photoman43

Use your 70-200mm f2.8 as you are indoors and will need all the light gathering benefits from fast glass like f 1.8 and f2.8 lenses.

If you have a 85mm f1.8 or f1.4, try it out to see if its focal length is useful in addition you your 50mm f1.8.

If you shoot Jpegs make sure your white balance is set in camera as accurately as possible for the type of lights around the court. Consider shooting with two cards, one for RAW and the other for Jpeg, in your D500 as you experiment with getting the WB correct. With the RAW image you can change the WB in post processing.

Remember to use a fast shutter speed, like 1/1000-1/2000 uless you want a little blur in the pics for action.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

I shot my granddaughter's HS volleyball for a few years. I had a Canon 5D MIII and a 7D MII with two lenses - Canon 70-200 f/2.8 II and 24 - 70 f/2.8 II. I shot from two places - up high to eliminate interference and down low. It was fun. Various facilities had inferior low light, but increasing ISO helped. I tried to always have the ball in my shots.
Good luck!! Daughters & granddaughters are incredible joys in life. I did not shoot video.

Enjoy,
Mark

rcarol

Is the 30 minute time limit going to be a problem?

User ID

That all looks just about right.
You go girl ! and post results.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

That may be a problem. Another is that DSLRs tend to be good when shallow depth of field is a primary goal. It might be hard to get a deep depth of field without sky high ISOs. Audio also tends to be weak in a DSLR but that might not matter for indoor volleyball.

Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

Lots of good advice but I’ll add on. Know the game so you can anticipate where the ball is going. Shoot jpeg and don’t be afraid to shoot small bursts. Shoot in shutter priority (1/300 or maybe slower depending on skill set of players. In college and international the ball can be hit over 100 mph), wide open so as to blur the background (remember the coach wants to see the players not the crowd. You can sneak in a few artistic shots too), and I’m a Canon shooter so I don’t know your Nikon equipment but hopefully the gym is lighted well and consistently but use auto ISO. Good luck. Post some images. Btw I’m a ex-pro vb shooter from 70s so imagine shooting with film (tri-x 400 pushed in developing to 1600) with manual focus lens in sometimes poorly lit gyms.

Papou Loc: Ottawa, Canada

Thank you for sharing your pictures. Nice set. I will post some of mine later on today or tomorrow. Any advice will be welcome. I use Luminar 3 for Denoising and photo editing.

Regards

Éric

Papou Loc: Ottawa, Canada

I do record and stop after each ball. This way, I am not limited clip wise. On top, no editing afterwards.

Papou Loc: Ottawa, Canada

Raw and undited.

I was close to the sideline.

Eric

(Download)

Papou Loc: Ottawa, Canada

D500
50mm 1.8
crop and edited
ISO 900
1th 400

(Download)

Papou Loc: Ottawa, Canada

Thank you for your answer.
Would you suggest using Kelvin for the balance ?

Regards

Eric

Junior

Papou,

My daughter played club/high school volleyball for three years. I have THOUSANDS of photos of her teammates and her. I shot in manual mode with a Nikon D750, Nikon 70-200 2.8 and Nikon 50mm 1.8. The lighting in the gyms and conventions will vary. The courts in the same gyms and convention centers will also vary. I found an ISO of 3200 or lower was acceptable. If you haven't make sure the parents know who you are and what you are doing. I had a secured SmugMug account and posted my photos to the account for the parents to download for free. I made sure if they did not approve of a photo I would delete it from my account. The best/most memorable photos were not the "action" shots. You can only take so many photos of a serve, pass, set, hit and block. The best shots were the girls emotional responses to what occurred before or after each point. You will learn the girls personalities as the season progresses. I waited a full season to get the shot of the stoic/serious player who showed little to no emotion. The shot of her smile, scream, high-step stomp or fist pump was worth the wait. Her parents were very thankful. If available, utilize the second floor/upper level for a different perspective. It may seem a little strange advice, but keep notes. After each tournament/venue write a brief one or two sentence summary of the lighting and if any second level areas were available. My daughter played in the same venues and the notes helped with what to expect. I rented additional lenses a couple times based on the notes. Finally, remember take time to enjoy a game or two each day. Good luck.

Gary

Papou Loc: Ottawa, Canada

[quote=Junior]Papou,

My daughter played club/high school volleyball for three years. I have THOUSANDS of photos of her teammates and her. I shot in manual mode with a Nikon D750, Nikon 70-200 2.8 and Nikon 50mm 1.8. The lighting in the gyms and conventions will vary. The courts in the same gyms and convention centers will also vary. I found an ISO of 3200 or lower was acceptable. If you haven't make sure the parents know who you are and what you are doing. I had a secured SmugMug account and posted my photos to the account for the parents to download for free. I made sure if they did not approve of a photo I would delete it from my account. The best/most memorable photos were not the "action" shots. You can only take so many photos of a serve, pass, set, hit and block. The best shots were the girls emotional responses to what occurred before or after each point. You will learn the girls personalities as the season progresses. I waited a full season to get the shot of the stoic/serious player who showed little to no emotion. The shot of her smile, scream, high-step stomp or fist pump was worth the wait. Her parents were very thankful. If available, utilize the second floor/upper level for a different perspective. It may seem a little strange advice, but keep notes. After each tournament/venue write a brief one or two sentence summary of the lighting and if any second level areas were available. My daughter played in the same venues and the notes helped with what to expect. I rented additional lenses a couple times based on the notes. Finally, remember take time to enjoy a game or two each day. Good luck.

Hi Gary,

Thank you so much for your comments. I have setup an email for the VB club allowing me to share via Google Drive all the pictures taken for free for the parents and players. I had also asked permission for taking pictures. Didn't want to be in trouble ! As you mentionned, there is only a certain amount of action shot that could be taken. Next tournament, I will focus on emotions. Up to now, venues are school gyms and convention center without higher point of view. I have been shooting from the sideline with an 18-70 mm lens and the 50mm lens. Next tournement, will try to move away if there is enough room being allowed (no wall restrictions) and will be using my 70-200mm lens. Great idea to take notes. Which settings do you use with WB ? I was thinking of using Kelvin next time around. Is it a good idea ?

Regards,

Eric

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

D500 and 70-200mm f/2.8 is a very good choice. It works for me. I use to pack a 35mm f/1.8 for group shots, but now I just use my smartphone camera in raw mode.

nukauboi

Raw helps so you can work on the white balance in post processing. You would be amazed at how much it will change at different venues. Also, I used to get some great shots with a little bit slower shutter speed if you like some blur to show the speed of the ball or hands. Otherwise, the fastest lens possible helps with getting the fastest shutter speed. I took thousands and reduced down to the best with all the different girls and put them in a slide show put to some great music on my MacBook. Played it a the dinner before state tourney. Girls won state and said it was a big motivator. Volleyball is by far my favorite sport to shoot.