pumpkinbrat Loc: Waterville, NY

Being totally honest with you, your biggest problem is the wrong lens. Buy a Nikon Prime lens and you will love it..With that lens, you probably can't use ISO 3200. Leave it at 6400... Download Fast Stone Image Viewer for Windows. Download and install. Open it up to see your pictures. When a picture is open hit the i key. A small window will open and it will show all your Exif information. Awesome picture viewer and it's free...

trainguy Loc: Suttons Bay, MI

Hi Apaflo; here are the images with the store original button; if you check the postings you'll see where I'm at

Thanks; Dave

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pumpkinbrat Loc: Waterville, NY

Here is a picture using a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 in a gym with lesser good lighting. Not as good as the one above

pumpkinbrat Loc: Waterville, NY

50mm x 1.5 = 75 mm on the Nikon 7100. The Nikon 7100 is not a full frame camera

R.G. Loc: Scotland

33.3mm x 1.5 = 50mm on a full frame camera. It's the smaller sensor that gives more zoom per mm of focal length.

trainguy Loc: Suttons Bay, MI

thanks for your input; he is a senior and my last sports grandson so I probably won't be investing in another lens now; besides the game is tonight and Friday. As usual the correct lens is where it's at. Good luck with your team, sounds like they could go all the way.

dave

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

I will give my two cents.
Nikon d-7100 iso 1250 500 1.8
Lens 50 1.8

Any suggestions would be helpful too.

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pumpkinbrat Loc: Waterville, NY

I set my ISO on auto at 3200. I downloaded them and looked at them. ISO is way to low.... In our area schools, my ISO runs around 2200.... I joined some sports photography groups and they all said in a high school gym it's best to set ISO on auto and in the menu set it at least at 3200.... Your pictures will be better

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

Thank you. I will try this.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Interesting information. You are shooting with a 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 G that almost always is being used in the range where f/3.5 to f/4 is the maximum aperture. In the top image it is stopped down 1 stop, from the max at f/3.5 to f/5, the middle one is at maximum aperture, and the bottom image is at maximum aperture. The light meter shows a variation of 0.8 EV (even though the light is in fact exactly the same for each exposure).

I agree with pumpkinbrat that a different lens would help greatly. I personally wouldn't recommend a fixed focal length though. But something with a fixed maximum aperture of f/2.8. For example a 24-70mm f/2.8 would be my choice if (and this is not the case so my point is a bit moot) and only if I were going to shoot in the same style and for the same purposes that you and pumpkinbrat do.

Before I get into style, and a couple examples, here are two interesting images to look at. First is a set of histograms of your images. Note that they are all pretty similar (same settings, so they should be). The next image is a screen dump of an edit using a curves tool to do a little tone mapping. Basically it boosts the brighter areas a little while not doing much to the shadows. It gives things a lot more pop. On the left is a window for the curves tool and on the right is an histogram where the shadowed area is the original and the darkest area shows the effect of the edit.

(I'll post a couple of my own shots and discuss style in a separate article.)

From Left to Right, histograms for Top to Bottom

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Screen dump of edit using GIMP

pumpkinbrat Loc: Waterville, NY

If you do a web search all over the internet - photographing high school basketball, you will find links of professional who shoot college and NBA state: Use a 50 or 85mm f/1.8 wide open because high school gyms have poor lighting.....20-70 is a waste in a high school gym. I tried a 35mm with the crop factor it's like a 50mm in film. It's to small of a lens.....

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

Got it, thanks again.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Here are some different aspects to think about. More style than equipment, but in fact the different style means different equipment is preferred too.

Three people, trainguy the OP, pumpkinbrat and juleskarney have all posted high school basketball shots. They are all using Nikon cameras with APS-C cropped sensors and using focal lengths from 35 to 50mm, with trainguy going for a zoom and the others with fixed focal lengths. As might be expected, they all tend to shoot from an area very near the basket and right on the floor.

I can't really tell except with pumpkinbrat because he describes what he is shooting, but it looks as if everyone is to some degree shooting a team as much as just one player.

My experience is a little different. I shoot one specific player, and most of the time ignore all others. I'm not looking for team shots at all! I also shoot with full frame cameras. That does make for an advantage in being able to use much higher ISO's. I usually don't go higher than ISO 10000, but that's less of a problem than a DX camera at ISO 6400 as there is just about exactly 1 fstop difference in dynamic range from DX to FX sensors.

The above is a picture of Julia Kim in 2011. In a couple months she will graduate from college, but 2011 was her senior year in high school. Alaskans love basketball, and Barrow teams are always contenders. In 2011 the Barrow Lady Whalers probably fielded the best female HS basketball team ever in Alaska. In the State finals they won all games by scores of 2:1 or better.

This image was made with a Nikon D3S and an 80-200mm f/2.8 with a 1.4X teleconverter on it. 260mm, f/4.5 (stopped down from a maximum aperture of f/4), 1/250 shutter speed and ISO 10000.

Obviously I am not trying to freeze all motion! And since this young lady was a whiz at ball handling and only so-so at scoring, the middle of the floor was much more interesting, and being a couple rows up in the stands was a good vantage point.
Four years after the first shot, younger sister Cynthia Kim (who graduates this year as a Junior) is wearing number 10. She is a play maker and terrific on defense, but also not great at scoring. Hence under the basket is more interesting, but not up close.

This was shot with a Nikon D800, a 24-120mm f/4 lens at 82mm, f/5, shutter speed 1/125, and ISO 6400.

Again the intent at the time this image was shot was to get more motion blur (trying to pan with her and blurring the background). It didn't happen with this image, but that's the reason for the 1/125 shutter speed.

This team is also the top rated team going into the State finals this week, and will probably do well.

As can be seen the style of photography, or the intent, can make a lot of difference in what equipment is the best choice.

trainguy Loc: Suttons Bay, MI

I have a lot to learn but am willing; I'll look forward to your next installment

Thanks
Dave

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

Great shot. I am willing to try different shots too. You have good ideas.
Thank,
Jules