any one have solution: I am having trouble with getting good shots of grandson's basketball games in a poorly lit gym. Resorted to using flash to prevent too much noise but shutter...

issa2006.

I am having trouble with getting good shots of grandson's basketball games in a poorly lit gym. Resorted to using flash to prevent too much noise but shutter speed on my camera goes to only 200 with flash. My lens is 18-300 3.5 . Any help would be appreciated

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

issa2006. wrote:

I am having trouble with getting good shots of grandson's basketball games in a poorly lit gym. Resorted to using flash to prevent too much noise but shutter speed on my camera goes to only 200 with flash. My lens is 18-300 3.5 . Any help would be appreciated

I am surprised they let you use flash during a game-distracting to the players and if right in the eye can cause short term vision problems.

The best solution is a faster lens and use the highest ISO your camera handles well and really good denoise software.

albertaoldie Loc: Lloydminster Alberta

I shoot lots of grandkids basketball with Canon 5D MIII using 70-200 2.8 ISM lens with no flash.
Camera settings are as follows:
-custom white balance (shoot grey card at start)
-usually aperature of 3.2 to 3.5
-shutter 800 to 1000
-back button focus & high speed continuous
I get lots of great action shots, I also get lots of poor shots. Tracking the action helps.
Hope this helps.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

issa2006. wrote:

I am having trouble with getting good shots of grandson's basketball games in a poorly lit gym. Resorted to using flash to prevent too much noise but shutter speed on my camera goes to only 200 with flash. My lens is 18-300 3.5 . Any help would be appreciated

We can give generic best practices and / or suggest investing in expensive equipment. A more effective approach is to post and store a few orginal / unedited JPEGs so we can see what your results look like now and give actionable suggestions specific to your equipment.

dick ranez

Quick suggestions: check white balance - most high school gyms have fluorescent lighting. Set ISO higher (1600 or higher) until you can shoot at 250 or better. Get closer - your zoom is probably variable aperture and closer you are the the more open the iris. Or - try using a 50 or 85 fixed faster lens.

Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Without posting a picture as an example, it would be hard to answer your question. My guess would be to raise the iso and bring up your shutter speed.

photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA

bump up you ISO to 800 or more, shoot in Shutter Priority mode (with a high shutter speed). Those are my starting points

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

Poor lighting at sporting events is a common, yet difficult problem. Best results are achieved with a camera with low noise at high ISO (full frame), and a fast lens (f/2.8). Having a line frequency syncing feature on the camera helps fire the camera at the peak of the light cycle, most helpful with ambient fluorescent lighting.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

albertaoldie wrote:

I shoot lots of grandkids basketball with Canon 5D MIII using 70-200 2.8 ISM lens with no flash.
Camera settings are as follows:
-custom white balance (shoot grey card at start)
-usually aperature of 3.2 to 3.5
-shutter 800 to 1000
-back button focus & high speed continuous
I get lots of great action shots, I also get lots of poor shots. Tracking the action helps.
Hope this helps.

Any particular ISO?

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

So far all we know is 1) baskeball 2) dimly lit indoors 3) 18-300 f/3.5 lens 4) 1/200 SS with flash too slow

We don't know 1) brand and model of camera 2) exact brand and model of lens - there are more than one 18-300 lenses out there

That f/3.5 is only at the 18 mm end of the lenses' zoom, at the other end it is probably f/5.6 or f/6.3 or some such.

To OP: please provide full info. And post a picture or two.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

robertjerl wrote:

So far all we know is 1) baskeball 2) dimly lit indoors 3) 18-300 f/3.5 lens 4) 1/200 SS with flash too slow

We don't know 1) brand and model of camera 2) exact brand and model of lens - there are more than one 18-300 lenses out there

That f/3.5 is only at the 18 mm end of the lenses' zoom, at the other end it is probably f/5.6 or f/6.3 or some such.

To OP: please provide full info. And post a picture or two.

We don't know distance either ...

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

CHG_CANON wrote:

We don't know distance either ...

True, but basketball courts are standard and the players move so the distance can be from zero (they went out of bounds and ran over you) to 94-100 feet corner to corner.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

It has been suggested elsewhere that the most effective answer to this problem is fast primes. I suspect there might be a limit to how long they will go on tolerating flash.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

robertjerl wrote:

I am surprised they let you use flash during a game-distracting to the players and if right in the eye can cause short term vision problems.

The best solution is a faster lens and use the highest ISO your camera handles well and really good denoise software.

Right on both counts.

We get so many questions about about the same situation. Schools should provide better lighting.

These are my sports photography links. Something might help.
https://www.digitalrev.com/article/10-sports-photography-tips-for
https://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/the-perfect-camera-settings-for-action-and-sports-photography
https://www.howtogeek.com/362593/how-to-take-better-photos-in-burst-mode/
https://letslassothemoon.com/2016/07/14/burst-mode-continuous-shooting-for-action-shots/

Bill_de Loc: US

I would think that this is a time for shutter priority (speed set for action) and auto ISO.

Or, manual mode setting high shutter speed, aperture for decent dof, and auto ISO.

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