 Phil |
How to shoot action photos Help! need some advice on taking action photos of a volleyball or basketball game. All the action pictures of the players are comming out blurry, while the non moving players and the background are clear. I am using a Minolta STsi camera with 800 speed film in sport mode, with a 100 300 lense and no flash. Thanks
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Piper Lehman |
Sounds like your camera's auto focus is zeroing in on the background. Does your camera have continuous servo AF? Your lens will keep refocusing even when you have the shutter pressed halfway down. Might be easier to use the single servo AF or even manual focusing. I hear a lot of pros say that it's easier for them to focus manually since they are well practiced at doing so with older lenses. Your lens might be a tad slow in the AF department as well. Better lenses will operate a lot quicker on a moving subject than some third-party brands. I was amazed at the difference when got my first Nikon prime tele AF lens.
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Phil |
To Piper L. MY camera does have continuous AF, next time I try without it. Don't understand about the lens being slow means. Thanks for the advice.
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Piper Lehman |
Phil, A "slow" lens would be an 80-300mm f/4-5.6, for instance, as opposed to a 100-300mm with a constant f/2.8 aperture or a prime 300mm f/2.8 which not many of us can afford either! You can get faster shutter speeds with faster lenses, and sports photogs are the ones who usually need the fastest lenses out there. You picked one of the most expensive types of photography! You could always rent the faster teles for a weekend at a time for a reasonable price.
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Dan |
I'm just a weekend warrior but I have been involved in shooting auto racing at local dirt tracks off and on for about 15 years. Needless to say most of my work is done at night under the lights. Right now my mainstay lens is a Pentax 40 - 80 f/2.8 zoom. I had a Metz strobe I loved dearly, but it dropped out on me in midseason last year. Had to buy a sunpack (was the closest thing I could find on short notice). Anyway, If you are shooting fast moving sports, I have found your best bet is fast, large aperature lens with a good strobe, unless that is not allowed. Getas close to the action as possible and try to focus on an area where the action is and stay there so as to facilitate a point and shoot situation. In fast action sports there is little if any time to waste on focusing. Try catching a sprint car upside down in mid-air sometime. Hang in there and keep trying!
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