What settings to start with?

BIGEYE

BIGEYE

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Jim
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I am at last getting some dry weather and can go and watch my son playing rugby. Hoping to get some good action shots with my Canon 500D. Being a beginner to photography and would rather not use the sports mode, and take my pictures in manual, where should I start given the following conditions.
  • Camera Canon 500D with 18-55 kit lens
  • Zoom Lens 70-200mm F4 L USM
  • Will be under covered stand and shooting out onto pitch
  • Weather Cloudy but dry
Should I use manual mode, aperture priority, shutter priority or just stick to the sports mode?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
aperture priority with your 70-200 wide open at f/4, white balance set to cloudy (this is my default anyway), iso about 400 should give you enough shutter speed. Have it set to rapid fire and keep clicking! Make sure you have plenty of spare memory cards and batteries.

It might also be a good idea to learn how to back focus.
 
If you can get out of the fixed position of the stand you will get better results.

For settings, I would not use manual but one of the creative zones, most likely Tv (shutter priority) where I am interested in eliminating softnes due to movement. You will need a speed of over 1/350 if you are using that 70-200 at it's longest (Try 1/500).

The camera will set an aperture, make sure it is sufficient to give a reasonable depth of field. You can work towards narrower DoF as you get better. If the aperture is not small enough (higher number), crank up the ISO until it is. Do not worry about noise, as you get better you can work with lower ISO.

Use one of the dynamic AF settings and select all the AF points to be active.

Use the continuous shutter mode.

If you have a monopod, or if you can fashion a temp one (handrail for example) then use it.

One last thing - set all this up in the car or at home before you leave, or you will miss that try as you are fiddling with the AF points etc...
 
Thanks for that, I will try the settings you suggest and post results later. Plenty of info on back focus and will delve in to this another day.
 
Depends what you want your pics to look like f.4 at 200mm is going to give you a fairly shallow DOF my advice would be to have a play before you go.
Obviously the higher the shutter speed you can get the better it will freeze the action. I'd set up and have a play with the settings to see what you can get.
Not sure what the noise handling is like on the 500D but you could consider going to 800 ISO if you can't get a fast enough shutter speed.
 
The23rdman said:
aperture priority with your 70-200 wide open at f/4, white balance set to cloudy (this is my default anyway), iso about 400 should give you enough shutter speed. Have it set to rapid fire and keep clicking! Make sure you have plenty of spare memory cards and batteries.

It might also be a good idea to learn how to back focus.
Click to expand...

Good advice from Dean :thumbs:

What he doesn't emphasise there is that by using Av and the lowest f/number at a reasonably high ISO setting, you are automatically getting the highest shutter speed you can, which is your priority. In that sense, it's kind of shutter-priority too.

The thing to be aware of is that while the basic exposure won't change (unless the light changes) when shooting action like this it's quite common for the background to change a lot between sky and grass and shade, which will mislead the exposure meter.

In which case, take an exposure meter reading (off the grass isn't a bad average usually), check it to make sure on the LCD/histogram, then lock it in manual. Keep an eye on changing light though, especially if it's windy/cloudy.
 
BIGEYE said:
I am at last getting some dry weather and can go and watch my son playing rugby. Hoping to get some good action shots with my Canon 500D. Being a beginner to photography and would rather not use the sports mode, and take my pictures in manual, where should I start given the following conditions.
  • Camera Canon 500D with 18-55 kit lens
  • Zoom Lens 70-200mm F4 L USM
  • Will be under covered stand and shooting out onto pitch
  • Weather Cloudy but dry
Should I use manual mode, aperture priority, shutter priority or just stick to the sports mode?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Stay away from Sports mode and all those other programmed modes at all cost, they're terrible. Not only that but IIRC you can't shoot in RAW in those modes. I pretend my 450D doesn't have them...

I would take Hoppy and 23rdman's advice, Aperture priority is your friend.
 
ki_user said:
Depends what you want your pics to look like f.4 at 200mm is going to give you a fairly shallow DOF my advice would be to have a play before you go.
Obviously the higher the shutter speed you can get the better it will freeze the action. I'd set up and have a play with the settings to see what you can get.
Not sure what the noise handling is like on the 500D but you could consider going to 800 ISO if you can't get a fast enough shutter speed.
Click to expand...

800 ISO will be fine. Noise creeps in but is only really noticeable in poor light, and noise reduction deals with it fairly well. 1600 ISO on the xxxD rebels is a no go zone, though.
 
Ready to leave for the match in an hour, and lighting conditions have suddenly changed to fairly bright sunlight with patchy cloud.
 
Just back from the rugby, my team won 47-7. Reviewed my shots and well pleased with the results althought there is still room for improvement. Settings were left as suggested by Dean, posted a few in the sports forum.

Thanks again guys.
 
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