Hockey camera settings

[BEphoto]

Just got up here to the rink and yeah, the lighting is pretty aweful. I haven't brought in my camera yet because i've got a few places to go first, but just by looking at it I've got a feeling that 1/500 and faster are gonna be a bit tricky. I'm really going to try to avoid ISO 1600 with my body, but I'm thinking 800 is gonna be out of the question.

Either way, it'll be a fun challenge.

[AndrewCCM]

Originally Posted by BEphoto

Just got up here to the rink and yeah, the lighting is pretty aweful. I haven't brought in my camera yet because i've got a few places to go first, but just by looking at it I've got a feeling that 1/500 and faster are gonna be a bit tricky. I'm really going to try to avoid ISO 1600 with my body, but I'm thinking 800 is gonna be out of the question.

Either way, it'll be a fun challenge.

Shoot at whatever ISO it takes and clean it up in post. An underexposed or blurry shot is much worse!
Good luck! Heck if I could, I'd come up there and say hi. I just live about 3-4 miles south of the Parks Mall.

[BEphoto]

Just got home. So I shot at ISO 1600 the whole time and my shutters were constantly 1/125 to about 1/200. Some shots got all the way down to 1/60. That was at about +2/3 EV. there wasn't anywhere at all to get a good shot from. The glass made me lose a stop of light of seemed and from above the net wasn't quite blurring out. I could probably heal that out in PS however. Once the mavs game ends I'm gonna take a look and see what I came up with. I'd say 80% of my shots were goalie shots, so maybe I got a good one or two.

Andrew, I live just south of the mall as well. I'm at Green Oaks and New York roughly. We should go shoot sometime. Do you shoot much else other than sports?

[AndrewCCM]

Originally Posted by BEphoto

Just got home. So I shot at ISO 1600 the whole time and my shutters were constantly 1/125 to about 1/200. Some shots got all the way down to 1/60. That was at about +2/3 EV. there wasn't anywhere at all to get a good shot from. The glass made me lose a stop of light of seemed and from above the net wasn't quite blurring out. I could probably heal that out in PS however. Once the mavs game ends I'm gonna take a look and see what I came up with. I'd say 80% of my shots were goalie shots, so maybe I got a good one or two.

Andrew, I live just south of the mall as well. I'm at Green Oaks and New York roughly. We should go shoot sometime. Do you shoot much else other than sports?

I shoot LOTS of things. Probably 25-30 weddings a year as well with KJ (KJIMAGES.COM).

My website www.crystalclearmedia.com has a decent variety of stuff that I do, but I keep the wedding stuff there to a minimum. I am NOT INTERESTED in promoting wedding bookings AT ALL. Just turned another one down today. I also work with some local writers/directors on short film projects just for the fun of it. Mainly the technical part (Audio/Video)...but I am just starting to get back into that. Used to shoot video exclusively prior to stills...

BTW: I would suggest next time using manual exposure or TV shutter priority (if your shutter is diving too low)...

[BEphoto]

Originally Posted by AndrewCCM

BTW: I would suggest next time using manual exposure or TV shutter priority (if your shutter is diving too low)...

Yeah, the first thing i thought about when i got home was that i should have just found the correct exposure and set it to that in manual, rather than it moving all over the place. I dont know why it didnt dawn on me at that point.

So far, the ones ive looked at im pretty disappointed in the quality at ISO 1600. They are decent enough for the web, but no way could they ever be used any larger. WAY too much noise. I'll post a 100% crop in a sec once i finish browsing them.

All and all, id say this attempt was a failure, but a learning experience. I'll probably keep away from shooting there until i have a better body, at least a 40D. It was still a good time however, just got frustrating trying to find a spot to shoot from. That lens though, wow. The pics i did get that werent blurry from motion are tack sharp.

BEphoto added 12 Minutes and 31 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

So... I just updated my DPP. i still had the one that came new with my XT in 06, i think version 2.0. I had no idea that the new version had noise reduction on it. Wow, it actually works great! Im starting to get excited now that some of these shots may actually turn out quite nice. I'll update here in a few.

[AndrewCCM]

Noise Ninja, Noiseware, and Neat Image are excellent NR tools to look into too sometime.

Next time you go up there.. let me know ahead of time and perhaps I can meet you up there and let you try out a different body just for the heck of it. I have a 50D that probably has 75 clicks on it that is just screaming to be used. LOL

Regardless, it might just be fun meeting out to shoot like you mentioned. I am located in Fannin Farm (nearly in Mansfield...between Cooper and Bowen... South of Sublett).

[BEphoto]

Originally Posted by AndrewCCM

Noise Ninja, Noiseware, and Neat Image are excellent NR tools to look into too sometime.

Next time you go up there.. let me know ahead of time and perhaps I can meet you up there and let you try out a different body just for the heck of it. I have a 50D that probably has 75 clicks on it that is just screaming to be used. LOL

Regardless, it might just be fun meeting out to shoot like you mentioned. I am located in Fannin Farm (nearly in Mansfield...between Cooper and Bowen... South of Sublett).

Cool! I'd love to shoot the 50D. That is my "practical" camera body upgrade option, but with the prices that 40D's are going for used, they are probably the best bang for the buck. I love the LCD on the 50 though, its so bright!

BEphoto added 88 Minutes and 31 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

Alright, so after running them all through DPP and PS, here are some of my favs from the night. Im really glad i got the noise level down to a minimum, compared to how it looked straight out of camera.

These definitely arent the best shots ever, but i think i did okay with the lighting i had to deal with. Hope you all like! sorry for big files.

[AndrewCCM]

Brad... I think those came out much better than I was expecting (from your initial description...LOL).

Good job!

[BEphoto]

Thanks! I'm actually really happy with how well they cleaned up. Just NR in DPP and a despeckle and USM in PS. (trying to use every acronym in the book apparently). The RAW 100% files looked God aweful. Headed to bed. Gotta be at the AAC from 10am-10:30pm tomorrow. Bleh.

[AndrewCCM]

I'll be there.. but not for those hours! LOL