Indoor basketball photography...

[jonypatterson]

Hi there,

I was wondering if you could help me...

I was trying to take photos at an indoor basketball game held in a gym at a school... the only problem is that the lighting was really low and because I was trying to take fast shutter speeds the shots came out very dark.... is there any advice anyone can offer?

I ended up with these settings for the majority of pics but I wasn't satisfied...

Shutter speed: 1/250
Aperture: f/3.5
ISO: 1600

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Cheers,

Jony

[chris-p]

Hi Jony

I don't know what camera or lens you were using but it seems like you've pretty muched reach the maximum of what you can do. If you can't open the aperture wider and can't (or don't want to) push the ISO any higher than you need a faster lens.

Your other option would be flash but I wouldn't want to use flash myself as it will probably annoy the players!

[jonypatterson]

Thanks Chris,

I was using a Canon 450d with the efs 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS and the standard lens.

Flash would greatly annoy the players I am guessing, so without a better lens I've reached capacity?

What should I look for in a new lens then?

Jony

[chris-p]

It looks like you've reached the maximum unless you can push the ISO higher by another stop but I don't think the ISO goes higher than 1600 in the 450.
Theoretically, if you can switch it up to 3200 you could halve your shutter speed to 1/500 but you wouldn't change how dark or light they are, it would just allow you a faster shutter speed.

The only thing that doesn't make sense is you couldn't have got an aperture of f/3.5 with the 55-250 if the maximum aperture range is 4-5.6!!

If you wanted a long faster lens Flake is probably the best person to advise on Canon products (I don't shoot Canon) but they aren't cheap. To get a stop faster you're looking at an f/4 at the long end or an f/2.8 lens and they aren't cheap!!

Obvious options would be:
Canon EF 70-200 f/4 L IS USM ~£900
Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS USM ~£1,500
Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 Di LD SP AF ~£650
Simga 70-200 f/2.8 APO EX DG ~£650

Bear in mind the Sigma and the Tamron aren't stabilised versions either and you can see that, sadly, it ain't cheap!!

[jonypatterson]

Thanks Chris, yeah the f/3.5 was achieved using the standard lens for the camera, thanks so much for your help, I will have a scout about and see whats out there, although I may need to save a few pennies!!