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Hello, everyone! I am interested in taking some pictures of my nephew in an upcoming football game. For those of you who take night-time or sports photos, could you share your set up like lens selection, aperture, flash or no flash, etc.? I have a Canon Rebel XSI and experimented this past Friday using the Canon EF 75-300 mm (f/4-5.6 III USM) lens. Of course, not being the most put-together person, I did not bring an external flash. I had the ISO jacked up to 800 and the pics have quite a bit of noise. I also had my camera set for a shutter speed of 1/500. Can anyone offer any advice???
Hi teach,

Welcome to the forum. Several people here do that kind of thing, hopefully one or more of them will see your post and Q.

I have a 300mm f4:5.6 and, unfortunately, that's not very fast. Your probable distance from the subject is going to severely limit the effectiveness of your flash, even a good speedlight. What quality of exposure were you getting at 1/500th? The more it's underexposed, the more noise you are going to get. You may want to experiment with a slower shutter speed; 1/250th will double your light and you are probably far enough away from the action to get acceptable results -- give it a try and see what happens.

As I say, others do this kind of thing and I'll bet you soon see some posts with actual settings they use.

Rusty
There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness" - Dave Barry

If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough. - Robert Capa

www.prestophoto.com/photos/gallery/19932
Christell and DeedeeO are the reigning football picture queens around here. Haven't seen deedee in a long time but I would suggest sending them each a private message and if you get a chance browse their galleries for some cool stuff to do with the photos.
Hi teach and welcome. Unfortunately the lens you are using is not going to get very good night football pics. Even if you used an external flash, it wouldn't help much. I have tried the same lens as you and a couple others numerous time on numerous settings and failed miserably to get a decent shot without noise. If you are going to be doing night games you are going to need a lens that is f/1.8 or f2.8.

Kim
My Creations
Canon 40D, Canon 28-135mm IS lens, Canon 300D, Canon 18-55mm lens, CS3


Kimz Kreationz Blog
Thanks everyone for your responses. I kind of figured I needed a f/2.8 lens, but was hoping I was wrong. Oh, well! I guess I get to save up for maybe next year. Thanks again for your help!! :thanks:
Sorry we couldn't give you better answer. The f2.8 is on my list as my next lens too even though my son has decided not to play football anymore.
Hope you stick around the forum.

Kim
My Creations
Canon 40D, Canon 28-135mm IS lens, Canon 300D, Canon 18-55mm lens, CS3


Kimz Kreationz Blog
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