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Best settings for rugby action
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The guys who do this day in day out dont have a sports mode 
I started off using AV and spot metering letting the shutter speed do what it wanted ISO I would set as low as I could, not great to be honest shutter speeds would often drop too low as you often just decide to sit there and shoot let the camera do everything.
Work in manual and things improve, you may get the freak occasion where the sun pokes through the clouds for 30 seconds and everything blows out but you change your settings and carry on.
So to freeze the action you need a fast shutter speed nothing else really matters, blured photos you can't do anything with so set your camera up to give you about 1/1000th of a second so wide open and bump the ISO up it depends on the conditions what you can get away with. There is flexability with the shutter speed it is dependant on the age of who you are shooting, 7 year olds dont move or throw the ball as quick as 16 year olds so you can slow it down a little for younger kids but I wouldnt go below 1/640 but you can if they are running towards you, there is no set rule.
I started off using AV and spot metering letting the shutter speed do what it wanted ISO I would set as low as I could, not great to be honest shutter speeds would often drop too low as you often just decide to sit there and shoot let the camera do everything.
Work in manual and things improve, you may get the freak occasion where the sun pokes through the clouds for 30 seconds and everything blows out but you change your settings and carry on.
So to freeze the action you need a fast shutter speed nothing else really matters, blured photos you can't do anything with so set your camera up to give you about 1/1000th of a second so wide open and bump the ISO up it depends on the conditions what you can get away with. There is flexability with the shutter speed it is dependant on the age of who you are shooting, 7 year olds dont move or throw the ball as quick as 16 year olds so you can slow it down a little for younger kids but I wouldnt go below 1/640 but you can if they are running towards you, there is no set rule.
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Little John is right, it's all about the shutter speed (and positioning). I'd say nothing below 1/500th although do try a slow shutter speed and pan if they are running down the wing with people chasing - quite fun. TV mode to set the shutter speed and then up the iso until it's happy. Getting onto this time of year you'll be up around iso 400-800, higher when it rains.
At the fast shutter speed you'll freeze the action. On a close clop you'll find there's small bits of mud and grass thrown up and frozen adding to the action.
Try and get the ball in the picture.
If you are shooting children, youth rugby, then for positioning you can shoot from the sidelines, pick the opposite side to the parents and then with some depth of field (f8 say) you'll get parents reactions in the background. The other good position is at the end of the pitch between corner flag and posts. Pick the end so your team is heading towards you.
I used to use a 100-400, but the 70-300 should easily cover half the pitch.
Of course if it all goes wrong and the game is one sided, move
40D is fairly weather proof, not sure the 70-300 is. large freezer bags work great when it's raining and a thick garden bin liner works well to put your camera bag into when it gets muddy, or for a temp groundmat. Mind you, a roll of those is handy for the players to put their muddy kit in anyway.
Hope this helps.
At the fast shutter speed you'll freeze the action. On a close clop you'll find there's small bits of mud and grass thrown up and frozen adding to the action.
Try and get the ball in the picture.
If you are shooting children, youth rugby, then for positioning you can shoot from the sidelines, pick the opposite side to the parents and then with some depth of field (f8 say) you'll get parents reactions in the background. The other good position is at the end of the pitch between corner flag and posts. Pick the end so your team is heading towards you.
I used to use a 100-400, but the 70-300 should easily cover half the pitch.
Of course if it all goes wrong and the game is one sided, move
40D is fairly weather proof, not sure the 70-300 is. large freezer bags work great when it's raining and a thick garden bin liner works well to put your camera bag into when it gets muddy, or for a temp groundmat. Mind you, a roll of those is handy for the players to put their muddy kit in anyway.
Hope this helps.
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You need to get away from the beginners settings like sports mode ASAP.
They are the photographic equivalent of stabilisers on a bike. You need to have more control.
For rugby, I'd be starting with the following:
Tv at 1/640 sec
continous shooting, and continuous autofocus.
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I agree with what both above have said , i have used the very same combnation 40 D & 70-300m IS Lens for rugby in the past. You will reach other side of pitch know problem. I even used a mono-pod in the dark winter months as well , every little helps to prevent shakes.
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Deep breath mate... count to ten.... another deep breath..... then go for the throat
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I seriously despair mate.Deep breath mate... count to ten.... another deep breath..... then go for the throat
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Ive used AV, wide open and ISO ranging from 400 to 1600 depending on lighting. Ultimately im looking for an absolute minimum 1/640th shutter speed .
Last season i used manual but auto ISO locking wide open, 1/640th and letting the camera choose ISO. That also worked but im unsure if intermediate step isos are giving me more noise than discrete steps or not. I didnt get enough evidence to show either way.
Metering was centre weighted most of the time, occasionally spot as the lighting changes very very often with cloud, sun, shade of stand vs sun covered pitch and so on.
Continuous shot mode to fire off a burst. RAW in case noise needs PP (especially late afternoon winter games where iso 3200 isnt unheard of.
Last season i used manual but auto ISO locking wide open, 1/640th and letting the camera choose ISO. That also worked but im unsure if intermediate step isos are giving me more noise than discrete steps or not. I didnt get enough evidence to show either way.
Metering was centre weighted most of the time, occasionally spot as the lighting changes very very often with cloud, sun, shade of stand vs sun covered pitch and so on.
Continuous shot mode to fire off a burst. RAW in case noise needs PP (especially late afternoon winter games where iso 3200 isnt unheard of.
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Heres just one little snippet
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The best advice is to look at the advice already given in other threads.. lots of them.. all of which stay away from Tv mode....the advice you give will no doubt work. But its not the best advice.. Shutter speed is the most important.. but then so is aperture and iso last.. with Tv you havn't much control over aperture.. with Av you ahve easier control over both by changing iso to effect the shutter rather than changing it to effect the aperture
not saying your advice is wrong.. if it works for you then great.. with photogrpahy theres always more than one way to do things...but generaly the trend for sports is Av mode followed by manual mode until your happy with both and can choose ...
The only time I use Tv mode is in the auto iso in manual workaround.. but i am pretty much disabling tv mode by limiting the aperture anyway.
Oh and just so we are clear.. i didnt comment or poo poo your post.. I commented on Garys reactions
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I've found Av works best for me but I would set the ISO myself (although the latest firmware upgrade on the 7D now lets you set a max ISO so I may use that option too).
Position wise, I'll tend to start at the halfway line, if "my team" are doing well I'll move to the end they're attacking and get by one of the corner flags, around 3-5m from the dead ball line (I think that's what it's called.... any closer and my 100-400 is too long to fet a player in frame) in the hope I can get a try or two being scored.
Still learning lots about the game itself but as you learn you also see patterns in play which can help you get better shots
The other advantage is that you can usually get better backgrounds (i.e. no spectators) and see the faces of the players as they run towards you.
Position wise, I'll tend to start at the halfway line, if "my team" are doing well I'll move to the end they're attacking and get by one of the corner flags, around 3-5m from the dead ball line (I think that's what it's called.... any closer and my 100-400 is too long to fet a player in frame) in the hope I can get a try or two being scored.
Still learning lots about the game itself but as you learn you also see patterns in play which can help you get better shots
The other advantage is that you can usually get better backgrounds (i.e. no spectators) and see the faces of the players as they run towards you.
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Oh dear...Never chase the game
Still learning lots about the game itself but as you learn you also see patterns in play which can help you get better shots
Absoloutly.. the more you know about the game and/or players then the better the shots for sure!
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Oh dear...Never chase the game
I try not to as much as I can and usually pick a moment when my Brother-in-law takes a "tactical lay-down" on the pitch (he does that a lot)
Sometimes I have no option but two stand between the 1st & 2nd team pitches..... that brings a whole new World of "challenges", the main one being not having eyes in the back of my head to see when I'm going to be wearing a rugby ball and/or end up under a heap of muddy rugby players
Not sure what sort of season Rochford Hundred are going to have this year, they're in London North 1 and only just avoided relegation last season. They played the team that should have won the division last year (if they hadn't lost 25 points for playing an unsigned player) and got beat 99-0
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The best advice is to look at the advice already given in other threads.. lots of them.. all of which stay away from Tv mode....the advice you give will no doubt work. But its not the best advice.. Shutter speed is the most important.. but then so is aperture and iso last.. with Tv you havn't much control over aperture.. with Av you ahve easier control over both by changing iso to effect the shutter rather than changing it to effect the aperture
not saying your advice is wrong.. if it works for you then great.. with photogrpahy theres always more than one way to do things...but generaly the trend for sports is Av mode followed by manual mode until your happy with both and can choose ...
The only time I use Tv mode is in the auto iso in manual workaround.. but i am pretty much disabling tv mode by limiting the aperture anyway.
Oh and just so we are clear.. i didnt comment or poo poo your post.. I commented on Garys reactions
Cheers chap, that's much more useful feedback and helps point out inaccuracies from the people who do this lots. Sometimes just being told to search isn't the most useful as there just a few threads on here
For the record I shot in AV, but made sure I kept the shutter speed up. I used to shoot juniors, which was easy with the 70-200, f2.8 on 1/3 or 1/2 pitch (narrow depth of field to isolate players was great), but I had to move to the 100-400 when they progressed to full pitch. It was also easier as they didn't move as fast.
I shot the first team for a season. That was fun, though the hangovers weren't
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Sometimes just being told to search isn't the most useful as there just a few threads on here
Valid point, but to be honest it's a bit of a PITA to have to type the same info out time and time again when a quick search will reveal lots of threads with heaps of useful tips.
It's probably about time that someone rewrote James' basic tutorial for shooting sports that he pulled last year, so that it could be stickied and act as a source document. Unfortunately I haven't time at the moment (plus I'm working on another doc), but if no one else steps up I'll try to remember to do one over the winter.
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Set the dial to sports mode
haha I had to buy a 1dmkII and get rid of the 10d to force myself to stop using sport mode
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Exact same myself mate.haha I had to buy a 1dmkII and get rid of the 10d to force myself to stop using sport mode
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Gary Coyle said:Exact same myself mate.
+1 on this also, I had a 550D before my 1D mkiii, it was never out of auto until I joined here but found myself jumping back to auto out of frustration, as others will confirm, no such luxury on the 1D so I was forced to learn and glad I did