olympic basketball - tips?

[alexharrison101]

i've been fortunate enough to get tickets to some basketball at the olympics - any hints on how to get some good action shots? i have a 1100D with 18-55 IS kit lens, plus a tamron 70-300 zoom (180-300 macro). it'll be indoors, and i suspect flash will not be allowed, nor tripods.

i'm thinking bump up the ISO a bit (up to 400 if i need it), as short shutter speed as i can if i'm wanting to freeze action, and let aperture take care of itself? i'm not confident enough to shoot in M (only had camera a few weeks and am just about getting to grips with Tv and Av a little bit).

thanks in advance.

[wave01]

hi i doubt if you are going to be close so lens wise it will have to be the 70-300 so to get hand held shoots you are going to have to use 1/300 upwards to be be on the safe side. so that will mean upping the ISO to get it.

[alexharrison101]

cool, that's what i was thinking. yeah - i'm imagining i will be in the nosebleeds, so definitely the 70-300. not expecting great things, but would be nice to get one or two good shots from the day!

[Singing snapper]

Originally Posted by alexharrison101

cool, that's what i was thinking. yeah - i'm imagining i will be in the nosebleeds, so definitely the 70-300. not expecting great things, but would be nice to get one or two good shots from the day!

i think even with the 70 -300 you might struggle a little as you'll need to crop in quite a bit. The other alternative is to use an extender, but that will mean you need to use manual focus which in a sports environment wouldn't be ideal. The trouble is the more professional your kit looks the more liklihood of you being challenged. Could be an idea though to hire a lens for a few days. The 100 - 400L might be an option as it would give you field of view of 160 - 640mm. You don't really want to have to crop too tight in post. For that matter you could hire a 7d to go with it as that would give you a frame rate up to 8 fps which you would find very useful

[Singing snapper]

Oh and find out from the powers that be what you are and aren't allowed to do photographywise before you go and get it in writing and carry it with you just incase you get a jobsworth. In your position, though I'd definitely hire a 7D and a 100 - 400L It's not the fastest lens in the world - f/5.6 at the fast end but you'll have better low light capability and still keep the crop camera Field of view when combined with the 7D. Other lens options are Tamron or Sigma 200 - 500 which would get you 320 - 800mm, but these would be f/6.3 at maximum zoom. The f/2.8 Sigma is super expensive but may be available to hire.

[alexharrison101]

thanks, will look into hiring options. i know i can't take in any kit longer than 30cm including camera body and lens, and it's all got to fit in a soft bag 20x20x30cm. they are being really funny about what you can take in, and what you can do with shots afterwards. stills can be shared, but any video or audio is forbidden to be shared (not that i plan on taking/sharing video, but it's irritating how much the tv companies are interfering).

[Singing snapper]

Originally Posted by alexharrison101

thanks, will look into hiring options. i know i can't take in any kit longer than 30cm including camera body and lens, and it's all got to fit in a soft bag 20x20x30cm. they are being really funny about what you can take in, and what you can do with shots afterwards. stills can be shared, but any video or audio is forbidden to be shared (not that i plan on taking/sharing video, but it's irritating how much the tv companies are interfering).

Bet there will be lots of people using their iPhones to video stuff though...

[alexharrison101]

i'm sure there will be. i think the rules just dictate that you can't share it, like post it on youtube or something. it's ok to video for your own personal use i think.