300D user (me) needs help with action exposures

[Allen]

I've had my Digital Rebel now for 2 1/2 years. The one thing that bothers me most is I've never gotten around to mastering exposures, especially for sports/action situations. Here's how I do it now...

I always use MANUAL settings...set my ISO to something that will allow for a high shutter speed. But then, when I need more or less light I'll just keep twirling the shutter wheel until I find what appears to be the correct exposure using the meter in the viewfinder. The majority of the time my exposures are off. Fortuneatly I shoot in RAW so a lot of it can be corrected.

I know there has to be a better, more precise way to do this, right? It'll be quite some time before I'm able to afford to buy any more prime lenses. I do own the cheap, but nifty Canon 50mm.

Can anyone out there help me find a better way?

Thanks.

[cmalana]

Use a gray card or a lightmeter to determine exposure and then stick with it.

You can't use the LCD to judge correct exposure. To a certain point, you can use the histogram but I'd still go with the lightmeter.

I shoot M mode for most sports (unless it's partly cloudy and lighting conditions are ever changing, in which case I'll switch to Av and figure out what kind of EC is needed for the particular shot. For example, if the field looks pretty dark, I may have to adjust EC down since everything might get over exposed.

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by Allen

I've had my Digital Rebel now for 2 1/2 years. The one thing that bothers me most is I've never gotten around to mastering exposures, especially for sports/action situations. Here's how I do it now...

I always use MANUAL settings...set my ISO to something that will allow for a high shutter speed. But then, when I need more or less light I'll just keep twirling the shutter wheel until I find what appears to be the correct exposure using the meter in the viewfinder. The majority of the time my exposures are off. Fortuneatly I shoot in RAW so a lot of it can be corrected.

I know there has to be a better, more precise way to do this, right? It'll be quite some time before I'm able to afford to buy any more prime lenses. I do own the cheap, but nifty Canon 50mm.

Can anyone out there help me find a better way?
Thanks.

Hi Allen,

I shoot in Aperture Priority. But first I bust out my handy dandy Lastolite Grey/White Balance Card to creat a custom WB for the type of lighting that day. I use a 70-200L f/2.8. So of course I'll set my f/stop to 2.8. On bright sunny days I set the ISO to 100-200, and the shutter will jump from 1/1000 - 1/2500 depending on cloud coverage or shadows.

[LonestarMan]

Originally Posted by Allen

I always use MANUAL settings...set my ISO to something that will allow for a high shutter speed. But then, when I need more or less light I'll just keep twirling the shutter wheel until I find what appears to be the correct exposure using the meter in the viewfinder. The majority of the time my exposures are off.

Thanks.

I would shoot Tv ( Shutter Priority) set the shutter speed to the fast shutter speed you want and let the camera do the "twirling" for you. Shooting sports, I have no time for twirling, I need to be watching and shooting. If the aperture starts to get too wide open, and will decrease the DOF, back off the shutter speed if you can afford it or up the ISO to get the stop back.

Thats my thoughts anyway.

[Allen]

Thanks for the pointers...I'll give them a try.