. Remember that this lens requires accurate focusing. This can be hard to do when your subject is moving fast. I usually select the center AF point, center my subject, then crop later for better composition.
You will need f/2 or faster (i.e. lower aperture number) lenses. That confines you to primes, not zooms. Provided you can get reasonably close (i.e. on the gym floor, not in the bleachers), then a 50mm f/1.8 is cheap and optically excellent - the f/1.4 version would allow slightly faster shutter speeds. For slightly greater reach, the 85mm f/1.8 or 100mm f/2 are good choices while still being relatively affordable, and the 135mm f/2 is a rather more expensive option that you might add eventually.
As to settings: the Sports mode is quite useless, since it only operates at a maximum of 400 ISO (a bizarre choice by Canon in my view). For indoor sport where lighting is constant it is best to work in M mode.
But before you set the exposure, it is a good idea to set the camera up in stages. First set the ISO to 1600, and use a shutter speed of 1/60th in Tv mode to take a custom white balance frame in the arena lighting of a white object. Use that to set the custom white balance. The reason for choosing 1/60th is that it should cover at least two cycles of any mains frequency lighting variation (some lights actually flicker at twice the mains frequency). The reason for using a custom white balance is that gym lights can often fool auto white balance, and none of the available presets (e.g. tungsten or fluorescent) are likely to be a good match, especially if the lighting is the yellowish HMI type often found in gyms.
Next, switch to M mode and set the aperture to its lowest available number (1.4, 1.8 or 2.0) - this will ensure that you will use the fastest possible shutter speed to freeze the action. Now aim the camera at a mid tone subject - e.g. the gym floor, or the exercise mat if it is colored, but not if it is just a light grey - and adjust the shutter speed while metering by a half press on the shutter release until the indicator is centered under 0 in the viewfinder. Hopefully you will have a shutter speed of 1/320th or faster. Take a test shot, and adjust the shutter speed if necessary - faster if the image is too bright, and slower if it is too dark - the histogram is a useful guide. The advantage of M mode is that once set you can forget any need to adjust exposure, regardless of the brightness or otherwise of the background: the exposure is correct for the gymnast on the apparatus under the lights and that is that.
Obviously you will also want to set the camera for continuous shooting. You should also set the focus mode to AI Servo. Both these settings are in fact made automatically if you use the Sports mode - they are appropriate choices.
When using AI Servo focus mode it is important to start focusing a second before you start shooting to allow the camera time to acquire focus and start calculating the movement of the subject. You should aim the centre focus point at the gymnast, and half press the shutter. Try to keep the centre point on the gymnast throughout, and shoot small bursts of shots to increase your chance of well focused images. You can use longer bursts for e.g. tumbling sequences on the mat or a vault, but beware that at close distances the ability of the focus system to keep up with a moving subject reduces sharply. It is probably best to set the camera to use just the centre focus point, though if you are finding it difficult to keep it on the gymnast, you might set "all focus points" provided that you start focus aiming with the centre point: the camera will try to follow the subject as it moves between focus points once it has locked on. Once you feel you are beginning to master the art of keeping the focus point on the subject you might try switching focus to the * button via setting CF 4. The advantage with that is that it will also allow you to pre-focus without having to switch the lens to manual focus, which can be helpful when follow focus can't keep up and you know where the gymnast will be for the image you are trying to capture (e.g. on asymmetric bars).
My touches / enhancements to previous comments are:
1. Essentially prime lenses, 50mmF1.4, 85mm F1.8, 100mmF2 and 135mmF2 also I use a 70 to 200F2.8L.
2. Focal length of the lens will be dependent upon your viewpoint (where you are positioned) and your freedom to move, the latter point is VERY important: the ability to roam can save a truckload of money on lenses.
3. I usually need to work at 1600 ISO, minimum, sometimes requiring 6400ISO (equivalent, post production)
4. I do a White Balance. I use an exposure of 1/30th or 1/40th second, because we have 50Hz AC and I use a standard photographic grey card: (that might be pedantic for some, but it is technically correct. I have a color temperature meter, but I have found with digital it is a bit `ho hum`.) None the less a white surface will give you good results.
5. I always use manual exposure, under controlled lighting, taking an athlete`s skin tone as the Reflected Light meter measure. (If there are sky lights allowing the passage of strong ambient light stream: this is a problem which requires special attention should the subjects wander into the stronger light. Not usual in Gymnasium here, but common for indoor Swimming Pools)
6. Continuous Shooting / AI servo.
7. I use the Center Focus Point only and use Focus and Recompose when necessary.
8. For Vault, Floor, Horse and Uneven Bars, (and fast Parallel Bar movemenmts), I would like the Shutter at 1/500sec MINIMUM for the athlete`s fastest maneuvers. For Rings, Parallel Bars and Beam, essentially most captures are at the static position: if so 1/320 should be adequate and you might consider any gain from using a slower ISO for these events.
9 Do not underestimate the value of (prior) manual focusing at the critical point: especially useful for events capturing the action moving across you at 90 degrees to your lens` axis. (e.g. 90 degrees to the vault execution, manual pre-focussed on the center of the vault, pan with the athlete, release at the critical moment.
10. I shoot RAW + JPEG (F), this is for a specific, fast turn a round purpose, you may not require the use of such large capacity.
11. With experience, and practice (mostly practice) I encourage you to think `one shot` (that is to NOT rely on a big burst to get a good shot): this requires you to become one with the athlete and their motion; and to allow you finger to respond without your brain thinking. Even using continuous shooting mode, with practice, one can control the burst to one, two, three etc, as one desires; but it takes practice.
12. Most importantly: have fun, analyze the errors and learn.
