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Need advice shooting basketball
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Mar 9, 2023 15:55:36   #
Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana
 
Here is an example of an image from the Indiana State High School Tournament. I thought I would need a 70-300 so that is what a brought, giving me a maximum aperture of f/4. Next time I'll use my 50-140 f/2.8, which will buy me one more stop of light. I shot at 1/1000 of a second, giving me an ISO of 128000 using Auto-ISO. As you can see, the result was a lot of noise. Other than using the f/2.8, does anyone have any suggestions for me?

Thanks,

Ben


(Download)

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Mar 9, 2023 16:11:00   #
ivycreek Loc: North Dakota
 
With HS you can sometimes drop the shutter down to 1/800 and that would help a bit. Are you shooting jpg or raw? do you do any post-processing or take straight out of camera? If you do post you can get aggressive on the noise reduction and then sharpen just the edges (I know how to do it in Adobe Camera Raw and I'm sure other processing software has that ability)

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Mar 9, 2023 16:13:39   #
Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana
 
ivycreek wrote:
With HS you can sometimes drop the shutter down to 1/800 and that would help a bit. Are you shooting jpg or raw? do you do any post-processing or take straight out of camera? If you do post you can get aggressive on the noise reduction and then sharpen just the edges (I know how to do it in Adobe Camera Raw and I'm sure other processing software has that ability)


I am shooting raw, and I do some post processing. I use capture one and have not used any noise reduction yet. I’m hoping to reduce the noise in camera if possible to do less of it in post.

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Mar 9, 2023 17:23:24   #
rcorne001 Loc: Cary, NC
 
Rab-Eye wrote:
I am shooting raw, and I do some post processing. I use capture one and have not used any noise reduction yet. I’m hoping to reduce the noise in camera if possible to do less of it in post.


Download a copy of Topaz Denoise AI. You can try it for free, for a couple weeks if I recall correctly. They do offer a 30 day money back program too. Try it on you images and see if it is something you might like. I have had good luck with images with ISO that high or close to it. (10,000).

I shoot in a horrible gymnasium at 1/000, f2.8, ISO 6400 and exp comp of +5. Images are dark. I do light adjustment and cropping in Lightroom then export to Denoise for noise processing. Works pretty good.

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Mar 9, 2023 18:51:23   #
TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC
 
Use the 50-140 wide open, 1/500 sec, auto ISO, raw and process with a good Denoise Ap such as Topaz. Indoor low light sports is as hard as it gets - it drove me to FF.

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Mar 9, 2023 18:55:09   #
Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana
 
rcorne001 wrote:
Download a copy of Topaz Denoise AI. You can try it for free, for a couple weeks if I recall correctly. They do offer a 30 day money back program too. Try it on you images and see if it is something you might like. I have had good luck with images with ISO that high or close to it. (10,000).

I shoot in a horrible gymnasium at 1/000, f2.8, ISO 6400 and exp comp of +5. Images are dark. I do light adjustment and cropping in Lightroom then export to Denoise for noise processing. Works pretty good.
Download a copy of Topaz Denoise AI. You can try ... (show quote)


Thank you for the recommendation.

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Mar 9, 2023 18:55:33   #
Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana
 
TriX wrote:
Use the 50-140 wide open, 1/500 sec, auto ISO, raw and process with a good Denoise Ap such as Topaz. Indoor low light sports is as hard as it gets - it drove me to FF.


That’s very helpful. Thank you so much.

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Mar 10, 2023 08:07:31   #
raymondh Loc: Walker, MI
 
I stopped trying to shoot tight with a telephoto. I miss to much & f2.8 is about the best you can do wide open. Since you can generally sit close enough to courtside, I find an 85 prime works well & the f1.8 negates a lot of noise. I also use a nifty 50 if I’m close to the end of the court. Post processing involves some cropping & a little Topaz Denoise.

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Mar 10, 2023 08:26:30   #
Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana
 
raymondh wrote:
I stopped trying to shoot tight with a telephoto. I miss to much & f2.8 is about the best you can do wide open. Since you can generally sit close enough to courtside, I find an 85 prime works well & the f1.8 negates a lot of noise. I also use a nifty 50 if I’m close to the end of the court. Post processing involves some cropping & a little Topaz Denoise.


Not a bad idea! Thanks!

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Mar 10, 2023 09:03:41   #
Jaackil Loc: Massachusetts
 
Rab-Eye wrote:
Here is an example of an image from the Indiana State High School Tournament. I thought I would need a 70-300 so that is what a brought, giving me a maximum aperture of f/4. Next time I'll use my 50-140 f/2.8, which will buy me one more stop of light. I shot at 1/1000 of a second, giving me an ISO of 128000 using Auto-ISO. As you can see, the result was a lot of noise. Other than using the f/2.8, does anyone have any suggestions for me?

Thanks,

Ben

That is an excellent shot. Can you get courtside? If you can this shot would become great from the lower angle. Lens selection, I shoot a lot of Ice Hockey which is very challenging. Rinks are dark and the white ice and boards really drive the metering crazy. My go to lenses are my 50 1.8 and 85 1.8. If you can get courtside those should be enough focal length and give you enough speed.
You mention that you try to reduce noise the best you can in camera. The reality is if you are shooting any indoor sports you are going to have to let go of that and accept post processing as a necessary evil. The other thing I personally had to let go of when shooting sports is pixel peeping. The reality is you are shooting action not a portrait. No one is zooming in to see if the iris of the eye is tack sharp. The viewer is looking at the action. The average viewer won’t even see the noise we see.

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Mar 10, 2023 09:14:12   #
Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana
 
Jaackil wrote:
That is an excellent shot. Can you get courtside? If you can this shot would become great from the lower angle. Lens selection, I shoot a lot of Ice Hockey which is very challenging. Rinks are dark and the white ice and boards really drive the metering crazy. My go to lenses are my 50 1.8 and 85 1.8. If you can get courtside those should be enough focal length and give you enough speed.
You mention that you try to reduce noise the best you can in camera. The reality is if you are shooting any indoor sports you are going to have to let go of that and accept post processing as a necessary evil. The other thing I personally had to let go of when shooting sports is pixel peeping. The reality is you are shooting action not a portrait. No one is zooming in to see if the iris of the eye is tack sharp. The viewer is looking at the action. The average viewer won’t even see the noise we see.
That is an excellent shot. Can you get courtside?... (show quote)


Thanks so much, Jaackil! You make some excellent points. Sitting courtside would probably be easy for regular season games but much harder during the tournament. Native Hoosiers take their high school basketball very seriously!

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Mar 10, 2023 11:10:22   #
fosis Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
 
I presume you had a typo, as 128,000 ISO, likely 12,800 right?
Anyway, I have No problem shooting at 15,600 with an Olympus EM-1 II, using Topaz DeNoise or PhotoAI, so long as my shutter speed is at least 1/1000. Don't let motion blur compromise your sharpness! There are also other denoise software packages as well. And if you can, without letting whites overexpose, kick up the ISO and lighten the overall exposure. It helps cut the noise and keeps the shadow detail.

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Mar 10, 2023 11:26:22   #
Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana
 
fosis wrote:
I presume you had a typo, as 128,000 ISO, likely 12,800 right?
Anyway, I have No problem shooting at 15,600 with an Olympus EM-1 II, using Topaz DeNoise or PhotoAI, so long as my shutter speed is at least 1/1000. Don't let motion blur compromise your sharpness! There are also other denoise software packages as well. And if you can, without letting whites overexpose, kick up the ISO and lighten the overall exposure. It helps cut the noise and keeps the shadow detail.


Oops! A typo indeed. Thanks for your help!

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Mar 10, 2023 13:39:33   #
Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada
 
Rab-Eye wrote:
Here is an example of an image from the Indiana State High School Tournament. I thought I would need a 70-300 so that is what a brought, giving me a maximum aperture of f/4. Next time I'll use my 50-140 f/2.8, which will buy me one more stop of light. I shot at 1/1000 of a second, giving me an ISO of 128000 using Auto-ISO. As you can see, the result was a lot of noise. Other than using the f/2.8, does anyone have any suggestions for me?

Thanks,

Ben


Hi Rab-Eye:
This is a nice shot. A couple of things that have been already mention here in the post. I will second the idea of being as close to the court as possible. Try to fill the frame in the camera, an 85 1.8 or 50mm 1.8 are nice lenses for right under the basket. Shoot at 1/800 for girls 1/640 if you have a steady hand. Topaz is another good idea to remove noise, it works.
F4 is not open enough for the hs gyms, no way. Close, open the lens, and you will be fine. Close means under the basket or on the 3 point area. You will be fine and good luck.
Jules

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Mar 10, 2023 16:25:09   #
Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana
 
Jules Karney wrote:
Hi Rab-Eye:
This is a nice shot. A couple of things that have been already mention here in the post. I will second the idea of being as close to the court as possible. Try to fill the frame in the camera, an 85 1.8 or 50mm 1.8 are nice lenses for right under the basket. Shoot at 1/800 for girls 1/640 if you have a steady hand. Topaz is another good idea to remove noise, it works.
F4 is not open enough for the hs gyms, no way. Close, open the lens, and you will be fine. Close means under the basket or on the 3 point area. You will be fine and good luck.
Jules
Hi Rab-Eye: br This is a nice shot. A couple of t... (show quote)


Jules, coming from you your support really means a lot. Your basketball work is outstanding. Thank you for the good advice and for taking the trouble to share your knowledge with me!

All the best,

Ben

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