Camera Settings for Nighttime HS Football?

[Matt_G]

I dont think the camera will make a difference for this one really.. they might not meter "exactly" the same but its close and it wouldnt change this question IMO. I know my Nikon buddies are always within 1/3 a stop of my settings. Ill vote if you make a poll

The auto ISO does make for an interesting side argument to this.... but I still feel under consistent light that Manual is the way to get the best results. I watched my meter tonight as I shot and it was all over the place ...

[90 5.0]

Originally Posted by Matt_G

I dont think the camera will make a difference for this one really.. they might not meter "exactly" the same but its close and it wouldnt change this question IMO. I know my Nikon buddies are always within 1/3 a stop of my settings. Ill vote if you make a poll

The auto ISO does make for an interesting side argument to this.... but I still feel under consistent light that Manual is the way to get the best results. I watched my meter tonight as I shot and it was all over the place ...

That's the thing though,

A) The op's shooting area doesn"t have anywhere near consistent light from what I was gathering from her posts.

B) Like I mentioned before I don't believe any acceptable shots will come from using the highest iso setting in a d80, the noise is so atrocious it's unbelievable

My recommendations would have given some soft/blurry shots due to slower shutter speeds, but at the given iso and the nonconsitancy of the light with the camera she is using, I truly believe her best chance to get an acceptable shot in those conditions.

But like I said earlier, I don't shoot football very often. But I am the only one chiming in that shoots with the camera that she does, and that makes a lot of difference.

I do know that ap for me works better than manual shooting Motorsports at night and a drag car is moving a lot faster than a person. The light levels change dramatically when it passes under lights, which is the way I would expect it to be with her lighting conditions.


But like everything else what works for one person the best won't work the best for everyone. It really boils down to trying it all and seeing what works for you.




I just hope she got some good results regardless and would like to see the outcome of her endeavors.

[andyz]

The night game I was scheduled to shoot was canceled because of the shootings on Ft Hood last Thursday night. I was going to experiment with some of these settings.

I want to ask those of you with the experience why there would be a difference when the ISO, aperture and shutter are set in the Av mode or Shutter priority or manual, if the settings are the same? Or is it that the lighting/compositional differences actually trigger settings variations and there is more consistency in one mode over the other?

[RandySmith]

The field I shoot at has 8 lights per pole (only 4 poles to illuminate the field).

I have tried to use aperture priority resulting in shutter speeds going to 1/30 or below, which results in totally unacceptable photos. I have tried to shoot with a fill-in flash and have had some success, but unfortunately, the field lighting conditions just don't help much. I shot an "away" game that had only 4-lights per pole ... now that was a dungeon ! So the best I could do was cover the game up until the sun departed from the sky. Hopefully, one of these days I'll get an opportunity to cover a game that has good field lights.

[Matt_G]

I want to ask those of you with the experience why there would be a difference when the ISO, aperture and shutter are set in the Av mode or Shutter priority or manual, if the settings are the same?

There will be no difference.

The question in this poll has nothing to do with ISO ability, noise, or amount of light on a field. The question is what setting do peple prefer. Manual - user decides everything and camera meter does nothing... Av/Tv the camera meter "helps" with one of the settings based on the meter.

The problem I see with using the camera to meter for night football is the drastic change in backgrounds...pitch black, reflective stands, turf etc. Even using spot metering the uniforms are typically very different which will cause issues. When I was first learing I used Av and had shutter speeds from 1/100 to 1/1000 yet the field was fairly consistent 1/500 after I shot there more and learned.

[dminton]

Originally Posted by 90 5.0

I do know that ap for me works better than manual shooting Motorsports at night and a drag car is moving a lot faster than a person. The light levels change dramatically when it passes under lights, which is the way I would expect it to be with her lighting conditions.

And this is where you're wrong.

Unless the football field is lit with street lights lining the sideline, which it isn't, the exposure value is constant. The light sources aren't moving, and the players are so far away from them, that as long as they are on one side of centerline of the field or another, the exposure is constant between the 20 yard lines on most fields (depending on where the lights are placed in relation to the endzones). Light levels then drop off gradually from the 20-15 yard line through the endzone. Field lights are aimed at the center of the field and flood it, they don't just make spots of light on the field right in front of them.

Susan's problem isn't that she's using the wrong shooting mode: it's that the field has such bad lights that no normal settings will work.

[90 5.0]

Originally Posted by dminton

And this is where you're wrong.

Unless the football field is lit with street lights lining the sideline, which it isn't, the exposure value is constant. The light sources aren't moving, and the players are so far away from them, that as long as they are on one side of centerline of the field or another, the exposure is constant between the 20 yard lines on most fields (depending on where the lights are placed in relation to the endzones). Light levels then drop off gradually from the 20-15 yard line through the endzone. Field lights are aimed at the center of the field and flood it, they don't just make spots of light on the field right in front of them.

Susan's problem isn't that she's using the wrong shooting mode: it's that the field has such bad lights that no normal settings will work.

I was under the impression that the lighting was so bad that the lighting wasn't consistent across the field. And another reason for my recommendation was because the lighting was so bad and her camera cannot shoot at 3200 and produce any kind of acceptable results.


And it being so bad that normal setting won't work is why I recommended what I did. Still curious to see what worked and what didn't.

[Matt_G]

I was under the impression that the lighting was so bad that the lighting wasn't consistent across the field. And another reason for my recommendation was because the lighting was so bad and her camera cannot shoot at 3200 and produce any kind of acceptable results.

The first part of this statement is a reason to consider something other than Manual but that should only be the case on a non typical field. The second part has nothing to do with what setting to use. Thats a whole different issue but a vaild one I understand.

I dont see any reason to ever use Shutter Priority unless you are going for a specific effect.

[prairiefire]

Nikon D3, Manual with AutoIso limited at 6400.

WB set with Sekonic 500.