Shooting sports in low light venues...

[CSPStudios]

Abel, if this needs to be moved feel free.

HELP! :) From any sports shooters.

Here's the thing. I own a Canon 50D and I d rent a 70-200L (non IS) Series at 2.8 for games and I am golden till the last two night games. The stadium has 4 banks of flourescent lighting that up high and angled making for harsh shadows and uneven lighting at the center of the field. Problem is I jack up my ISO to 800 and I start getting grain and a tiny bit of noise. 1600 is even worse. I'm looking for any tips, settings and tricks that I might have missed 'cause I've tried everything I know to do and I'm not happy with the quality of the photos until I put on my little 50 @ f 1.8 which gives me a halfway decent exposure starting, but I lose my reach and I don't want to trade one for the other. All suggestions welcome and you can email me at capturedsoulsphotos@gmail.com

Thanks!

[cfortner]

Really you shouldn't be getting any grain or noise at 800 ISO on a 50D. Your best bet it to provide some sample images that contain the noise your talking about that have included EXIF info so the pro's around here can see exactly what your talking about and what your shooting specs are.

[rockpics]

You may already be doing these things, but here's what I've done on the 50D to reduce noise. It seems to work for 1600 ISO and even to some extent 3200 ISO. I turn on in camera high ISO noise reduction and set to standard. Canon's noise reduction does a good job of preserving detail in my opinion. Then, I set exposure compensation to +1/3 stop and bring down in post if I don't like the look (this is called "shooting to the right").

Edit: I use DPP (which comes with the camera) as my raw converter, and it preserves my in-camera settings until I change them. I can decrease the exposure in DPP 1/3 stop with no penalty to the image in terms of quality.

[Abel]

definitely posting a non cropped version of a sample photo would help us out a lot in seeing exactly what you're seeing...

800 should have some grain/noise but it shouldnt be all that bad.

[Outlaw]

I've shot class 3-A and 1-A high school sports for over a decade now, and I've seen some real dungeons. For low light, which is almost everything I shoot, I use almost exclusively ISO 3200 - keeping my shutter speed up is most important for me. On my 40D, it makes for some noisy images, but Camera RAW in Photoshop (CS4, for me) does a good enough job of cleaning them up.

What's acceptable to me as a newspaper photojournalist, as far as noise, may be quite different for you. If you can't get the light you need at the ISO you want, your only option is to create more light. There's a rodeo arena here in Bandera that is just impossible to shoot in - maybe 1/30 at 2.8, ISO 3200 - so one rodeo photog who stayed here for a couple years brought big strobes and PocketWizards every Friday night and made his own light.

I've not seen field sports lit with strobes, but certainly gyms.

The 'creative alternative' I've had to employ is to switch over to a good wide angle lens and shoot the sport with a different purpose. Instead of trying to capture every peak action moment on the field, you have to work the bench and sidelines, work the environment, work the crowd, the lockerroom, the weight room, the bus, the huddle, the stadium - you take your viewer into the story, into the sport, the experience.

It's a completely different style of sports photography, but it's effective, and it still sells well if that's your end goal. I'll work both the action and the off-action about equally over the course of a season for the newspaper.

[Tom]

Don't be afraid to bump the ISO.

I'm shooting in the Toyota Center at 1/800th F/2.8 2500ISO.

Bump it where you need it. It may have more grain, but I would rather have more grain and get the shot than no grain and miss the shot.

[peeker]

Up until the other day, I've shot HS baseball with my 50d up to 3200. Yes there is grain, but I put my images through Nik define and it clears a lot up, especially if the shot us properly exposed. Grain and underexposed is near impossible to make it look correct.

[rockpics]

Another note, the 50D had a firmware update a while back that fixed some banding issues
seen at high ISO. You might check to see if you are up to date.

[Tom]

Like said before - absolutely nailing the exposure is the most critical part. Shoot in manual so you aren't bumping down or up as the camera meters on different things.