Low light sports - advice needed

cooligPhoto

Can anybody advise me on shooting sports (soccer in this instance) in low light conditions.

I was out last Friday evening shooting at a social soccer tournament and the light was really bad. I had the camera set to auto everything except for ISO fixed at 100.

Should I set manual shutter at, say, 1/500 and aperture to f2.8 and ISO to auto? I want to ensure I stop the action and setting 2.8 manual would ensure I always get the most light in. I'm using Nikon D80 and D2X but not sure about the quality if the ISO starts climbing. The D80 has 80-200mm 2.8 on it and the D2X has 28-70mm 2.8 - the pitches are short so I can reach the opposite goal with the D80/80-200 and use the D2X/28-70 for the near goal.

I ended up having to sharpen most of my shots last Friday and plan to go out again this Friday for the next round.

Any advice from those experienced in this line would be greatly appreciated.

Paulw

Set the ISO as high as you're comfortable with. For low light, I'd use ISO 800 to ISO 1600 (sometimes even ISO 3200).

Set your shutter speed (depending on lens) to about 1/400 or faster, depending on what you can get.

If you use Shutter Priority, then this will set your aperture.

Ricky91t

Well paul has really answered your question,You could have a look at noise ninja maybe download the trial and if it does well buy a lisence for it quiet cheap!

Paulw

Noise and sharp is a lot better than soft and blurred.

Noise is not such a bad thing.

Besides, in print, noise is much less noticeable than on the web.

It really depends on what you will be doing with the end product.

Ricky91t

Just downloaded noise ninja
and it works well

Ballyman

Another question.

If you are having problems because of low light getting 1/400 and have a 300mm f/4, could you not shoot raw, underexpose by 1 stop to get f/2.8 and fix the underexposure in LR afterwards?

Seems like a cheaper option than a 300mm f/2.8! Would it work so that the pic would be useable or would you lose too much detail underexposing for it to work properly?

Paulw

The 300mm f/4 lens is slightly slower to focus than the f/2.8, as well as that, the lower light conditions mean that the camera has to work that much harder to get focus and take the shot.

That's why the vast majority of sports shooters get the 300 f/2.8, 400mm f/2.8 lenses.

There are also plenty of times when you won't even be able to get 1/400 and f/2.8 because the light is so poor, even at ISO 3200.

City-Exile

If you're firing off bursts of shots, your camera will be less capable, when shooting in RAW. You'll also fill your card more quickly.
I almost never shoot RAW at games, except maybe for team shots & presentations.