For your basketball lighting, I suggest Shutter speed preferred: 1/400th, with auto ASA. Sometimes I use an +.3 exposure over ride as well. The lighting in gymnasiums is similar, if not better lighted than pools.
Keep in mind that the attached photos are snaps, or grab shots to be used in the end of year slide show/video.
Hope this helps.
Jim

~350-400mm


~200mm


~18mm


~300mm

I recently bought a Tamron 18-400 to use with my D7000. This time of year, my main subject matter is indoor high school competitive swimming. I used to use a Nikon 18-200, and 55-300. Each had their limitations. The 18-400 fits this type of shooting perfectly.
Jim

Thank you.
Jim

I am very pleased with the results using a Nikon D7000 w/14-200 3.5-6.3 Nikor AF-v zoom for basketball and some swimming. For Stadium football and large natatoriums for swimming, I use now the new Tamron 18-400 zoom. The D7000 is a crop camera. I also suggest using fixed shutter speeds of 320 or faster and automatic ASA settings. Before getting the Tamron, I also used the Nikor AF 55-300 zoom.
JC

I have been very pleased with the results and resolution of my D7000. The largest prints I have made are 30" x 48' -3/4 portrait banners of the Seniors on my grandson's HS swim team. They came out excellent. Like others have said, the difference is not worth the price differential.
BTW, I'm probably going to buy the new Tamron zoom to use at the State Championships this weekend.
Jim

This image is an example of "backlit." I had to use a +1.7 stop overexposure to get anything close to a correct exposure on the skintones of the families.

Hope this helps,
JimC

My grandson's HS swimteam recently had 2.5' x 4' posters printed of the Seniors from JPGs I took with my Nikon D7000. Cost for basic banner was only $19.99 + tax. I was extremely pleased with the results. To access this service, go to www.samsclub.com and then to the business tab where the poster printing is available. The images need to be LARGE originals [mine were ~ 8M each] so shoot large. The graphics on the posters to the left were done by me in photoshop prior to submission. The wording on the far right picture [different in-District HS, not my image] were printed in-house by SamsClub as part of the ordering system available. You have to have a SamsClub account to use this service.

This image is also an example for the "backlit" Forum question also contained in this edition of Uglyhedgehog. I had to use a +1.7 stop overexposure to get anything close to a correct exposure on the skintones of the families.

Hope this helps,
JimC

I bought an ASUS netbook with an i5 processor. Probably an i3 processor would be good enough for what you want to do.

You need to be aware that there are stories of increased restrictions on carrying laptops on aircraft.

Jim

Why is it that the left reverts to name calling as the first retort. It doesn't solve or help resolve anything.

I have a new ASUS 14" i5 laptop. Sadly, the HDMI and USBC ports don't have enough power to run several different branded video projectors. I hope when I send it in for repair, they fix it properly. This is my first experience with ASUS- not a good one.

I may not get my earned [not entitlement] military retirement check due to the non-support of the budget [not immigration] bill by the Democrats. For those that try feebly try to say that the Republicans "control" the Senate, it takes 60 v**es to pass legislation. The Republicans have a slender majority of one, but not enough to pass anything by themselves. Therefore, it was the no-v**es of the Democrats that are responsible for failure of this bill. Thank you to the five Democrats that showed enough foresight [or e******n necessity] to support this bill. Shame on the four Republicans [especially RPaul] that didn't v**e for it. BTW, what happened to the Democrats' earlier demands for a "clean" DACA bill?

[1] In 1976, I climbed to the Crest of Mt. St. Hellens in Washington State, before the eruption in 1980 [appox 9000ft]. 2] Mt. Evans and Pike's Peak in Colorado [approximately 14-15000ft]. [3] On May18th, 1980, I was on a United charter flight at 30,000ft. in route to SeaTac from Denver. We were diverted south over the Columbia River basin and up the coastline due to Mt.St.Hellens eruption while we were enroute. From the plane window, I took an image of the mushroom cloud billowing to 60,000ft. from the volcano. [4] Later on May 18-June2, 1980, I rode in a Chanook over the St. Hellens area doing search and rescue/recovery. I was allowed to bring my Olympus OM2 I had a at the time.
Sadly, all of the digitized photos were lost in a robbery of our electronics four years ago. The original negatives grew fungus as a result of a ruptured hot water tank in the storage room when we were out of town, soaking them for days.
Now I'm just an old coot that tries to avoid climbing stairs.
Jim Carter

Your computer is probably changing the aspect ratio of your image from 4:5 [or 8:10] to 9:16 HD screen shape. For more info on how or why this distortion you mention occurs, look at my reply to a math problem question in this edition of the digest, which is kind of the opposite change to your question.
JC

I agree with the above comments about the infallibility of ratios. However the aspect ratio can be changed in PS by going to resize, then uncheck retain constraints at the bottom of the box, then changing the pixel or inch count on sizing to whatever you want. The downside of doing this, is that if you have a landscape image, when resized any figures or shapes will be streched vertically [thinner]. If working with a portrait image, the figures or shapes will become wider [fatter?], kinda like looking in a distorting carnival mirror.
JC

Don't laugh too loud:
I use an "Ugly Stik" fishing tackle bag from Walmart @ $29.99. It is roomy, has large zippered front, 2-side, and top. It also has a mesh back pocket that I keep two 2.5AH usb battery packs in. I take out the plastic tackle dividers and use a little bit of bubble wrap for additional padding. It easily handles my D7000 w/ 18-200 Nikor, 75-300Nikor, Nikon flash unit w/case, and Sony camcorder. It has handle and shoulder strap.
The fact that it doesn't say a camera name is a plus for me. That probably makes it less theft likely. The bag is water resistant. I have gotten caught in hard rains with no leakage.
A lot of my photography is at swimming pools, of competitive swimming. It can also end up in the boat, or car trunk under lots of other [sometimes wet] gear where the water repellance is great.
JimC.