DSLRUsers.com

Howdy,

I have a little project to do for my nephews football club on Sunday and was wondering if anyone could give me any kind of tips on shooting football pictures.

I really would have loved to have the 80-400VR lens im saving for atm but that isnt going to happen so ill be stuck with my 70-300G lens for most of the shots.

I'm also concerned about the amount of storage space ill have on the day (2 x 1GB and 1 x 256MB cards). My nephew plays in the under 9's and 11's, and that wouldnt have been a problem but now i have the under 17's to shoot as well! I have never shot in JPG before and was wondering if this might be the way to go to gain more shots and hopefully keepers or would this greatly disavantage me come PPing time?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

My biggest suggestion. Borrow a faster lens. I shot a lot of my sons U13's NRL and found 95% were soft and OOF due to the poor quality of the 300G.

Sorry but thats the facts.

Jamie,
70-300G is not bad at all as few members on this board used it with great results, depend on your skills.

Echoing from Sir Tristram,
If you can get your hand on one of those, it'll help also.
Unfortunately, you're in Melbourne I can't help you much.

Nice project you have there. Ideally, you want a nice fast lens. I would even consider by passing the 80-400VR and going for a 70-200VR, at 2.8 you can't beat it, but of course there is the extra expense. The 80-400VR can be a bit slow to focus, but I suppose your photographing kids, not V8's.

The 70-300G is soft, but like Birdy says, it is cable of the odd good shot if in good hands, I've seen landscapes from it that were sharp as a tack.

I would shoot in JPG, you won't be hamstrung to much, and if you're new to PPing, it's easier to fiddle with the images, rather than worrying about light temperture, exposure etc.

With regards to taking pictures of kids, be aware that some people may look at you funny. Don't wear a trench coat. Unfortuantely people have to be suspicious these days, and some are funny about their kids images being taken. There is no legislation that prohibits you, but that doesn't make some people any happier about it.

With regards to actually taking images, you want a nice fast shutter speed, above 1/500. If the only way you can get this is to up the ISO, then do it. You can remove the noise later inPPing. You want the aperture open as much as possible also, more light is good light

Good luck and I look forward to seeing some of your images!

You can get alright results with the 300G - a couple of other threads where I posted some footy photos using a D70s and a 70-300G

http://www.dslrusers.net/viewtopic.php?t=16628

http://www.dslrusers.net/viewtopic.php?t=16158

The problem is that you just get less keepers. The main issue with the performance is that the focusing is SLOW. If it doesn't lock on straight away and decides to hunt, you've lost the shot because it takes 15 minutes for the lens to focus to minimum distance and back to infinity. So basically it is possible to get pretty good shots, but you'll have to work harder for them.

My approach - shoot from behind the goals, or the tryline. The players will run towards you, and it is MUCH easier to focus than trying to follow a subject that is moving from side to side. Try to have the sun behind you. Shoot at 1/500 and faster, and f/8 if there's enough lighting. If you're struggling, then start to bump ISO and maybe aperture, but IMO a grainy sharp photo is preferable to a noise-free blurry one.

I had the chance to use a fellow member's brand spankin' new 80-400VR that he just collected from Birdy at the last mini-meet.. Nice and sharp, the VR really helps shooting at slower shutter speeds, but the focusing speed IMO is only marginally faster than the 70-300G. I wouldn't use it for sports. Aim for the 70-200VR, or the 80-200 as a more affordable alternative.

I just bought an 80-200/2.8 that I am dying to try out, and it will probably get a chance next saturday night at the SCG....

Thanks for the tips and suggestions everyone.

About the suggestion of getting a 70-200VR, I'd love to have one in my kit as would nearly everyone on this forum I'd say, but for me the choice would be the 80-400VR as I need the reach for the kind of photography I enjoy and not so much the speed of the lens. As it is I don’t have either so I'm just going to have to stick with what I have for the time being.

The 70-300G is soft like everyone has said, but also as everyone has said you can sometimes luck out with a good shot or two, but for me for every good image I throw away 25 or so due to camera shake mostly, not so much softness. Camera shake is my biggest concern with this lens, hence wanting a VR style lens.

losfp - I was actually looking for those posts of yours but I couldn’t find them (thanks)! You actually made me laugh about the 15 minutes for the lens to focus because I know EXACTLY what you mean. I try and follow the action through the viewfinder without keeping it in focus and only focus when the focal point you have selected is in the right place, it seems to not want to hunt around as much, well that’s the way I try and deal with it or get around it. Thanks also for the tip about bumping the ISO vs. shutter speed vs. shooting wide open.

Raskill - I made sure that I cleared it with the league and all the parents weeks ago as this was one of my biggest concerns to start with.

Birddog - thanks for the offer of help but ill be in contact soon enough about the 80-400VR.

Jamie,
The 80-400 will be amazing coming from the 70-300G when you get it.

The 80-400 will deliver sharp results from f/5.6+ where with the 70-300G you're looking at f8-11 to extract the best from it.

Another advantage of the 80-400 is the focus limit switch, combined with a bit of technique refinement and practice, it'll deliver.
The 80-400 is focus speed is much improved on a D2 series body, haven't had a chance to play with it on the D200 yet (but not expecting it to be as fantastic as a D2h/x)

If you're looking to shoot under reasonable lighting conditions, either the 70-300 or 80-400 will suffice. Under artificial lighting, you'd need a f/2.8, but I'm thinking if it's just kids having a kick around, it's not going to be that much of a problem.

CF - I'd get a 4GB card off birddog to supplement your storage. You can deal with lens limitations mostly, but when your CF is full, it's full (and it's not much fun rapidly chimping to free up space!).
I find if I shoot an event and know that I have my gear sorted, especially CF storage, I'm far less stressed about it.

Other tips I can think of - check your settings regularly throughout the shoot. It's really easy to bump the shooting mode dial - you think you've been shooting in A, and it's bumped around to M...
Another one I always forget is EV +/- comp. I'll change it for a few frames, then forget to change back! (yeah, I shouldn't ignore those icons in the viewfinder!)